Federal funding cuts threaten safety, resilience of coastal communities in Hawaiʻi
(EDITOR's NOTE: The real purpose of DOGE was to cut wokesters, DEI, LGBT activists, and global warmers out of the federal pie. Musk said he 'only' got rid of $170B. Here is some evidence he was on target.)
News Release from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Jun 3, 2025
A recent round of federal funding cuts included the termination of a $3 million grant from the Office of Naval Research to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The grant, awarded to Chip Fletcher, interim dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), supported the Coastal Research Collaborative (CRC), which provided data and high-resolution modeling of sea level rise impacts, heat exposure and precipitation extremes—critical tools that inform decisions made by state and county agencies, urban planners, infrastructure designers, and emergency managers.
(CLUE: The key word is 'modeling'. Per NOAA, sea level rise at Honolulu Harbor has been 1.56 mm per year for the last century. This is 6 inches per century. 'Modeling' is the pseudoscience by which UH pretends that sea level rise is going to rapidly accelerate to 3' or more, depending on how much oceanfront land they want to take. Click >>> HERE <<< see it for yourself.)
“The loss of federal funding for Hawaiʻi’s climate and sea level rise research will have devastating consequences for the state’s ability to plan, adapt and protect its people and resources,” said Fletcher.
(TRANSLATION: If we can't make this stuff up, how can legislators and councilmembers use it as an excuse for their pre-conceived agendas?)
“The models we develop and their supporting databases underpin key pieces of Hawaiʻi’s climate legislation and coastal permitting regulations, including assessments of flood risk, groundwater inundation, coastal erosion, coastal construction setbacks and public safety. Without sustained federal investment, Hawaiʻi will lose its capacity to provide accurate climate projections tailored to island topography, severely hampering our preparedness for compound hazards such as king tides, rain-at-high-tide flooding and storm-driven flooding.”
(TRANSLATION: If we can't make this stuff up, how can legislators and councilmembers use it as an excuse for their pre-conceived agendas?)
CRC employed 15 people, including graduate students, climate researchers, policy experts and geospatial analysts. To prepare for and adapt to the growing threats related to climate change in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific region, this team gathered data and developed new modeling tools that reduce vulnerabilities to community and infrastructure on the island of Oʻahu.
(TRANSLATION: If we can't make this stuff up, how can legislators and councilmembers use it as an excuse for their pre-conceived agendas?)
Specifically, the CRC team has been modeling the impacts of sea level rise including flooding, coastal erosion, drainage failure, wave impacts at higher sea level and groundwater pollution with higher sea level.
(TRANSLATION: If we can't make this stuff up, how can legislators and councilmembers use it as an excuse for their pre-conceived agendas?)
Data guides land management, policies
Various state laws and policies rely on CRC data and models: construction setbacks on Maui, Kauaʻi, and Honolulu; mandatory disclosure of sea level rise impacts in real estate transactions; Special Management Area designations on Maui and Oʻahu; Kauai County sea level rise constraint district; and the required analysis of sea level rise impacts in state Environmental Policy Act, including environmental impact statements and environmental assessment permits.
(TRANSLATION: If we can't make this stuff up, how can legislators and councilmembers use it as an excuse for their pre-conceived agendas?)
“The loss of these data systems will undermine the scientific foundation of climate resilience policies, stall progress on community adaptation, and increase the vulnerability of coastal populations, public infrastructure, and cultural heritage,” Fletcher emphasized. “Maintaining federal support is not just about sustaining science—it is about safeguarding Hawaiʻi’s future.”
(TRANSLATION: If we can't make this stuff up, how can legislators and councilmembers use it as an excuse for their pre-conceived agendas?)
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BIN: Federal funding cuts threaten safety, resilience for Hawaiʻi coastal communities : Big Island Now