Petition: Rising Seas Could Flood Thousands of Toxic Sites and Poison Nearby Communities

As sea levels rise, the danger isn’t only the water — it’s what that water could carry. A peer-reviewed study in Nature Communications found that roughly 5,500 hazardous sites across the U.S. — facilities handling toxic waste, sewage, oil and gas, and other industrial pollutants, including Superfund cleanup sites — are at risk of coastal flooding by 2100, with nearly 3,800 facing that risk as soon as 2050. When floodwaters inundate these sites, they can carry contaminants into surrounding neighborhoods. And the burden falls unequally: researchers found low-income communities, communities of color, and renters are far more likely to live near an at-risk site. Just seven states — Florida, New Jersey, California, Louisiana, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas — account for nearly 80 percent of the risk. Please sign the petition.

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Much of this risk is already locked in, which means states can’t just wait — they need to plan now to relocate or safeguard these facilities before the water reaches them. Sign the petition urging the most affected state legislatures to take the threat seriously and act to prevent toxic flooding. One Green Planet has reported on how a warming climate is already costing lives through extreme weather in climate change claims thousands of lives amid extreme weather events, and you can read more on the toxic-site study via Inside Climate News.

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