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August 9, 2019
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) introduced the Living Shorelines Act of 2019 in early June to their respective branches of Congress. Co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of 24 Representatives and 9 Senators, the bill would create a new grant program under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for the establishment of “living shorelines,” which are nature-based protections against storms and pollution that improve biodiversity, recreation, and climate resilience.
The bill would allow NOAA to support the design and implementation of climate-resilient shorelines by awarding grants to projects around the country. Communities and eligible recipients could submit proposals, with the backing of another local or federal government agency, that fit criteria developed by the Administrator of NOAA with relevant input from other agencies and nongovernmental organizations. These criteria include the “historic and future environmental conditions of the project site,” the ecological benefits of the project, and proof that the project would protect coastal communities. Priority would be given to communities historically affected by disasters, coastal erosion, or flooding.
Grant recipients would have to provide at least 50 percent of the total cost for the project, although NOAA would be able to reduce or waive this requirement. This flexibility could allow low-income communities to access more funding to better protect their coastal properties, ensuring that climate resilience efforts support communities disproportionately affected by the consequences of pollution and climate change. The grant recipients would also need to monitor and submit data on project effectiveness and benefits to NOAA with a final report at the end of the project. Congress would appropriate $50 million a year to NOAA for this program.
The grant program's goals are referenced in general terms in the bill—using nature-based solutions in “mitigating the effects of erosion,” for example, as well as “sustaining, protecting, or restoring the functions and habitats of coastal ecosystems”—but the specifics on how programs would be assessed based on these goals would be left to the Administrator of NOAA. The bill creates significant leeway for NOAA to consult policy experts. In fact, EESI is well positioned to provide information on this topic given our focus on nature-based solutions for coastal resilience, recently discussed in a June 2019 Congressional briefing, Nature-Based Solutions for Gulf Coast Communities.
In the Senate, the bill was referred to the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on June 5, 2019, and it was referred to the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife in the House on June 18, 2019. A subcommittee hearing on numerous bills concerning coastal resilience, including this one, was held on July 25, 2019, and featured panels of legislators, administrators, and expert witnesses. During the hearing, the bill received enthusiastic support from Subcommittee Chairman Jared Huffman (D-CA), Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy NOAA Administrator Timothy Gallaudet, Old Dominion University Research Assistant Professor Emily Steinhilber, and Senior Manager and Policy Counsel for Florida Conservation Jon Paul Brooker.
Huffman, Steinhilber, and Brooker each noted the bill’s potential to protect coasts from storms while also sequestering carbon, stabilizing coasts, and improving agriculture and fishing. Steinhilber estimated that a living shorelines strategy would “enhance water quality, wellbeing of residents…and increase flooding resiliency.” Gallaudet further detailed the numerous benefits provided to coastal communities by living shorelines, including their ability to “contribute to coastal economic growth and a strong Blue economy.” He also remarked that NOAA is currently working to provide living shorelines to coastal communities through its National Coastal Resilience Fund as well as the Community-based Habitat Restoration Program. Brooker emphasized that “more can be done to encourage [the] use [of living shorelines].”
Previous versions of this bill were introduced by the same legislators in both 2017 and 2018, during the 115th Congress, but neither version was referred to a committee. The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), which supported the previous bills, says the new version “goes even further than previous versions by including provisions that lower barriers to accessing funding for living shoreline projects, especially for low- and middle-income communities.” The 2019 bill is supported by a wide variety of organizations, including ASLA, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE), the Nature Conservancy, the American Littoral Society, and the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association.
For more information on the use of nature-based solutions to better protect coastal communities, consult NOAA’s informative guide to living shorelines or EESI’s briefing on nature-based resilience.
Author: Marco de Laforcade
Advancing science-based climate solutions
Top-Rated Climate Nonprofit – 4-Star Charity