Dr. Franco Montalto, President and Principal Engineer at eDesign Dynamics, was quoted in this article in NPR's State Impact regarding Trump's decision to rescind Obama order requiring federal projects to consider climate change. Written by Susan Phillips, here's an excerpt from the piece:
Franco Montalto is an environmental engineering professor and climate researcher at Drexel University. He is also North American director of the
Urban Climate Change Research Network.
“It would be a shame if local governments would have to choose between accepting federal dollars, which allows them to build infrastructure in the first place,” he said, “and accepting those dollars but not building what the scientific community would tell you is a prudent choice.”
Montalto says saving money on the front end could mean having to spend more later when the infrastructure is damaged by floods caused by rising seas or increased storms, like another Hurricane Sandy.
“According to a NOAA
report originally published in 2013, and revisited and statistically reconfirmed in
2015, there has been an increasing trend in “billion dollar disasters” in the United States,” said Montalto, “of which more than half of total losses are due to floods, severe storms, or tropical cyclones.”
Coastal communities across the country, including Philadelphia, are already working to shore up existing infrastructure in the face of rising seas and potentially destructive storms like Hurricane Sandy.
“While it is true that climate-proofing infrastructure can be more costly than the cost of building the same infrastructure without considering future climate, it is also true that efforts to reduce climate risks now will reduce the need for disaster relief and recovery,” he said.
Read the article in full HERE>>
