Federal Coastal Storm Risk Management Projects

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. ROUZER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 524, a bill I introduced to amend the Coastal Barrier Resources Act to create an exemption for certain shoreline borrow sites.

This legislation, which passed the House Natural Resources Committee unanimously, resolves an issue for a handful of coastal communities that have unique and longstanding beach nourishment project borrow sites.

For background, the Coastal Barrier Resources Act of 1982 created certain protected coastal zones, known as CBRA zones, along the Atlantic, Gulf, and coasts of the Great Lakes.

Under that law, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prohibits Federal investment in these areas due to the risk associated with coastal natural disasters. While this is intended to protect human life and taxpayer dollars, in a few select cases for which this bill is focused, a recent revision of implementation has inadvertently created uncertainty for these longstanding projects necessary to keep these coastal communities safe during storms.

For example, and as has already been cited, Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, which is in my district, has been utilizing sand from Masonboro Inlet for their beach nourishment project for more than 50 years. The natural erosion of sand from the beach is guided by the current and continually deposits south of the beach in Masonboro Inlet.

Every 4 years, just like clockwork, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has dredged the inlet of this sand and returned it to Wrightsville Beach.

For 50 years, this natural cycle has served as a reliable ecological borrow site for our coastal community and, by the way, is home to an abundance of wildlife. Placement of the sand solidifies the dunes and berms, creating a natural protective barrier for the community that protects both property and life. This process has been the most cost- effective and ecologically friendly for other coastal communities with similar natural erosion cycles as well.

To share a little more history for perspective, CBRA zones eliminated the use of these natural borrow sites for nourishment purposes with the enactment of the 1982 law. However, shortly after enactment of that law, a clarification was made to prevent communities like Wrightsville Beach to use these historic borrow sites. Literally decades later, that clarification was reversed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the request of the Department of the Interior in 2021, undoing decades of precedent and preventing these communities from using such site.

Under the current interpretation, communities such as mine at Wrightsville Beach would be forced to dredge offshore, leading to skyrocketing costs for taxpayers, not to mention changing the natural ecology of these areas in ways that may have significant unintended consequences. Reversing this action to, once again, permit the use of a beach's natural, historic borrow site is imperative for physical resiliency and safety, as well as the local economic benefits that accrue. Further, it will save taxpayer dollars and protect the ecology of these areas that has developed over all these years.

Mr. Speaker, simply put, the bill before us today resolves this issue for good by putting the original decades-old clarification into law. It allows for the use of historical borrow sites within a CBRA zone provided such site has been utilized for the past 15 years in response to an emergency.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support passage of this legislation. I thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for their work with me to produce this bipartisan project that solves a real problem for many in these particular communities.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source