GAO: Climate change already costing US billions in losses

[riversedge]

Source: AP




By MICHAEL BIESECKER Associated Press Oct 23, 2017 Updated 12 min ago 0

WASHINGTON (AP) — A non-partisan federal watchdog says climate change is already costing U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars each year, with those costs expected to rise as devastating storms, floods, wildfires and droughts become more frequent in the coming decades.

A Government Accountability Office report released Monday said the federal government has spent more than $350 billion over the last decade on disaster assistance programs and losses from flood and crop insurance. That tally does not include the massive toll from this year's three major hurricanes and wildfires, expected to be among the most costly in the nation's history.

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GAO undertook the study following a request from Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

"This nonpartisan GAO report Senator Cantwell and I requested contains astonishing numbers about the consequences of climate change for our economy and for the federal budget in particular," said Collins. "In Maine, our economy is inextricably linked to the environment. We are experiencing a real change in the sea life, which has serious implications for the livelihoods of many people across our state, including those who work in our iconic lobster industry."........................

Read more: http://napavalleyregister.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/gao-climate-change-already-costing-us-billions-in-losses/article_a1ba026a-6d42-5c70-b6c0-3f616acf523e.html#tncms-source=behavioral

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[Iliyah]

1. Loss in tourism - billions

loss in climate change - billions

loss in health insurance - billions

economy costs going up

military spending skyrocketing

minimum wage stagnant

GOP's budget cutting billions off from Medicare and Medicaid

and there's more

But alas, billions tax cuts for 1-2 %ers

and also large corporations.

[cstanleytech]

2. And of course the Repugnants both those in Congress and their voting boss answer is

to bury their heads in the sand like an ostrich.

[BigmanPigman]

3. I was just telling my parents on Sunday that the infrastructure

shouldn't be just repaired since it is ancient but that the entire government and country are going to have start preparing now and the costs are going to be astronomical for decades. Other countries like Holland have been preparing for years by building massive structures to protect the residents from the rising seas. The US is going to have to move or significantly alter the major coastal areas. The massive storms, fires, etc. will cause so much severe and ongoing damage and that doesn't get fixed for free.

[Achilleaze]

4. Still the republicans PERSISTED in their dangerous & costly lies

Basically republicans are making taxpayers pay for their wild, radical liberation of corporate polluters and profiteers. Evil shit.

[lordsummerisle]

5. k&r

This needs to be spread far and wide. I wonder if Faux News covered it?

[tclambert]

6. Oh, noes! The Chinese have taken over the GAO!

There's no other possible explanation for why the GAO would support the climate change hoax, which was debunked by Sen. James Inhofe with one snowball.

[Hortensis]

7. This is a fraction of the cost. Personal expenses for

Last edited Tue Oct 24, 2017, 12:03 PM - Edit history (1)

running HVAC longer and harder, protection and repair of property, increased insurance premiums and loss of insurance. Removing dead trees. Relandscaping. Insurance company payouts themselves. Business relocations. Abandoned farm and grazing lands. On and on.