California Ordered To Prepare For Sea-Level Rise
US: November 17, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday ordered
preparations for rising sea levels from global warming, a startling prospect
for the most populous US state with a Pacific Ocean coastline stretching
more than 800 miles (1,290 km).
Recorded sea levels rose 7 inches (18 cm) during the 20th century in San
Francisco, Schwarzenegger said in the executive order for study of how much
more the sea could rise, what other consequences of global warming were
coming and how the state should react.
California is considered the environmental vanguard of government in the
United States, with its own standards for car pollution and a law to cut
emissions of carbon dioxide, the main gas contributing to global warming.
"The longer that California delays planning and adapting to sea level rise
the more expensive and difficult adaptation will be," Schwarzenegger said,
ordering a report by the end of 2010.
(Reporting by Peter Henderson; Editing by Peter Cooney)
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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