Florida Not At Risk

Elizabeth Price Foley, a contributor to the Instapundit website, cites an editorial in the Miami Herald concerning the presumed threat of rising ocean levels to low-lying coastal Florida. She cites it, and then debunks it thus:

The flooding of streets in Miami recently was caused by heavy, slow-moving thunderstorms, not global warming climate change. And St. Augustine has always flooded because 90% of the city is located in an historic floodplain and the development of barrier islands has reduced the ability of the land to absorb the brunt of storms entering from the Atlantic side. It has nothing to do with global warming climate change.

I live in Key Largo–one of the most “vulnerable” little islands in the Florida Keys. I have lived here for many years, and I can tell you that I haven’t noticed even the slightest change in sea levels. The tide comes in; the tide goes out. Sometimes the tide rises higher and our street floods near our boat basin. Other days it doesn’t. It ebbs and flows, as tides do. Rainy season comes and goes. When it rains a lot, we have some minor flooding. When it doesn’t, we don’t. Yes, the climate changes–every single day, minute by minute. But this isn’t a reason to fundamentally transform the energy sector, taxation policy or the global economy.

It seems young readers can comfortably plan to take their grandkids to Disney World 35 years hence without renting scuba gear. It won't be underwater.