Wolf warns Keystone XL would feed superstorm risk
It was the day the ocean came ashore. We watched in horror as Hurricane Sandy lurched into the East Coast last October. Floodwaters surged into Manhattan and inundated more than 70 percent of Atlantic City. Months later, people in New Jersey and other parts of the East Coast are still trying to pick up the pieces.
That Frankenstorm gave us a hair-raising look at the power of nature and the heartbreaking damage it can inflict. But it's critical to understand that such disasters are becoming more unnatural because of manmade climate change. Some types of extreme weather have already increased in power and frequency as our planet warms, as confirmed by the draft National Climate Assessment, a comprehensive scientific report authored by more than 240 experts, released last month.
The terrifying truth is that we face a future full of Frankenstorms. And that future will only worsen the longer we delay in making deep cuts in our carbon pollution. As a scientist and a mother, I urge President Obama to keep that critical fact firmly in mind as he ponders the future of Keystone XL.