Coastal Conservation Association (CCA)

There is nothing like the satellite image of a Category 5 hurricane. If you are not at the receiving end of the projected track, they are truly impressive. The sheer size and power of an organized storm with a well-defined eye and an outflow that covers hundreds of miles is just awe-inspiring.

However, when you happen to live near the projected landfall, there is little admiration for the power of nature. Rather, there is a cold feeling down the back of your neck as you realize that beneath the peaceful swirl of clouds as seen from a satellite is a tumult that can only be described as hell on earth. And it is coming right at you.

The last two years have not been kind to coastal states surrounding the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists have been warning for years that atmospheric and oceanic conditions that favor an active hurricane season in the Atlantic were in place, signaling a more active phase that could last 20 to 30 years. Apparently they are right, as evidenced by the damage inflicted in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas by two hurricanes this summer. Just last year Florida was assaulted by four hurricanes. At one time in their lives, three of those storms were Cat 5s, two were Cat 4s and one was a Cat 3.

These are indeed a different breed of cat.

If this is to be the norm for a couple of decades, it will require all coastal residents to quickly re-think everything they thought they knew about these powerful storms. A whole generation has come of age during what was apparently a period of relative calm for the Atlantic storm factory. Any sense of complacency should have blown away last year in Florida, and should certainly be gone forever in the wake of the destruction left by Katrina and Rita.

If Katrinas, Ritas, Ivans and Charlies are to be more common, coastal communities are not the only things that will need to re-evaluate their future. Commercial fisheries will have to be looked at differently (Capitol Ideas, page --). New technologies and initiatives will have to be developed and implemented on a massive scale for the restoration of marshes and mangroves to act as coastal buffers. Even oil companies will have to determine if offshore rigs and infrastructure are designed to handle a new generation of hurricane.

Around the world, offshore oil and natural gas platforms are generally built to survive a so-called 100-year storm - a hurricane so powerful that it typically occurs only once every 100 years. However, the definition of a 100-year storm was developed before Ivan, Katrina and Rita ripped across the Gulf of Mexico producing some of the highest waves ever recorded.

The engineering bar will have to be raised, and not just for oil rigs. The prospect of liquefied natural gas terminals in the Gulf of Mexico has been an area of concern for CCA due to the use of the “open-loop” regassification process. Open-loops take in hundreds of millions of gallons of seawater to reheat LNG back to a gaseous state, killing all eggs, larvae and sea life sucked into the intake pipe. Whether they are open-loop or closed loop, however, these giant LNG facilities will have to be built to survive in a more volatile Gulf of Mexico. If LNG really is the key to America’s energy future, should they be placed in such a hazardous location? Can they be built to withstand 50-foot waves? Seventy-foot? Ninety-foot?

A rig has to be where the oil is, but an LNG terminal can be built onshore using a closed-loop system. If energy companies have a choice on where to place the terminals, isn’t the added expense of a closed-loop system worth the added security? And if the companies believe they don’t have a choice of where to place the terminals, they should be prepared to do whatever is necessary to build an offshore closed-loop system able to withstand the next Cat 5 hurricane.

The potential for a new era in hurricanes produces many issues for everyone to ponder.

With members in states from Texas to Maine, CCA has acutely felt the impact of these huge storms across the organization. We know people in these states whose homes and businesses have been destroyed, whose families have been completely uprooted, and whose lives have changed forever. It has been a personal and painful experience to see friends and colleagues suffer.

The lessons of the past two hurricane seasons were tremendously expensive for the people who lived through them. If we are to avoid these disasters in the future, we cannot leave our fate in the hands of chance. By failing to prepare we are preparing to fail. I’d say we have been warned.