Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-372) and index.

More severe storms and rising seas will inexorably push the American coastline inland with profound impact on communities, infrastructure, and natural systems. In A New Coast, Jeffrey Peterson draws a comprehensive picture of how storms and rising seas will change the coast. Peterson offers a clear-eyed assessment of how governments can work with the private sector and citizens to be better prepared for the coming coastal inundation. Drawing on four decades of experience at the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Senate, Peterson presents the science behind predictions for coastal impacts. He explains how current policies fall short of what is needed to effectively prepare for these changes and how the Trump Administration has significantly weakened these efforts. While describing how and why the current policies exist, he builds a strong case for a bold, new approach, tackling difficult topics including: how to revise flood insurance and disaster assistance programs; when to step back from the coast rather than build protection structures; how to steer new development away from at-risk areas; and how to finance the transition to a new coast. Key challenges, including how to protect critical infrastructure, ecosystems, and disadvantaged populations, are examined. Ultimately, Peterson offers hope in the form of a framework of new national policies and programs to support local and state governments. He calls for engagement from the private sector and local and national leaders in a "campaign for a new coast." A New Coast is a compelling assessment of the dramatic changes that are coming to America's coast. Peterson offers insights and strategies for policymakers, planners, and business leaders preparing for the intensifying impacts of climate change along the coast. Part I. A Warming Climate Drives Coastal Storms and Rising Seas. Coastal Storms, Coastal Nightmare ; Sea Level Rise Projections: Trending Upward ; Measuring a Shifting Coast -- Part II. Storms and Rising Seas Disrupt the American Coast. Scale and Cost of the Coming Inundation ; Coastal Storm and Sea Level Rise Risks to Critical Infrastructure ; Coastal Ecosystems Facing Inundation: Wetlands and Beaches ; Private Sector Losses as Seas Rise: Tourism, Fishing, and Energy -- Part III. A Nation Unprepared for Coastal Storms and Rising Seas. The Politics of Coastal Storms and Rising Seas ; National Flood Insurance Program: Coastal Misdirection ; Coastal Disaster Planning: Preparing for the Wrong Hazard ; Coastal Management Problems: Overcommitted and Underfunded ; National Planning for Climate Change: An Answer to Coastal Inundation? -- Part IV. States, Communities, and Businesses Cope with Coastal Storms and Rising Seas. Novel Challenges of Storms and Rising Seas ; State and Community Choices in Preparing for a Changing Coast ; Relocation: Often the Inevitable Choice ; Social and Psychological Dimensions of Coastal Storms and Rising Seas ; Business Community Response to Coastal Risks -- Part V. Campaign for a New Coast. Framework for a National Storm and Sea Level Rise Program ; Funding Coastal Storm and Sea Level Rise Preparedness ; Campaign for a New Coast.