Earl Blumenauer: “I would suggest that if people really are serious about preserving the beaches, that maybe this Chamber could be more…”

“I would suggest that if people really are serious about preserving the beaches, that maybe this Chamber could be more serious about global climate change, the rising level of oceans, because what we are talking about with beach nourishment, if what the scientific experts tell us is accurate, we may be fighting an uphill battle. I would duly suggest that maybe suggesting allowing the Bush administration an opportunity to revisit these issues is not something that is a radical and extreme position. It is one of these areas where there is a convergence, I think, of fiscal conservatism and thoughtful environmentalism. It is true that sometimes there are rocks that occur on beaches. There is a natural ebb and flow. We have it in beaches in Oregon. What we have done, however, in our infinite wisdom, is we continue to fortify the beaches, to engineer them, to put up jetties, to put in sand, to disrupt the process, so actually it ends up making it worse over time. The Federal taxpayer is on the hook. We mess up the natural process of restoring the beaches, and when we are further looking at changes that are a natural part of the environmental process, we just make it worse.”