High seas eroding Texas coastline

Anton Caputo - Express-News

Web Posted: 07/15/2008 4:05 CDT

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The series

Part 1: High seas eroding Texas coastline
Part 2: Global warming likely to mean more droughts and more floods
Part 3: Farmers suffer from heat, water loss
Part 4: Birds' patterns changing in face of global warming
Part 5: How Texas is responding to global warming
The race is on to save the state's wetlands

(Page 7 of 7)

So why ignore global warming?

"The answer is strictly practical," he said. "We already have a really high sea level rise rate, and I just think we can get more traction than if we ask people to put their faith in what they view as a big political mess."

Despite this attempt to avoid politics, Gibeaut's first hazard map failed in the political realm. Galveston Island city officials decided earlier this year against using the map as a guide for development.

Smith-Engle, the university administrator who helped institute the most stringent dune-protection rules in the state in Nueces County, has fought similar battles on Mustang Island and Padre Island time and time again. She said she's never surprised when there's resistance to rules that might curtail development, no matter how well-founded they are in science.

"You have to keep in mind how much money has been invested out here," she said. "But I don't think the development community appreciates sea level rise enough and I think the scientific community has done a poor job of localizing the information."