Political Quotes

“In my concluding moments, we also will have a Coburn amendment on striking section 2030 on the beach nourishment extension. I think it is very important that this be defeated because many of these existing projects provide critical storm damage protection for coastal communities which require periodic nourishment to maintain this protection. There are dozens of important shoreline protection projects around the country that it benefits that exceed the costs. Hurricane Sandy demonstrated that Federal shoreline protection projects fared better against the storm surge than other areas impacted by the storm. We have seen this. Where there was beach nourishment, they had a lot less damage and people were spared. So in our work on WRDA, the EPW Committee held hearings on the corps' flood and storm damage reduction projects. We received testimony from local communities such as Ocean City, MD, which highlighted the hundreds of millions of dollars in damages avoided by these projects. Section 2030 in WRDA 2013 does not provide a blanket extension of all beach nourishment and shore protections. The section simply allows the corps to study projects and to make a recommendation to Congress. I don't know why we would want to stop this since we know, after Hurricane Sandy, some of these projects have cost-benefit for the people--for the taxpayers.…”