State Sea Level Rise Panel Focuses on Newport Thursday

NEWPORT, RI—Sea level rise is a serious concern for Newport civic leaders, long-term planners, property owners and businesses who rely on the city’s magnificent coastal amenities that could also deliver catastrophe.

A special commission studying the economic risk due to flooding and sea level rise will be focusing specifically on Newport at a State House hearing on Thursday.

Experts from the state Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode Island and the city’s GIS coordinator and civic investment director will be delivering presentations about the topic in Room 101 from 2 to 3 p.m. on the first floor of the State House.

The commission, which is led by Rep. Lauren H. Carson (D-Dist. 75, Newport), was established to provide information including economic risks to Rhode Island municipalities, businesses and the investment community so that they may factor sea rise and flooding into their short- and long-term decision making.

It is also charged with making recommendations to the General Assembly about further steps to maintain the value of public and private property and revenue, to define adaptation strategies, to better understand the cost of inaction, and to examine new approaches to understand and address the business risks associated with sea rise and storm surge.