Report: Climate Change Threatens Michigan's Economy and Shipping Industry

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Emily Diamond-Falk, 202-572-3365, ediamondfalk@edf.org
 
 
(Washington, DC – July 23, 2008) –A new report released today details the devastating effects climate change will have on Michigan’s economy and environment. The study was produced by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER) at the University of Maryland. Environmental Defense Fund helped to finance the research and production of the report.
 
The report found that climate change will have wide-spread consequences across Michigan, including:
 
·        Manufacturing Sector. Manufacturing is the largest economic sector in Michigan, and roughly 18% of goods produced are transported by water. Any disruption to the shipping infrastructure would vastly affect the manufacturing sector. Researchers predict that climate change will disrupt the shipping industry as dredging will be needed to cope with the decrease in the Great Lakes’ water levels.
 
·        Shipping Infrastructure. Michigan is home to more than 40 commercial ports, and the three largest ports oversee more than $1 billion in foreign imports and nearly $4.7 billion in exports. Under certain climate change scenarios, the entire Great Lakes-St. Lawrence shipping route would have to be dredged by 2030 due to lower water levels, costing between $92 million and $154 million annually.
 
·        Agriculture. A recent study conducted by Michigan State University found that 725,000 people are directly employed by the agriculture industry contributing $63.3 billion to Michigan’s economy. Researches say that if temperatures and precipitation levels rise causing soil erosion, the agriculture industry could see economic losses ranging from $11.5 billion to $20.7 billion annually.
 
The study was part of the report State Economic and Environmental Costs of Climate Change, which examined the impacts of global warming on 12 states around the country. NCSL released the report today during an energy conference at the group’s Legislative Summit in New Orleans. In addition to Michigan, the report looked at how climate change will impact the economy and environment of Colorado, Illinois, Georgia, Kansas, New Jersey, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

The overview of the project can be found at: http://www.ncsl.org/print/environ/ClimatechangeOver.pdf
The Michigan report can be found at: http://www.ncsl.org/print/environ/ClimatechangeMI.pdf
Individual states have already begun to address the issue of climate change: Six states enacted mandatory greenhouse gas reduction laws; 13 states have set voluntary targets; and 26 states have passed renewable energy portfolio standards.

“This report shows that climate change poses a great risk to Michigan’s manufacturing infrastructure,” said John DeCicco, Senior Fellow for Automotive Strategies at EDF who is based near Detroit. “If action is not taken to cut carbon emissions, Michigan’s shipping industry will lose thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue.”
 
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