VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Gov. Terry McAuliffe has resurrected the state’s climate change panel to blunt the impact of rising seas in Virginia, a state whose coast is particularly vulnerable.
McAuliffe made the announcement Tuesday in Virginia Beach on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Portions of the bay are among the most threatened in the U.S. by climate change, in part because coastal areas are sinking.
In announcing the creation of the panel, McAuliffe says the state needs to prepare the state’s coastal communities for the growing threat of climate change. Climate scientists have complained Virginia has been slow to act in the past.
The climate change panel will be co-chaired by McAuliffe’s natural resources secretary, Molly Ward, and Public Safety Secretary Brian Moran. The commission includes a long, diverse list of members.
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