Don't close door on seagates

There are many reasons to view with suspicion a cut in federal funding that has halted an Army Corps of Engineers study on how best to defend New York City from coastal storm surges like the one unleashed by superstorm Sandy.

The amount of money, less than $3 million, is small in the scheme of federal funding. But the stakes are huge, given Sandy's devastation and the reality that storms are more frequent and growing more intense in an era of climate change.

Why eliminate the funding and stall the study in midstream?

Is it part of the ongoing campaign of punitive actions the Trump administration is taking against New York? The list includes cutting Medicaid funding, removing New York from "trusted traveler" programs over lack of access to the state's DMV database, and capping state and local income tax deductions in the 2017 tax revamp. Even the "planned" diversion of dredges doing emergency repairs on Long Island's South Shore down to Florida to do nonemergency work near President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort looks suspect. Yes, similar preparedness funding cuts were made for seven other studies but they, too, are all in similarly Democratic-run states.

Is it part of the Trump administration’s skepticism of climate change and one of its most problematic manifestations, rising seas? Trump's mocking tweet — that one option being studied, a $119-billion sea wall outside New York Harbor, was "foolish" and "looks terrible" and that New Yorkers should "get your mops & buckets ready" — puts that into play.

To be clear, we really are not at all sure that massive sea walls are the answer. Where tried elsewhere they have had a mixed record, and could trap behind them sewage and toxins from high tides and storm runoff. Communities just outside the walls, including Nassau County's North Shore, could bear the brunt of the deflected water from  a proposed sea wall near the Throgs Neck Bridge.  All of which means all options, including effective methods like berms and wetlands restoration, must be studied.

But it's critical to understand that efforts to mitigate storm surges will fail if the root cause is not addressed. Without strong action on climate change, seas will continue to rise. Army Corps projections of that rise are notoriously conservative and likely far too low.  Last month, as temperatures in Antarctica hit record highs, Australian researchers reported that a little more than 100,000 years ago the melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet alone caused seas to rise 6 feet — thanks to a temperature increase of less than 2 degrees Celsius. Absent drastic action, scientists say, the world is on track to hit that mark again. And walls built today likely will be inadequate, which means billions of dollars and precious time will have been wasted.

So by all means study these sea walls — and bravo to Sen. Chuck Schumer for working to restore the funding. But understand: There is a bigger fight. 

— The editorial board