Political Quotes

“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.…”