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Introduction and Background
In 2021, the Gulf Research Program (GRP)1 of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine sponsored a two-year consensus study, Managed Retreat in the U.S. Gulf Coast Region, to learn about and respond to the unique challenges associated with managed retreat. The Board on Environmental Change and Society in the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Education convened a committee of experts to provide in-depth analysis and identify short- and long-term steps for Gulf Coast communities that may need to relocate. This study is part of the GRP’s interest in developing a research agenda for their future programming and relevant fields of study, such as those that address the complexities inherent in relocation as an adaptive strategy to climate change within and beyond the Gulf coast.
As part of this study, the committee convened a series of three public workshops in 2022 in the Gulf Coast region to gather information for the consensus report. Each workshop focused on policy and practice considerations, research and data needs, and community engagement strategies. One of the workshops’ principal objectives was to elevate the voices of communities and individuals contemplating, resisting, undertaking, or facing barriers to relocation (including systemic issues such as structural racism),
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1 The GRP was established in 2013 from criminal settlement funds from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and is intended to “advance and apply science, engineering, and public health knowledge to reduce risks from offshore oil spills and will enable the communities of the Gulf to better anticipate, mitigate, and recover from future disasters.” For more information on the Gulf Research program see https://www.nationalacademies.org/gulf/about
as well as individuals who have resettled and communities receiving such individuals. Each workshop included community testimonials and panels of local decision makers and experts discussing processes and obstacles communities encounter concerning the study’s “Statement of Task” (refer to Box 1-1).
The consensus committee selected three locations across the Gulf region. Collectively, these regions represent diverse issues associated with managed retreat and diversity in demographics, including population size. The first workshop was held in two parts in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas. The second workshop was held in St. Petersburg, Florida. The third workshop was held in two parts in Thibodaux and Houma, Louisiana. This proceedings recounts the first workshop in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.2
PURPOSE OF THE WORKSHOP
On June 8–9, 2022, the study committee convened a two-part workshop in the Gulf region of Texas. The first part of the workshop, “Buyouts and Other Forms of Strategic Relocation in Greater Houston, Texas,” was held on June 8, in Houston’s Greenspoint area. The second part of the workshop, “Strategic Relocation and Environmental Perception: Community Perspectives from Port Arthur, Texas,” was held on June 9, in Port Arthur, Texas.
To address the study’s Statement of Task the committee enlisted the assistance of three community-based organizations (CBOs). These were the Coalition for Environment, Equity, and Resilience (CEER), a regional coalition of twenty-five member organizations based in Houston;3 the Black United Fund of Texas Inc. (BUFTX), a statewide organization based in Houston;4 and the Community In-Power and Development Association Inc. (CIDA), a local organization based in Port Arthur.5 These CBOs assisted the committee in identifying residents, local officials and leaders, and other experts to participate in the workshop activities concerning buyouts, other forms of strategic relocation, and perceptions of environmental risks and hazards in the Greater Houston area and Port Arthur, Texas.6 The workshop was designed to highlight diverse perspectives and multiple areas of
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2 Additional details about the workshops are available at https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/managed-retreat-in-the-us-gulf-coast-region
3 More information about CEER is available at https://ceerhouston.org/media-kit#9f85deae-4ed2-4038-824c-39187ca4423e
4 More information about BUFTX is available at https://www.buftx.org/about-buftx.html
5 More information about CIDA is available at https://www.cidainc.org/
6 Additional details about the workshop are available at https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/06-08-2022/managed-retreat-in-the-us-gulf-coast-region-workshop-1 including an archived webcast of the first day of the workshop.
expertise held by individuals and communities involved in conversations about adapting to environmental hazards.
The committee felt strongly about fully understanding the complex and variable array of perspectives in affected communities, including those associated with mandatory and voluntary buyout programs, other forms of strategic relocation, local decision-making processes, public engagement efforts, and the implications of equity on displacement and relocation. Participants were selected based on planning discussions with committee members and informational calls in which participants and National Academies staff members identified areas of expertise and experiences that would be particularly relevant to the workshop and the broader study.
ORGANIZATION OF THE WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS
This proceedings summarizes the presentations and discussions highlighted during the workshop. Proceedings may not contain any consensus analysis or views of the committee on the underlying subject matter of the workshop. Proceedings may contain particular viewpoints attributed to individual participants or groups of participants in the workshop, if these attributions can be adequately documented and if the viewpoints are reasonable statements for inclusion in a National Academies proceedings.
The organization of this proceedings is as follows: Chapter 2 summarizes the presentations and panel discussions from part one in Houston, Texas, on June 8, while Chapter 3 provides a recap of the participants’ perspectives in affected communities in Port Arthur, Texas, during part two on June 9. Chapter 3 concludes with closing remarks of the second part of the workshop. The workshop agenda and biographies of participants and moderators are presented in Appendixes A and B, respectively.
