New York City Mayor Eric Adams just unveiled a set of seawalls
to protect part of Manhattan from sea-level rise. The cost: $1.45 billion. The city is only the latest to fortify against the growing impacts of climate change. Houston will soon begin to build a coastal barrier system, and states from Florida to North Carolina are considering how to adapt to more frequent natural disasters after Hurricanes Helene and Milton delivered a one-two punch of deadly flooding and winds.
But it won’t be cheap. And November’s election could determine how much federal cash is available to help build seawalls, plant mangroves and install other flood controls — not to mention make infrastructure upgrades such as hardening the electric grid.
Donald Trump has pledged to “demolish the deep state” if he wins the White House, slashing the resources and workforces of government bodies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, which is charged with providing climate adaptation funds to states and localities. He has also pledged to claw back as much funding from President Joe Biden’s 2022 climate law as possible, while Vice President Kamala Harris has said she would build on Biden’s actions.
Weather-related damage costs the U.S. about $150 billion each year — but adaptation can blunt those costs by up to one-third, according to the most recent national climate assessment. The climate law — and the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law — carved out historic investments for some climate adaptation projects, such as strengthening water infrastructure.
Such projects take time to develop, large sums of money and, often, complex political navigation. New York’s recovery from 2012’s Hurricane Sandy took years and eventually prompted fortification talks. Now the city is working with the federal government to fund the construction of 18 deployable barriers along almost 2½ miles of coast on the southeast side of Manhattan. Twelve barriers are functional, and the mayor said he expects all 18 to be ready by 2026.
Adams called the seawalls “the single largest urban climate adaptation project in the U.S.” “Some of my law enforcement officers … are retired to Florida, and they're talking about the devastation of their homes and losing everything,” he said last week. “And that is what we want to prevent.”
Houston is planning a project even larger. The coastal barrier system known as the “Ike Dike” could take 20 years to build at a cost of $57 billion. The plan was developed after Hurricane Ike devastated Houston and Galveston in 2008. Earlier this year, Houston received a $500,000 infusion
from the federal government to begin pre-construction work. Congress authorized the project in 2022 but last year denied an initial funding request from Republican Rep. Randy Weber, whose district includes Galveston.
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