It is one of the most well worn maxims in the English language: better late than never! But yesterday the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report concluding that the waters off the coast of Massachusetts could rise between 2 and 7 feet in our children's lifetimes meaning catastrophic flooding of our coastal communities several times a year.

That has me thinking that, when it comes to reforming the outdated Massachusetts regulations that make it harder to increase the resilience of our coastline than it is in any other New England state, late is not better than never.

The Massachusetts regulations, based on the now seemingly romantic notion that it is best to just let nature take its course, flat out prohibit what are defined as "coastal engineering structures" in the places in which they are most urgently needed.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's definition of prohibited "coastal engineering structures" includes, "but is not limited to, any breakwater, bulkhead, groin, jetty, revetment, seawall, weir, riprap or any other structure that is designed to alter wave, tidal or sediment transport processes in order to protect inland or upland structures from the effects of such processes."

A zealous Massachusetts DEP hearing officer has interpreted this too broad in any event definition to even prohibit "engineering structures" like burlap envelopes filled with sand anchored by wood pilings. I probably don't need to tell you how DEP feels about more resilient protective measures.

I'm with the Executive Director of Boston's Green Ribbon Commission. This NOAA report, coming as it does in an election year, provides us an urgent prompt to ask ourselves whether we are moving fast enough and comprehensively enough to meet the monumental challenge presented by our GHG supercharged climate.   To me, the answer is most certainly no. What say you Gubernatorial candidates Healey, Chang-Diaz, Diehl and Doughty? 

“The NOAA report is an opportunity to refresh the urgency of what we already know, and ask ourselves whether we are moving fast enough to meet the threat to people, neighborhoods, and the economy in Boston,” said Amy Longsworth, executive director of the Green Ribbon Commission.