Sea levels are expected to rise 5 to 8 feet by the end of the century.  We have to start planning now which roads to move, which facilities to protect, which parts of the coastline to harden, which parts to retreat from.  How do we create new beaches to ensure public access to the ocean?  How do we compensate homeowners who will be forbidden to harden their beachfronts?  In the coming decades this process is going to cost billions of dollars.  The sooner we start planning, the less it is going to cost.  The idea that the Office of Climate Change is going to be “the first casualty” has to be knocked on its head.