Continued from Part 1

6. Virginia must center equity and support meaningful engagement of all Virginians.

Outreach efforts during Phase 1 of the process were severely hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic as well as tight deadlines and misalignment of engagement and technical deliverable timelines. We support DCR’s efforts to complete a Community Outreach and Education Plan by December 31^st, 2022 and appreciate the effort to remain in close communication with non-profits who are poised to offer assistance. However, the Department is currently under equipped to fully deliver on engaging Virginians statewide to both understand their risk and co-develop solutions and projects to build resilience and reduce risk in a manner that works for each community. 

1. 1. Implementing the Virginia Environmental Justice Act Across Agencies

Pursuant to the Virginia Environmental Justice Act, "’Environmental justice’ means the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of every person, regardless of race, color, national origin, income, faith, or disability, regarding the development, implementation, or enforcement of any environmental law, regulation, or policy” and it is “the policy of the Commonwealth to promote environmental justice and ensure that it is carried out throughout the Commonwealth, with a focus on environmental justice communities and fenceline communities.”^[1] Future resilience plans must fully embrace the meaningful involvement component of the Environmental Justice Act and work closely with communities that are chronically underserved and facing increased flood risk to ensure that residents understand their risk and participate in the development of solutions to be included in future project lists.

2. 2. Centering People in Decision-Making

Climate change will drive transitions along Virginia’s coasts and waterways that will cause fundamental disruptions to communities’ economies and livelihoods, mental health, and culture and way of life – particularly where communities are considering moving away from flood risks or experiencing climate-induced population growth. These transitions will raise fundamental questions of distributional equity and decision-making systems should, wherever possible, allow people to participate in choosing their own futures. The forthcoming Outreach and Engagement Plan will play an essential role in centering Virginians in decision-making processes and its implementation should be integrated with the Phase 2 CRMP and Statewide Flood Plan. Many resilience plan applications to the CFPF to date have centered community engagement and co-design of needs and projects into their planning processes. Implementing similar measures and continuing to provide opportunities for meaningful contributions from community members to inform development of the Phase 2 CRMP and Statewide Flood Plan.

The Phase 1 scope included outreach and engagement targeted initially at the Planning District Commissions within the coastal region, and in a second phase to communities with both high socioeconomic vulnerability scores and at high flood risk. Planning district commission meetings began with local and regional staff and community leaders participating in informational sessions and viewing and commenting on mapping products, and then shifted to a public facing session in the evening. At least one representative from an undersigned organization participated in most planning district meetings and public facing meetings. While state staff and the consultant were well prepared and meeting materials were informative, many of the sessions, particularly the public sessions, had few participants. Meetings were under advertised (in fact, Environmental Defense Fund ran a public media campaign to share meeting information) and often at locations away from public transit or not frequently utilized for community events like planning district buildings. Understandably, public libraries and recreation centers, which might have been more easily accessible, were not renting meeting space due to the Covid-19 pandemic and related State of Emergency.

Moving forward, and in coordination with the Outreach and Engagement plan, strategies to make meetings more accessible for all Virginians, including advanced advertisement, convenient location near transit, and other support should be prioritized.

3. 3. Bringing Resources and Technical Assistance to Underserved Communities

Communities that are chronically underserved and facing increased flood risk may require extensive engagement and technical assistance from DCR to work closely with to identify projects. The meaningful involvement of and technical assistance for underserved communities could be accomplished in multiple ways.

For instance, although the Phase 1 CRMP completed an initial gap analysis, more work could be done to identify potential projects, connect them with funding sources, and highlight which data, resources, or other tools are needed to connect the dots. By identifying which localities will need the most support, DCR can better leverage their own resources and tools where they are most needed. North Carolina’s Resilient Coastal Communities Program is a great example of this kind of focused technical support and engagement. With funding from the state and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, localities in North Carolina’s coastal counties can apply for direct technical assistance and funding to help overcome barriers in coastal resilience and adaptation planning, boost local government capacity, and support a proactive and equitable approach to coastal resilience planning and project implementation. The CRMP’s open access data portal makes baseline vulnerability data available to locality staff, but many do not have the time or expertise to learn how to use it. DCR and the larger CRMP team could provide trainings to localities on how to use this data for their individual resilience planning efforts, reducing duplication of efforts and increasing the pace of planning.

DCR could also consider collaborating with other state agencies to bring additional resources to bear, such as partnering with existing state programs like the DEQ Office Environmental Justice and engagement professionals throughout the DEQ regions. DEQ has six regional offices across the commonwealth with dedicated staff who work with the central office and executive team to handle community outreach, engagement, and regulatory requests. DEQ is also utilizing social media in addition to traditional methods such as public meetings and comment periods to spread awareness of their role and resources. VDEM is also a natural partner for this process, with an office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and having conducted an extensive series of Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grants Equity Workshops. VDEM has established a Partners in Preparedness program to provide information and resources to community partners to break down communication barriers between the agency and socioeconomically vulnerable Virginians, though the office is new and information is not yet widely available. This effort will engage a diverse swath of NGOs, faith-based communities, businesses, education spaces, community centers, and other central hubs that can provide translation services, internet access, and other critical resources.

6. Virginia must prioritize natural infrastructure solutions as critical infrastructure.

Implementation of natural infrastructure solutions for flood resilience allows limited resources to be used efficiently and leveraged for co-benefits including water quality goals. When combined with non-structural adaptation measures, natural infrastructure practices are more cost-effective than gray infrastructure at reducing flood damages. For example, a case study from the Gulf Coast calculated a benefit-cost ratio of 3.5 for nature-based solutions while grey infrastructure practices of levees/dikes and home elevations ranged from 0.26 - 0.73 ^[2]. A global review in 2016 found that nature-based shorelines that consist of salt marsh can be 2 -5 times more cost effective than gray solutions at reducing damaging waves ^[3]. Nature-based shoreline restoration projects are also more resilient to the impacts of sea level rise and storms ^[4] - projects in North Carolina and California have withstood intense wave action while nearby gray infrastructure was inundated and damaged in the same storms ^[5]. The environmental processes that make natural infrastructure resilient also provide a wealth of co-benefits that have positive impacts year-round – unlike gray infrastructure practices which only have potential positive impacts during storms ⁶. In addition to flood protection, natural infrastructure can improve water quality, trap sediments that would otherwise need to be dredged, and support fisheries, tourism, and recreation ^{6, [6], [7]}.

8. Virginia must integrate existing state codes, regulations, programs, and agency leadership to adapt to increasing flood risk and a changing climate.

Virginia is the first state to include climate change and sea level rise in its tidal wetlands permitting and development actions subject to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, but we could lose the majority of our tidal wetlands and coastal shoreline by mid-century without vigorous enforcement of these regulations. This necessitates more consistency across planning documents and program guidelines, as well as decision-maker education by agency staff.

1. Tidal Wetlands Act & Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act

The Framework lists, as initial actions, to coordinate the changes to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (CBPA) and Tidal Wetlands Act (TWA)and integrate project review and compensatory mitigation of unavoidable impacts, resilience, and future impacts. Though steps have been taken to coordinate the efforts by reference in the CBPA guidance and TWA guidelines, on which many signers of this letter have commented, more action is needed to realize these goals in practice. The CBPA and TWA share overlapping jurisdiction, necessitating clear regulatory coordination. To further emphasize the importance of coordination, as sea levels rise, the landward buffer under CBPA jurisdiction today will become tidal wetlands in the future. Local government staff, already overburdened and under-resourced, need examples of how local wetlands and CBPA boards should review permits under the new regulations.     

2. Coordination Across Agencies

Although the Framework documents some departments and programs that should coordinate to leverage resources and Gov. Northam’s Executive Order 45 established a workgroup to ensure statewide compliance with resilient building standards, this level of coordination does not fully leverage the commonwealth’s staffing and funding resources to coordinate across state government. The Commonwealth could establish a body of resilience points of contacts at each agency charged with implementing resilience throughout programs within that agency. Several other states are taking a look at how to coordinate interdisciplinary resilience work across agencies and provide a potential path forward.

In New Jersey, Gov. Murphy’s 2019 Executive Order 89 established an Interagency Council on Climate Resilience comprised of 16 state agencies. The group was tasked with developing short- and long-term action plans to promote the long-term mitigation, adaptation, and resilience of the state’s economy, communities, infrastructure, and natural resources. The New Jersey Climate Change Resilience Strategy, released in 2021, charts a path forward for the Interagency Council and participating agencies to actualize plans and engage stakeholders and the general public.

In Louisiana, Gov. Edwards issued Executive Order 2020-19, directing each state agency to identify a resilience coordinator to lead collaboration for the Adaptive Governance Initiative. The involvement of many additional agency staff helped make the project a success and a useful framework for agencies moving forward. Agencies first conducted a vulnerability assessment of their physical assets like infrastructure and social assets, including programs, services, and employees. This exercise helped agencies identify priorities around mission-critical impacts, establish buy-in by identifying concrete examples within each department, and lay the groundwork for developing adaptation options. After identifying specific adaptation needs, agencies turned to potential implementation partners and pathways, resource needs, and ways to collaborate across agencies to get the job done. Louisiana’s Adaptive Governance Initiative has momentum thanks to dedicated leadership by the Chief Resilience Officer and buy-in across agencies’ resilience coordinators, but permanent structures, processes, and resources are needed to give agencies the capacity to plan and implement long-term adaptation solutions.

As the federal government rolls out increased funding for resilience programs and incorporates resilience into other programs, increased coordination is essential and must be a component of the CRMP Phase 2 and statewide planning efforts.

9. The recommendations of the Coastal Resilience Technical Advisory Committee formed by Executive Order No. 71 (2020) should be taken into account.

At the completion of the Phase 1 planning process, many members and advisors of the Coastal Resilience Technical Advisory Committee signed on to a set of forward-looking recommendations as the commonwealth moved forward in its planning and implementation processes. These recommendations were sent by Dr. Carl Hershner to legislators, the Northam administration, and the incoming Youngkin administration on December 15, 2021, and while some were generally incorporated into Chapter 495 of the 2022 Acts of Assembly or reiterated above, they bear repeating. The recommendations that have not already been implemented are summarized as follows:

• Create and enhance citizen oversight with adequate funding and staff to:
  • Maintain and update resilience master planning efforts statewide
  • Administer the Community Flood Preparedness Fund
  • Align agencies flood programs and resilience planning across the Commonwealth
  • Oversee regional planning while considering the Commonwealth’s priorities
• In addition to funds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, identify additional operating funds and additional sources of funding for resilience planning and projects.
• Improve the next iteration of plans by developing a comprehensive, spatially-explicit risk assessment of critical human infrastructure, critical natural infrastructure, and disadvantaged communities that:
  • Considers both storm surge and precipitation-driven flooding
  • Considers flood risk for both current and future conditions
  • Identifies disadvantaged communities at the finest possible resolution
• Develop and implement a well-designed outreach and engagement effort to build understanding and support
• Engage and include Tribes in any regional planning effort given their unique legal status as sovereign nations

10. Conversations around strategic relocation must be done in partnership with communities and move at the speed of trust.

Although the Framework prioritized an initial focus on managed retreat, this was met with understandable confusion and frustration by local and regional governments. Students and researchers, in coordination with the TAC, developed a literature review and case study detailing how managed coastal retreat had been used elsewhere, which was not included in the CRMP Phase 1. In the future, conversations around strategic relocation must be done in partnership with communities and local government through an extensive engagement process. The commonwealth must move at the speed of trust to ensure communities do not feel taken advantage of or left behind in this process.

Conclusion

Virginia must move urgently by investing in staff, external support, data acquisition, and technical assistance programs to develop comprehensive plans, tools, and then implement these plans. Although the deadlines imposed upon the DCR for the revised Phase 2 CRMP and the Virginia Flood Protection Master Plan may appear to be years away, we have learned from the Framework and Phase 1 processes that this work is complicated and to do it well will take time. Progress can be made now by staffing and embarking on a robust engagement plan to co-develop projects and incorporate frontline community knowledge into the planning process. Moving forward with best-available science will also necessitate incorporating new data, such as the MARISA projections for increased intensity, duration, and frequency of precipitation and the revised 2022 NOAA sea-level rise projections.

Virginia can continue to build resilience across the Commonwealth by moving forward to fulfill its obligations to develop, revise, and implement resilience plans in the coming years.  Environmental non-profits stand ready to provide technical advice and support meaningful engagement across the commonwealth. 

Sincerely,

Victoria Higgins

Virginia Director

Chesapeake Climate Action Network

Jay Ford

Virginia Policy and Grassroots Advisor

Chesapeake Bay Foundation