Survey finds many states are not discussing climate change in relation to natural hazards

Is your state discussing the effects of climate change? While every state is required to file a State Hazard Mitigation Plan with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, states are not required to mention the effects of climate change in their plan. A survey by Columbia Law School found that 18 states (Category 1) either had no mention of climate change in their plan or had inaccurate information. Eleven states (Category 2) had minimal mention of climate change, and 10 (Category 3) had accurate but limited discussion. The report only ranked 11 states (Category 4) as having thorough discussion on the impacts and hazards of climate change. (Columbia Law graphic: Yellow states are Category 1, orange Category 2, red Category 3, dark red Category 4)

Several states, many of them mostly rural, that list hazards in their plan don't discuss the hazards in relation to climate change, the report states. Georgia, which doesn't have a climate change plan, lists in its plan: hurricanes, storm surge, wind, severe weather, tornadoes, inland flooding, severe winter weather, drought, wildfire, seismic hazards, sinkholes, dam failure. Indiana, which also doesn't have a climate change plan, lists flood, dams, tornadoes, earthquakes, winter storms. Idaho, which also doesn't have a climate change plan, lists flood, earthquake, wildfire, avalanche, dam failure, drought, HazMat, landslide, lightning, severe storms, volcanism, wind, tornadoes. Montana, Arizona, and Pennsylvania list climate change plans for some hazards but not all the ones they list in their report.

"Overall, the database and findings of this survey should serve as a base for further analysis of the integration of climate change information into the SHMPs," the report states. "Possible next steps include comparisons between the plans analyzed in this paper and the new versions scheduled for 2013-2014, more specific analysis of how to transfer what works from  Category 4 plans to lower ranked plans and further comparisons between the risk assessments put forth by the SHMP s and the National Climate Assessment. It may also be helpful to investigate how FEMA can help spur additional climate change integration in the SHMPs" (Read more)