June 6, 2012 – The energy and fishing industries along the Gulf of Mexico must begin now to adapt to the effects of climate change, including rising sea levels, more intense hurricanes, loss of coastal wetlands, and the biological effects of warmer water temperatures, according to a report released at a news conference Wednesday by three Louisiana State University scientists. The report, prepared for the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, formerly known as the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, warns that offshore oil platforms are especially at risk from the effects of hurricanes, whose intensity is likely to increase with global warming, although the number of hurricanes may drop.
The report says the energy industry represents 90 percent of the coastal region’s industrial assets, including production platforms and oil ports, 30 percent of the nation’s refineries, and numerous petrochemical plants.
Those assets already have been repeatedly buffeted by hurricanes in 2004, 2005 and 2008. Hurricane-force winds destroy 2 to 4 percent of platforms in their paths and damage another 3 to 6 percent, according to recent studies, the report said.
Ground-level portions of Louisiana Highway 1, the only access road to Port Fourchon and the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, will be flooded 300 days a year by 2050 because of sea level rise driven by climate change.
The energy industry can respond to potential damage by building stronger and sturdier offshore production platforms or budgeting for the increased losses, which LSU research climatologist Hal Needham, lead author of the report, said some companies already are doing.
Read the full story at the New Orleans Times-Picayune.