TAMPA, FL — When it was founded in 1939 on 5,767 acres at the tip of a peninsula with Old Tampa Bay on one side, Hillsborough Bay on the other and Tampa Bay in between, sustainability and rising sea levels were hardly a concern for the developers of MacDill Air Force Base.
However, in the coming years, MacDill Air Force Base could find itself swamped. The base already contains 906 acres of wetlands and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the Air Force base is vulnerable to rising sea levels due to climate change as well as flooding from hurricanes and tropical storms.
NOAA predicts that the base, which sits just 14 feet above sea level, will progressively shrink during the next 50 years due to rising sea levels between 11 inches and 2.5 feet by the year 2050 and 1.9 to 8.5 feet by the year 2100.
To help prevent this or at least slow the process, the Department of Defense has awarded the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council a grant to respond to the threat.
According to the American Security Project, the Pentagon has acknowledged that the base, which plays an important role in national security as the headquarters for the U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command and U.S. Southern Command, is at risk of being inundated by the waters of Tampa Bay.
In fact, the military ranks eight Florida bases, MacDill included, as among the most threatened in the country by climate change.
The 18-month, $570,000 grant is designed to examine the long-term resilience and sustainability of MacDill Air Force Base and its surrounding community.
The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council will complete a Military Installation Resilience Review, analyzing risks and future climate conditions, and recommend actions to protect and enhance the military installation's resilience and sustainability.
"I am excited for the regional planning council's collaboration with MacDill Air Force Base," said Brandi Gabbard, regional planning council chair and St. Petersburg Council vice chair. "This grant provides an important vehicle to our continued regional resiliency planning work, and the military installation review can be shared with other military base communities, furthering resiliency planning across the nation."
The Military Installation Resilience Review builds on existing initiatives and studies, like the energy installation plan that assessed the base's energy infrastructure in November 2019. From this assessment, $22 million was allocated for energy infrastructure to withstand extreme weather events and sea level rise.
With the grant, the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council will provide a roadmap that addresses vulnerabilities, as well as actions and an implementation strategy to address resiliency.
"MacDill Air Force Base is an important part of the region," said Harry Cohen, regional planning council member and Hillsborough County commissioner. "Resilience is a critical piece to ensuring military readiness and installation integrity."
"Extreme weather events and sea level rise can threaten the region's critical infrastructure," said Joseph Citro, regional planning council and Tampa City Council member. "This grant is yet another example of the work that the regional planning council is doing to lead and coordinate planning for our region's future."
The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council brings together governments to coordinate planning for the community's future and provide an opportunity for sharing solutions among the local government jurisdictions in the Tampa Bay region.
The TBRPC works with six counties and 21 municipalities as they make long-range plans related to the future of the Tampa Bay region.
The council's work focuses on resiliency, planning for climate change and sea level rise, environmental management, water quality, emergency preparedness planning, protection and restoration of the Tampa Bay estuary, economic analysis, coastal zone management, housing and infrastructure analysis, development of regional impact review, local government comprehensive plan reviews, dispute resolution and reviews of transportation plans.