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A Rising Tide

A Q&A with Olympia, Washington, city manager Steven Hall and public works director Michael Mucha

Olympia is Washington State's capital city. Will Olympia also become Washington's Atlantis? That's a stretch, but city officials there are increasingly concerned about rising sea levels as global warming melts polar ice. Olympia abuts Budd Inlet, a southern arm of Puget Sound where extreme tides are normal. Much of Olympia's downtown sits on low-lying land that may be sinking, due to tectonic forces, even as the water level is rising.

To find out how Olympia is planning for that future, I spoke with City Manager Steven Hall and Public Works Director Michael Mucha. They talked about the unexpected impacts rising seas would actually have on a coastal community such as Olympia, how the city is considering dealing with them, and how the issue of sea-level rise affected Olympia's debate about where to build a new city hall.

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Swope: Are there any lessons here for other coastal communities?

Hall: Don't ignore the issue. It's real. Start taking some action and figuring out what you're going to do as a community. The same type of map Michael uses to show sea level in downtown Olympia, Al Gore uses in his movie. It shows two-thirds of Florida underwater. So is the state of Florida really going to be underwater, or are people in Florida going to adapt to sea-level rise? I've got to believe they're going to adapt.

Mucha: I can't say we're experts yet, because I don't think anybody really is on this. I know in Holland what they do is build their homes on floats, and they just rise with the tides. That might be one solution. For us we have to start seeing this as a community-wide effort, and the best way for us to move forward is for us to all be talking about it, thinking about it and really agreeing on what we want our future to look like way out there.

And once communities agree on what they want their future to be there's less disagreement about the day-to-day strategic stuff. We know the seas are going to rise, so what are the baby steps we can take to move the community along with that understanding. And then once that happens, I think our community starts to authorize us with resources to begin taking steps.

Swope: Is there a role for the state or federal governments in adaptation? Or at the end of the day is this going to be a local issue because even though global warming is a global problem its consequences are intensely local?

Hall: I think there's definitely a role at the state level, and maybe in Olympia even more so because we are the state capital. We often become the guinea pig for trying things. And so there are dozens of coastal communities in Washington State where things we try can be replicated.

I have to say I'm more pessimistic about the federal government and its ability to act. But the impacts are so enormous economically, culturally and socially that I've got to believe the feds are going to provide some assistance or guidance or direction.

Mucha: I guess resources would always be nice. But I really think these problems are solved where we live, and local governments have shown, when they put their minds to it, they can do good things.

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