Making Military Bases and Their Communities More Resilient
Channel: eesionline
Date: 2019-03-01

Learn more at: https://www.eesi.org/briefings/view/030119defense

Susan Wickwire
Vice President, Henry M Jackson Foundation 
Skip to presentation: https://youtu.be/8IqGoNRxPZU?t=4m37s

Rear Admiral Ann Phillips
Special Assistant to the Governor for Coastal Adaptation and Protection, State of Virginia, United States Navy (Ret); Former Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group TWO
Skip to presentation: https://youtu.be/8IqGoNRxPZU?t=9m42s

Benjamin McFarlane, AICP, CFM
Senior Regional Planner, Hampton Roads Planning District Commission
Download slides: https://www.eesi.org/files/030119_Ben_McFarlane.pdf
Skip to presentation: https://youtu.be/8IqGoNRxPZU?t=29m

Hon. John Conger
Director, Center for Climate and Security; Former Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller)
Skip to presentation: https://youtu.be/8IqGoNRxPZU?t=49m24s

Question & Answer Session
https://youtu.be/8IqGoNRxPZU?t=1h04m

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute and the Center for Climate and Security held a briefing on the relationship between military facilities and their neighboring civilian communities, and on the urgent need to make their shared infrastructure more resilient to natural disasters and other threats. Our panel of experts examined holistic approaches to protecting and maintaining supply chains, housing, transportation, utilities, and other fixtures necessary for communities to thrive and for military installations to maintain mission readiness. The briefing also explored regional examples of these challenges and how local governments and Department of Defense (DOD) officials are working together to devise solutions.

The vast geographic distribution of DOD facilities, their often advanced age, and the fact that they were originally built to withstand less severe environmental conditions than those now being experienced have all been a cause for grave concern among base commanders. Extreme weather events—flooding, drought, and wildfire—all pose a real threat to DOD assets, as do rising sea levels, which are already causing increased incidence of sunny-day, nuisance flooding on the East Coast. Damage inflicted upon defense facilities and the interdependent assets they host can cripple the military's ability to respond to a crisis, in addition to costing taxpayers millions of dollars in repairs and replacements. Bases must also be regularly resupplied, meaning a natural disaster or infrastructure failure could lead to additional hindrances to a facility's mission.

Likewise, the civilian communities located near many military facilities are every bit as vulnerable to climate change impacts. There is a strong connection between bases across America and the adjacent communities found "beyond the gate." Vital infrastructure, such as roads, electricity, and water, are shared between towns and bases, and these communities often house many active-duty and civilian personnel who work on-base and have strong economic ties with the military's presence. Support services are often carried out by civilian employees, who number 742,000 (compared to 1.3 million active duty personnel). When civilian and active-duty personnel are unable to safely and reliably travel to their jobs on base, DOD operations can be severely hindered.

We thank the David Rockefeller Fund and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for their support of this event.