US

Sea level rise has already put coastal cities on notice thanks to increasing storm surges and even sunny day flooding at high tide. These challenges will continue to grow because global projections point to a mean sea level rise of at least one foot above year-2000 levels by the end of this century. However, many cities are facing another factor making them even more vulnerable to rising waters: land subsidence. The three of us – Pei-Chin Wu, Meng (Matt) Wei and Steven D’Hondt – are scientists at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography working with the U.S. Geological Survey to research challenges facing waterfront cities. Our findings indicate that land is sinking faster than sea levels are rising in many coastal cities throughout the world. By using radar images of the Earth’s surface collected from orbiting satellites, we measured subsidence rates in 9...

Gov. Jay Inslee proposed on Monday another $941 million for action on climate change, including environmental justice, clean energy and transportation projects, in his 2024 supplemental budget. The budget would tap into stronger-than-expected revenue from the state’s carbon-pricing program. The proposal comes toward the end of the first year of the program that makes the state’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases pay for their pollution. It would add to the $2.1 billion already allocated by lawmakers during the 2023 session for the next two years toward climate and clean energy projects. Also Monday, Inslee’s office announced pieces of legislation for the upcoming session intended to increase transparency over gas prices, pursue linkage with the California and Quebec carbon markets, and transition Puget Sound Energy out of the gas sector and limit future methane gas use. The additional funding also would include a on...