Harley Rouda: “I commend my colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee and the authors of the bill's various provisions and…”

“I commend my colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee and the authors of the bill's various provisions and amendments for their work on H.R. 729, the Coastal and Great Lakes Communities Enhancement Act. I am proud to support this critical bill aimed at equipping coastal and great lakes communities with the tools they need to enhance resiliency planning efforts; implement forward- thinking solutions to address intense climate impacts; and ensure a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable future. Orange County is ground zero for the climate crisis. Families living on the coast know that rising sea-levels, frequent flooding, coastal erosion, and increasingly severe weather events are a clear and present danger to our lives and livelihoods. This legislation protects and preserves coastline, helps communities create and enact resiliency measures, and improves ocean monitoring and research. Climate change is here, and we must continue to take bold and swift action to protect coastal communities. The first of my two amendments to the Coastal and Great Lakes Communities Enhancement act authorizes a prize competition to stimulate innovation to advance coastal risk and resilience measures. My second amendment requires the development of a catalog of research on applicable coastal risk reduction and resilience measures to evaluate effectiveness, eliminate redundancies, encourage cooperation, and make research findings available to the public.…”