In the Opinion section of the April 23 Press Herald, Chelsea Henderson voices her support for Sen. Angus King’s “grilling” of National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard on the vulnerability of our nation’s naval facilities to sea level rise caused by, of course, global warming.

As an example, Ms. Henderson warns us that sea level rise seriously threatens the Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia and supports the spending of $2.6 billion to prepare for even greater sea level rise in the future. Only a bit of internet searching is needed to reveal that the real problem in the Norfolk area, as well as the entire Hampton Roads region, is the ground appears to be subsiding faster than the ocean is rising.

According to recent scientific research out of Virginia Tech University, based on 15 years of study, land in the entire Hampton Roads region, which includes Norfolk, is sinking at about twice the rate that waters are rising. Ground subsidence is not a new “discovery.”

It is a well-known phenomenon affecting many Eastern Seaboard coastal regions, including the entire Chesapeake Bay region. Groundwater extraction for municipal and industrial water purposes is a common cause, and it is noteworthy that Norfolk has historically obtained a significant part of its water supply from a system of deep groundwater wells.

These days it is popular to blame pretty much everything on “climate change,” and then spend large amounts of money to “combat” it. Doesn’t it make sense, when spending billions of dollars, that we’re “combating” the right “enemy”?

John Devine
Portland