Bolstering Ecosystems Against Coastal Harm Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5490, the Bolstering Ecosystems Against Coastal Harm Act, or BEACH Act.

As background, the bipartisan 1982 Coastal Barrier Resources Act established the John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System to identify hazard-prone coastal areas along the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Great Lakes coasts where development should not be encouraged.

The Federal Government had been subsidizing and encouraging development on coastal barriers, resulting in the loss of natural resources; threats to human life, health, and property; and the expenditure of millions of tax dollars each year.

The Coastal Barrier Resources Act, or CBRA, sought to stop this cycle of risky investments in undeveloped areas.

Deterring overly high levels of development on coastal barriers is even more critical now because, as we all should know, the climate crisis is upon us. These areas face increased risks from sea-level rise, flooding, erosion, storm surge, and more intense and frequent coastal storms.

In 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service started updating the CBRA system maps in the States affected by Hurricane Sandy: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Virginia, and my home State of New York. Together, these areas comprise 42 percent of the total existing units and 16 percent of the entire current acreage of the system.

The modernized maps correct errors affecting property owners. They add new qualifying areas to the system. They provide more accurate and accessible data for planning coastal infrastructure projects, habitat conservation efforts, and flood risk mitigation measures.

The bill we are discussing today would amend CBRA by enacting the Hurricane Sandy maps, requiring disclosure to prospective buyers that a property is in the system, and clarifying Federal expenditures in certain areas.

It would also direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to study how coastal barriers are moving and changing because of climate change, which will inform future work by Congress and the Service to make sure the Coastal Barrier Resources Act continues to protect coastal communities from hazards.

The policies and language contained in the bill are the culmination of years of work by Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate, as well as the Fish and Wildlife Service and stakeholders. The text was carefully negotiated so that this bill could pass through both Chambers and be signed by the President before the end of this year.

Mr. Speaker, I commend the bill's sponsors, Representative Kiggans and Blunt-Rochester, for their thoughtful work.

I would like to note for the record that one provision in this carefully negotiated text resulted in considerable back and forth with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is our committee's understanding, based on conversations with the Army Corps, that the amendment to the Coastal Barrier Resources Act included in section 104(1)(B) of the bill applies to the following four projects: one, the Townsends Inlet to Cape May Inlet, New Jersey project for coastal storm risk management and emergency response purposes; two, the Folly Beach, South Carolina, coastal storm risk management project; three, the Carolina Beach and vicinity, North Carolina coastal storm risk management project; and, four, the Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, coastal storm risk management project.

To the best of the Corps' knowledge, no other projects would be included now or in the future.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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