Congressman Brown Fights to Ensure Clean Beaches
Press Release
Congressman Brown Fights to Ensure Clean Beaches
Yesterday, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure adopted language co-written by Congressman Henry Brown to ensure that tourist destinations receive sufficient funding under the Environmental Protection Agency's beach water quality monitoring programs. This program tests beach water for disease causing pollutants and notifies the public of these test results, ensuring that beach goers have a safe, healthy and enjoyable visit.
The EPA's current funding system ignores the increased pressures placed upon states and communities who see a large number of tourists every year by basing beach use on population rather than the number of people who visit the beaches. Language authored by Congressman Brown, along with Representative Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey and Representative Candice Miller of Michigan requires the EPA to study their current funding system to better align the resources given to states with their needs, especially as it relates to how many people are actually coming to enjoy a state's beaches.
Following today's Committee action, Congressman Brown made the following remarks:
"Ensuring that the beach-going experience is a healthy and enjoyable one for all visitors to our beaches is a priority I am proud to share with our community. The EPA's current formula is not an adequate way to direct funding where there is the most risk. I am thankful this bill will require an examination of this flawed funding formula so as to improve the quality of South Carolina and America's beaches."
South Carolina's many beaches attract millions of tourists each year. In Horry County alone, 13 million tourists come to Myrtle Beach and surrounding communities every year, spending over $2 billion at local businesses.
This legislation would also ensure that states have and are utilizing rapid testing methods, which can test beach water in only a few hours, and that results are made available to the public within 24 hours. Additionally, under this legislation, states would be permitted to use funds for the identification of beach water pollutants and investigation into the causes of beach pollution and closures, setting the stage for future efforts to fix these problems.
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