Legislature(2017 - 2018)CAPITOL 106
04/12/2018 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
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| Start | |
| Presentation: Assessment of the Potential Health Impacts of Climate Change in Alaska | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
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| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
April 12, 2018
3:06 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Ivy Spohnholz, Chair
Representative Geran Tarr
Representative Jennifer Johnston
Representative Colleen Sullivan-Leonard
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Tiffany Zulkosky, Vice Chair
Representative Sam Kito
Representative David Eastman
Representative Matt Claman (alternate)
Representative Dan Saddler (alternate)
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION: ASSESSMENT OF THE POTENTIAL HEALTH IMPACTS OF
CLIMATE CHANGE IN ALASKA
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
SARAH YODER
Acting Environmental Public Health Program Manager
Division of Public Health
Department of Health and Social Services
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented a PowerPoint titled "Assessment
of the Potential Health Impacts of Climate Change in Alaska."
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:06:25 PM
CHAIR IVY SPOHNHOLZ called the House Health and Social Services
Standing Committee meeting to order at 3:06 p.m.
Representatives Spohnholz, Tarr, Sullivan-Leonard, and Johnston
were present at the call to order.
^Presentation: Assessment of the Potential Health Impacts of
Climate Change in Alaska
Presentation: Assessment of the Potential Health Impacts of
Climate Change in Alaska
3:06:51 PM
CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ announced that the only order of business would
be a presentation on the potential health impacts of climate
change in Alaska.
3:08:43 PM
The committee took an at-ease from 3:08 p.m. to 3:10 p.m.
3:10:06 PM
CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ brought the committee back to order.
3:10:27 PM
SARAH YODER, Acting Environmental Public Health Program Manager,
Division of Public Health, Department of Health and Social
Services, introduced a PowerPoint presentation, published in
January 2018, titled "Assessment of the Potential Health Impacts
of Climate Change in Alaska." She shared slide 2, "Overview,"
and said that she would present about the Health Impact
Assessment (HIA) because the report from Division of Public
Health follows this framework. She would also present a summary
of Observed and Predicted Changes and how these could lead to
potential health impacts in Alaska. She added that she would
also share some examples of monitoring and adaptation strategies
related to human health. She directed attention to slide 3,
"What is an HIA?" and explained that this report followed the
framework of an HIA, a preventative health report which informed
decision makers and other stakeholders, such as communities, for
the potential health effects of proposed projects. She said
that the ultimate goal of an HIA was to minimize adverse health
effects and maximize health benefits. She shared slide 4,
"Health Impact Assessment (HIA)," and stated that these were
also useful for proposals that fall outside the traditional
public health arenas, including transportation, resource
development, and climate change. She moved on to slide 5, "What
Prompted This HIA?" and explained that the 3rd National Climate
Assessment, in 2014, had detailed climate change predictions
with chapters focused on potential environmental impacts in
Alaska as well as potential impacts for human health and
indigenous populations. She declared that this national
assessment had inspired them to develop an in-depth report that
would tie together these themes to serve as a resource for
Alaska. She presented slide 6, "Purpose of This HIA," and
explained that this HIA would add health specific information to
the climate change conversation. It would provide a broad
overview of the range of potential adverse impacts of climate
change on human health in Alaska, as well as present examples of
strategies for communities and decision makers to consider.
3:13:30 PM
MS. YODER shared slide 7, "Areas Not Addressed by the HIA," and
noted that some areas were not addressed by this HIA, including
prevention of any new models of climate change, new predictions
of climate change in Alaska, or opinions about current
predictions. This report does not address the potential
beneficial health impacts of climate change.
3:14:05 PM
MS. YODER addressed slide 8, "Indicators," and reported that,
prior to a review of any potential health impacts, it was
necessary to form a clear picture of what changes had already
occurred and what were predicted to occur in the environment.
She listed the seven environmental indicators used to organize
the findings: temperature, precipitation, weather, sea ice,
glaciers, permafrost, and sea level. She stated that each of
these indicators would be discussed in the report and that these
were a compilation of available studies and not new predictions
generated by the Division of Public Health. She moved on to
slides 9 - 10, "Predicted Environmental Changes," sharing that
Alaska could experience an increase in annual temperatures,
increased precipitation and storm intensity, increased sea
level, decreased sea ice, glacial recession, and decreased
permafrost shifting hundreds of miles northward by the end of
the century. She pointed out that the timing for these changes
differed, from already occurring to decades in the future, and
that the scale of predicted changes would differ by region.
3:16:14 PM
CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ asked about the reference to drier summers.
MS. YODER explained that, although the prediction was for
increased precipitation, it would be constrained to winter and
spring, and less so for the summer. She added that there was a
prediction for an increase to the evaporation of surface water
due to increased temperatures.
3:16:51 PM
MS. YODER returned to slide 10 and focused on the potential
human health impact. She said that this demonstrated the
complex relationship between the climate drivers, including the
previously mentioned indicators, with the environment and health
outcome. She stated that the relationship between climate and
specific health outcomes was not always direct. She presented
slide 11, "Health Effect Categories," and stated that there was
a reliance on the HIA methodology to provide an organizational
framework to systematically consider the wide range of potential
health impacts, referred to as Health Effect Categories. She
said that the categories considered included mental health and
wellbeing, accidents and injuries, exposure to potentially
hazardous materials, and infectious diseases. She said that she
would highlight several key potential impacts in each Health
Effect Category.
REPRESENTATIVE SULLIVAN-LEONARD asked about information
pertaining to the regional areas in the state that may be more
affected than others, and she offered an example of the changes
to the Matanuska-Susitna Valley in the past 20 years.
MS. YODER explained that there was some discussion for regions,
although the categorization focused on coastal, northern, and
interior areas even as it was recognized for the differences
within each.
REPRESENTATIVE SULLIVAN-LEONARD asked for any additional
information.
MS. YODER reiterated that the focus was on Alaska predictions,
and included changes in the coastal, northern and interior
regions.
3:21:25 PM
MS. YODER directed attention to slide 12, "Mental Health and
Wellbeing," and reported that climate change could impact health
by causing an increase to psychosocial distress due to the
changing environment. She offered examples for the imminent
need for relocation of a community, thawing permafrost causing
infrastructure damage, or an increase in extreme weather events
and wildfire near a residence. She defined solastalgia as the
sense of loss caused by environmental change. She moved on to
slide 13, "Accidents and Injuries," and said that climate change
could lead to an increase due to factors or events such as
infrastructure damage, wildfires, flooding, and unsafe ice
conditions. Speaking about slide 14, "Exposure to Potentially
Hazardous Materials," she noted that climate change could bring
increased cardiovascular and respiratory disease due to an
increase in air pollution or wildfire smoke. She spoke about
slide 15, "Food, Nutrition, and Subsistence," and offered that
there could be a decrease in subsistence food consumption and
food security, as well as a change in food distribution and
subsistence patterns. She reported that there had been
increased difficulty for some Alaskans in accessing preferred
hunting grounds due to changing permafrost and uncertain ice
conditions. She presented slide 16, "Non-communicable and
Chronic Diseases," and noted that climate change could lead to
increased allergies and respiratory illness with an increase in
pollen counts and wildfire smoke. She shared slide 17, "Water
and Sanitation," and stated that climate change could cause
increased water and sanitation infrastructure damage.
3:27:10 PM
MS. YODER shared slide 18, "Rating/Prioritizing Impacts," and
explained that HIAs had ratings and prioritization of the health
impacts. As each community would likely experience climate
change differently, this proposed a ranking methodology that
could be adapted by communities and stakeholders. She said that
this report provided a system that considered the potential
timing and magnitude of the impact by looking at dimensions such
as time to impact, geographic extent, number of people directly
impacted, and resources needed to adapt or respond to the
impact. She moved on to slide 19, "Table 4. Notational
Example," which demonstrated that the system from the previous
slide was used to consider each identified potential health
impact. The table provided a visual guide to which potential
health impact may be more pertinent to the community, and which
may need more attention and higher prioritization. She noted
that this rating system could be useful when considering what
was to be done to avoid or lessen potential health impacts. She
moved on to slide 20, "Monitoring Recommendations," and stated
that knowing which impacts may need prioritization could help
determine appropriate monitoring recommendations and identify
data to improve situational awareness of changes in specific
indicators. She reported that the Local Environmental Observer
(LEO) Network was an online platform developed for local
observers to connect with topical experts about unusual animal,
environmental, and weather events. She addressed slide 21,
"Monitoring Recommendations Table," which showed a portion of
the monitoring recommendation table and it outlined the
potential health impact, identified relevant indicators, and
provided examples of where the data may exist.
3:31:23 PM
MS. YODER shared slide 22, "Adaptation Strategies," which
considered climate change adaptation as adjusting to climatic
changes in an effort to decrease negative impacts and increase
potential opportunities. She moved on to slide 23, "Overarching
Adaptation Strategies," which detailed some of the adaptation
strategies that communities and other stakeholders could
consider in terms of health. These were general strategies such
as creating local climate change advisory groups and offering
community members ample opportunity to relay their concerns
about climate change. She spoke about slide 24, "HEC-Specific
Adaptation Strategies," which included specific strategies such
as a review of architecture and engineering designs to ensure
that plumbing infrastructure could withstand changes to the
underlying permafrost and to develop a community response plan
for wildfires. She explained slide 25, "HEC-Specific Adaptation
Strategy Table," which presented a portion of the adaptation
strategies specific to each health effect category.
3:33:38 PM
MS. YODER described slides 26, 27, & 28, "Adaptation Strategies
Already Occurring," which included the Alaska Climate Change
Strategy and Climate Action for Leadership Team, a framework for
Alaskans to build a strategic response to climate change. She
shared another example at the regional level, Adapt Alaska,
which created a discussion space for Alaska communities, tribes,
agencies, and nonprofits to share information and learn from
each other and how they can adapt. She offered a community
level example, the Native Village of Georgetown on a climate
vulnerability assessment in 2017, which documented climate
related changes and trends in the area.
3:35:54 PM
MS. YODER closed with slide 29, "Summary," and the relationship
between climate and health in Alaska, with strategies that
communities and other stakeholders could consider. She
emphasized that, although there was a wide range of potential
adverse health impacts in Alaska due to climate change, there
were strategies that could be implemented to avoid or minimize
these potential health impacts.
3:36:52 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SULLIVAN-LEONARD asked about the determination
for geographic and scientifically inclined changes versus human
changes in Alaska.
MS. YODER asked if this was due to humans or natural change for
human populations.
REPRESENTATIVE SULLIVAN-LEONARD asked for the scientific natural
occurrence in the changes to our environment.
MS. YODER explained that the report focused primarily on climate
predictions for Alaska using national studies, as well as
studies in Alaska. It did not focus on the cause of change.
REPRESENTATIVE SULLIVAN-LEONARD reflected on earlier coastal
changes when groups were nomadic, and moved as necessary. She
opined that it was now more difficult to move.
3:39:06 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR asked if there was a need for future funding
now that the risks had been determined.
MS. YODER said that the future efforts to address health and
adaptation would be up to the respective agencies and
communities to develop their priorities. She mused that the
Climate Action for Alaska Leadership team may be better suited
to determine the next step and the necessary funding.
REPRESENTATIVE TARR asked about her day to day work.
MS. YODER explained that this was not her full-time
responsibility, although she did pay attention to the new
studies and literature, and they were compiling any new data.
REPRESENTATIVE TARR asked if anyone else at Department of Health
and Social Services was looking at climate related health
impacts.
MS. YODER said that she was not aware of anyone else, although
she was attending other meetings for Arctic and climate. She
mentioned that Dr. Joe Mclaughlin, Chief of Epidemiology, was
also following the studies.
3:42:06 PM
CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ asked if there was going to be a more specific
strategy.
MS. YODER acknowledged that the report was a high-level
discussion of potential human health impacts, as it was intended
to be guidance for communities and other stake holders to
develop their response to climate change.
CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ asked if anyone was monitoring or participating
in the Governor's Climate Action for Alaska Leadership team.
MS. YODER said that she had attended meetings as she was able
and was staying as involved as possible.
3:44:32 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Health and Social Services Standing Committee meeting was
adjourned at 3:44 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HHSS Climate and Health Presentation 04102018 (handouts).pdf |
HHSS 4/12/2018 3:00:00 PM |
Climate Change & Health |
| HHSS Climate and Health Presentation 04102018 (slides).pdf |
HHSS 4/12/2018 3:00:00 PM |
Climate Change & Health |