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ARTICLE · 18 FEBRUARY 2022

When It Comes To Coastal Resilience, Late Isn't Better Than Never!

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
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Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.

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It is one of the most well worn maxims in the English language: better late than never!

United StatesEnvironment
Jeffrey Porter
Jeffrey Porter
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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That has me thinking that, when it comes to reforming the outdated Massachusetts regulations that make it harder to increase the resilience of our coastline than it is in any other New England state, late is not better than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.

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