addressing climate change adaptation in regional transportation plans

particular concern are populations that do not have the resources to prepare for,respond to, and recover from disasters. Impacts could include temporary and/or permanent displacement; drowning and property damage; and coastal erosionharming recreational activities, tourism, and the tourism industry.Sea level rise and severe storm surges are a concern for nuclear power plantsnear the Pacific Ocean, including the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant in OrangeCounty. Risks associated with this facility include flooding of containmentbuildings where highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel is stored, loss of generatingcapacity owing to severe corrosion from the intrusion of seawater, and otherdamages to the facility due to sea level rise. The plant’s cooling practices might beimpacted due to rising ocean temperatures. (CDPH, 2008) These impacts couldaffect populations that live near the facility or rely on the power produced by thefacility. Industrial development in the region has left a legacy of brownfields andcontaminated waste sites. Some of these will be exposed to coastal flooding dueto sea level rise. These sites need to be identified, and priorities for their clean-upmay need to be set before contamination spreads.WildfireThe South Coast already experiences wildfire. The extent to which climatechange is projected to alter existing wildfire risk is variable (Westerling andBryant, 2006). Wildfire frequency and severity will depend on shifts in vegetationand Santa Ana wind behavior (Miller and Schlegal, 2006; Westerling et al., 2009).Management of fire risk such as prescribed burns may be subject to regulationsbeyond normal California forest practice. For example, the “High Use”subdistricts of Cal Fire’s Southern District (counties of Ventura, Santa Barbara,Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside, Imperial, San Diego, Monterey,San Luis Obispo, and those portions of Placer and El Dorado counties lyingwithin the authority of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency) may have additionalstipulations with regard to management practice.Increased temperature and decreased moisture, such as longer drought periods,will increase fire vulnerability in a number of areas. Along with impacts associatedwith temporary and/or permanent displacement, long-term impacts on theelderly and children under the age of five are of concern. Eye and respiratoryillnesses due to air pollution resulting from wildfires, and exacerbation ofasthma, allergies, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and othercardiovascular diseases are likely to increase.PAGE 90APG: UNDERSTANDING REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS