June 28 forum to focus on future of America’s energy coast

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

As a densely populated coastal city on a low floodplain with an eroding coastline and critical energy infrastructure, Houston could be vulnerable to manmade and natural disasters.

A June 28 forum at Rice will discuss whether Houston and Harris County can adapt to changes in the sea level’s rise and sustain their energy and economic assets.

The Blue Ribbon Resilient Communities Forum: Envisioning the Future of America’s Energy Coast will be hosted by Rice’s Shell Center for Sustainability and presented by America’s WETLAND Foundation in the Grand Hall at Rice Memorial Center from 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Among the speakers will be Buddy Garcia, commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality; Jay Dardenne, lieutenant governor of Louisiana; John Anderson, academic director of the Shell Center and Rice’s W. Maurice Ewing Professor in Oceanography; and R. King Milling, chair of America’s WETLAND Foundation.

Rice faculty, staff and students who want to attend must RSVP to ms@mcopr.com or call 866-4WETLAND. The forum will be webcast live at http://edtech.rice.edu/www/?option=com_iwebcast&task=webcast&action=details&event=2543.

For more on the forum, visit shellcenter.rice.edu.