WASHINGTON, DC: Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed Congresswoman Jen Kiggans’ (VA-02) bill, H.R. 5490, the Bolstering Ecosystems Against Coastal Harm (BEACH) Act. This bipartisan legislation, which Congresswoman Kiggans introduced with Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE-AL), aims to protect Virginia’s coastline by approving new, expanded maps under the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA).
Signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1982, CBRA employs a free-market approach to coastal conservation: banning most federal tax dollars from being used to develop or rebuild on storm prone, ecologically sensitive coastal areas, helping to preserve not only wildlife habitats, but also essential buffers against storms and flooding. Importantly, CBRA does not prohibit or regulate development by state and local governments or private owners. It simply removes the federal taxpayer from the equation, ensuring hard-earned tax dollars are not going toward funding risky investments in ecologically sensitive areas.
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