STORMS, FLOODING AND SEA LEVEL DEFENSE CONFERENCE 2024

DATE:  Tuesday November 12th, 2024

LOCATION: Scotts Seafood, Oakland California

8:00 CALL TO ORDER

Stas Margaronis, Propeller Club of Northern California (MC)

8:10 WELCOME

Kristi McKenney, Chief Operating Officer, Port of Oakland

Captain Jordan Baldueza, U.S. Coast Guard, Commander Sector San Francisco, Captain of the Port

Mike Jacob, President, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association

Arvind Acharya, Past President, Society of American Military Engineers (S.F. Post)

Michael McCormick, Director, Bay Area Climate Adaptation Network (BayCAN) & Neena Mohan, Staff, Bay Area Climate Adaptation Network (BayCAN)

9:00 U.S. SINKING CITIES & PORTS

Randy Truby, President, RL Truby & Associates, California-based desalination consultant and former President of the International Desalination Association, “Desalination Strategies to Replenish Water Tables and Reduce Coastal Subsidence”

For reference please see: “Disappearing cities on US coasts”

9:30 CALIFORNIA PORT REPORTS

Kristine Zortman, Executive Director, Port of Redwood City

Adrienne Newbold, Assistant Chief Harbor Engineer at Port of Los Angeles

Adam Varat, Deputy Program Manager – Planning, Waterfront Resilience Program, Port of San Francisco

Jan Novak, Associate Planner and Scientist, Environmental Programs and Planning, Port of Oakland

Justin Luedy, Senior Environmental Specialist, Port of Long Beach

Giles Pettifor, Director of Sustainability and Environment, Port of Hueneme

10:30 – 10:45 BREAK

10:45 FLOOD & SLR IMPACTS & ACTION IN BAY AREA COMMUNITIES

Moderator: Sarah Atkinson, Hazard Resilience Senior Policy Manager, SPUR (San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research)

Carly Finkle, Senior Policy Manager, Canal Alliance

Osvaldo Macias, Environmental Justice Fellow, Nuestra Casa

Zoe Siegel, Senior Director of Climate Resilience, Greenbelt Alliance

11:45 REGIONAL SHORELINE ADAPTATION PLANNING

Moderator Summer Bundy, Climate Change Adaptation & Coastal Resilience Regional Sector Leader, Stantec 

Jessica Fain, Director of Planning BCDC

Gail Payne, Project Manager, City of Alameda

Colleen Liang, Director of Environmental Programs and Planning, Port of Oakland, Rising Seas and Oakland’s Infrastructure and Frontline Communities: Climate Adaptation Planning for Neighborhood-led Resiliency Project

12:45 LUNCH 

Luncheon Speaker: Suzanne Plezia, Chief Harbor Engineer, Port of Long Beach, ‘Pier Wind’ Offshore Wind Project. Introduced by Sarp Ersoylu of Burns & McDonnell.

Note: Conference sponsors will be introduced at lunch

2:00 SPECIAL REPORT: EXTREME CLIMATE CHANGE DESK FOR THE S.F. MARINE EXCHANGE

Scott Humphrey, Moderator, Executive Director, Marine Exchange of the SF Bay Region and Chair Harbor Safety Committee.

Henry Ruhl, Director of CENCOOS (Central & Northern California Ocean Observing System)

Alexander Parker, Dean, School of Letters and Sciences & Professor of Oceanography, California State University, Maritime Academy

Paul Schulman, UC Berkeley Professor Infrastructure Resiliency

2:30 WEATHER FORECASTING & FLOOD ADAPTATION 

Brian Garcia, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Robert Butchart, Ports and Harbor Emergency Services Coordinator at the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES)

Stendert Laan, Environmental Hydrodynamics, Deltares, Introducing FloodAdapt

Kevin Roche, Research Engineer & Quantum Ambassador, IBM Research Almaden

Emily Parker, Senior Route Analyst, Storm Geo

3:30– 3:45 BREAK

3:45 NATURE BASED SOLUTIONS FOR ADAPTATION AND RESILIENCE

Moderator: Ellen Johnck, Ellen Johnck Consulting

Tami Church, Environmental Planning Section Chief, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco District

Brenda Goeden, Sediment Program Manager, Bay Conservation and Development Commission

Peter Dreyfuss, Managing Director, Watermaster North America

4:45 CONCLUSION

Stas Margaronis, Propeller Club of Northern California

5:30 NETWORKING & RECEPTION