I think Massachusetts might very well split up over the effects of rising sea levels

[friendly_iconoclast]

From the Environment and Energy Group:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127128629

Climate breakdown to trigger debate over which cities to protect from rising sea levels

"You realise we’re just not going to protect a lot of these places"
The Independent
Christopher Flavelle
June 20,2019

As disaster costs keep rising across the United States, a troubling new debate has become urgent: if there’s not enough money to protect every coastal community from the effects of human-caused global warming, how should we decide which ones to save first?

After three years of brutal flooding and hurricanes, there is growing consensus among policymakers and scientists that coastal areas will require significant spending to ride out future storms and rising sea levels — not in decades but now and in the very near future.

By 2040, simply providing basic storm-surge protection in the form of sea walls for all coastal cities with more than 25,000 residents will require at least $42bn (£33.1bn), according to new estimates from the Centre for Climate Integrity, an environmental advocacy group.“Once you get into it, you realise we’re just not going to protect a lot of these places,” said Richard Wiles, the centre’s executive director. “This is the next wave of climate denial — denying the costs that we’re all facing.”

More here
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-us-storms-sea-level-global-warming-hurricane-a8967576.html

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127128629#post4

I can easily imagine my own state of Massachusetts splitting up over this

The central and western counties (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Worcester, and Middlesex) already
think they're getting screwed over financially by the richer eastern/coastal ones.

They'll not want to fork over more in an attempt to 'harden' the coastal cities:

Boston Built a New Waterfront Just in Time for the Apocalypse

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-18/boston-built-a-new-waterfront-just-in-time-for-the-apocalypse

Designing a neighborhood from scratch: The stakes are high at Suffolk Downs

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/06/17/designing-neighborhood-from-scratch-the-stakes-are-high-suffolk-downs/KcWz5yacTUChK4cq9sYnJM/story.html

TL;DR version: The Suffolk Downs site is, at best, 20-25 feet above high tide as it is. A developer wants to plant
a ca. $1.5 billion edge city on the site.

Middlesex is already the most populous county. Picture this:

2030: The Commonwealth: "We need more money to protect the Boston/Quincy area"

Western Mass: "Fuck off, we've got our own problems to take care of"

[Autumn]

1. Maybe we should move people out of those areas and let nature have them .

[friendly_iconoclast]

2. I agree- but this is Massachusetts, where money flows towards Boston

[TheRealNorth]

3. Why would Republicans need to protect their homes from rising sea levels?

Because they keep saying Global Warming and melting polar ice caps is a myth. Seems to me they are getting excited over something they say doesn't exist.

[friendly_iconoclast]

4. This is cultural. Central and W. Mass have *always* been treated like unwanted stepchildren

The South Coast (New Bedford, Fall River) as well.
There's very much a "Boston/Cambridge uber alles" mindset at work in state government.

[smirkymonkey]

5. Let me put in another way. Why do people in western and central MA

Last edited Tue Jul 9, 2019, 08:46 PM - Edit history (1)

need to protect themselves against rising sea levels. They wont be affected by it. At least not for eons. The problem of rising sea levels is pressing in the greater Boston area and the north and south shores. It's a matter of sending the money to where it's needed.

[friendly_iconoclast]

6. Central and Western Mass will not want to pay for protecting the Atlantic Coast

[smirkymonkey]

7. That is where a majority of the tax revenue comes from.

Without the revenue from the MA coast and Boston suburbs (who mostly work in the greater Boston area), Central and Western MA would barely be able to survive. Besides, they should care about about it from an environmental and humanistic standpoint. The coast is worth preserving whether they live there or not.

[friendly_iconoclast]

8. Trump got 32% of the MA vote in '16. I doubt those sorts of people would be sympathetic

What's more likely is many people would simply outmigrate, thus moving the center of power west to the
Worcester and Connecticut Valley areas- (relatively) cheap land prices alone would drive a lot of that.