Strengthening Coastal Communities Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, today the Senate passed H.R. 5787, the Strengthening Coastal Communities Act of 2018, by unanimous consent. This legislation adds new acres to the Coastal Barrier Resources System, which Congress established through bipartisan legislation in 1982.

I yield to my distinguished colleague, the Senator from Delaware, ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, the Senator from Delaware is correct about this use of digital maps. Under H.R. 5787, Congress does not intend to prevent the use of these tools or data to assist in the implementation of the Coastal Barrier Resources Act. Congress intends to ensure the integrity of the system maps and the rule of law. Congress intends that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service be permitted to continue to make determinations as to whether a location is inside or outside of the Coastal Barrier Resources System with the assistance of Geographic Information Systems and any digital boundary data that were used to create the Coastal Barrier Resources System maps.

In cases where properties or project sites are located close to a system boundary, due to the scale of the official maps or age of the underlying base maps, the assistance of various digital tools and data may be needed in order to ensure that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service makes accurate determinations. Congress intends that those determinations are based on a printed, hard copy version of an applicable digital map.

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