Bacon's Rebellion

By Derrick Max

For several years now, Virginians have been told that the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) is necessary to save Virginia and is a necessary step to save the planet. We’ve been told that rising seas, worsening storms, and other supposedly catastrophic impacts of man-made climate change justify a radical restructuring of Virginia’s entire energy system. But what if that very premise — the idea of accelerating climate danger — rests on faulty or potentially unreliable data? 

A recent peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering entitled, “A Global Perspective on Local Sea Level Changes” cuts right to the heart of the green extreme narrative. Contrary to the drumbeat of alarm, the Dutch researchers found no evidence that sea level rise has accelerated due to climate change. Sea levels have been inching upward since the end of the last Ice Age, but the data shows no sudden spike in recent decades. If rising seas are not accelerating, then the doomsday clock that climate advocates use to justify economy-wrecking mandates simply isn’t ticking as loudly or as fast as they claim. 

Nowhere is this misunderstanding more evident than in Hampton Roads and Norfolk, often held up as “ground zero” for sea level rise in Virginia. What is rarely mentioned is that much of the measured change there is the result of land subsidence (the ground itself is sinking) rather than oceans rapidly rising. That distinction matters. It means local challenges in Norfolk are largely geological and infrastructural, not evidence of global climate collapse.  

Streets in Norfolk routinely flood during heavy rains and tides, and the region’s naval installations are grappling with the need for improved stormwater management and hardened infrastructure. These are serious local concerns, but they stem from subsiding land and aging drainage systems, not accelerating global sea rise. Addressing them requires targeted investments in drainage, stormwater systems, and coastal defenses, projects that could be undertaken for a few billion dollars, far less than the $20 billion or more Dominion plans to sink into offshore wind (including a yet to be started Phase II).