Environmental issues are focus of Nauticus forum

NORFOLK

Another presidential debate took place Tuesday night - this one at Nauticus in downtown Norfolk, about the many environmental dilemmas the next American leader will face.

With Hampton Roads being the second most vulnerable region to rising sea levels in the country, behind only New Orleans, much of the talk at the Blue Planet Forum was about global warming.

Timmons Roberts, a professor and director of environmental science and policy at the College of William and Mary, and one of three panelists speaking at the forum, said Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois both "have pretty good plans, pretty much the same" on fighting global warming.

The real difference, he said, is with their vice presidential candidates.

Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware would likely be Obama's "point man" on congressional negotiations for any proposed strategy, Roberts said, given his familiarity and experience with the issue after two decades on Capitol Hill.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, by contrast, follows the "drill, baby, drill" mantra, he said, and still questions whether human-created pollution is really to blame for climate change and rising seas.

Roberts said Americans remain "remarkably polarized" on global warming, while leaders, citizens and the media in Europe and other Western countries "have pretty much come to grips that we've got a serious problem."

The Blue Planet Forum, which organizers described as nonpartisan, drew more than 100 people to Nauticus in advance of the real presidential debate Tuesday night. The event was free.

They heard more than an hour of discussion about climate change, alternative energy, the Chesapeake Bay cleanup, limitations caused by a spiraling economy, and several possible priorities for the next administration.

Ann Swanson, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, said Congress controls most of the money behind environmental programs, but the president has the power to issue executive orders and set the agenda.

The next president, she said, could demand that new highway and road projects include "zero or near-zero discharges" of storm water, a pollution source that is ravaging the Chesapeake and other waterways.

Swanson also described how 17 federal agencies have a role in the Bay cleanup, and that plenty of laws and regulations exist to help speed restoration efforts.

The next president, she said, simply needs to better coordinate all those players and rules.

Asked whether the economic crisis and the $700 billion rescue package just approved by Congress will play a role in shaping environmental policy, Swanson said absolutely.

She encouraged the next administration to pursue green programs that also spur jobs and energy resources, such as encouraging alternative-fuel development.

Swanson also urged people to make a difference. She noted how her commission, consisting of state legislators from Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, hardly ever receives mail from constituents about environmental issues.

"You have to tell them how to act," she told the audience. "You need to bring the pressure for these things to change."

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com