Fish and Wildlife Service backs 4 water, coastal bills

"We think these four pieces of legislation will be force multipliers for us," said a Fish and Wildlife Service official during a hearing yesterday.

June 16, 2022

A top Fish and Wildlife Service official expressed administration support for water and coastal conservation legislation during a Senate Environment and Public Works hearing yesterday.

Stephen Guertin, deputy director for program management and policy, said his agency supports bills to reauthorize conservation efforts in the Delaware River Basin, restore the Great Lakes and address other coastal concerns.

“These coastal habitats are threatened by climate change, rising sea levels, increasingly frequent and intense storms and habitat loss,” said Guertin. “With population growth and urbanization projected to increase along our coastline, people, assets, natural resources exposed to these risks will only increase."

"We, the Fish and Wildlife Service, play a key role in protecting, conserving and restoring these important habitats. We recognize the importance of amplifying our efforts to address these threats as well as the need for greater investment in coastal habitat conservation," Guertin said. "These bills and the discussion draft before the committee today would take steps to address these needs, and we support these legislations."

On the hearing agenda was a draft bill dubbed the “Strengthening Coastal Communities Act of 2022” that would update more than 450 maps and add more coastal areas to the Coastal Barrier Resources Act. The act revokes federal subsidies in certain areas, dissuading development in coastal communities that could hurt the natural environment.

“The adoption of these maps by Congress would be the single largest action to modernize the system since the law's enactment," said Guertin.

Senators discussed S.B. 2194, the "Coastal Habitat Conservation Act of 2021,” from Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), to reauthorize FWS's Coastal Program (E&E Daily, June 25, 2021).

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), chair of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife, introduced a House version of the bill, H.R. 4092, along with Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón (R-Puerto Rico).

The bill would allow communities to team up with the federal government on a voluntary basis to protect coasts. Partners would match federal funds at a rate of 5 to 1.

Senators also considered S.B. 3767, the "Delaware River Basin Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2022," which EPW Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.) introduced in March. The bill would amend the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act to reauthorize Delaware River Basin conservation programs.

Ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) expressed reservations about the bill, claiming the Delaware River Basin Commission had overstepped its powers by preventing natural gas development.

S.B. 3069, the "Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Reauthorization Act of 2021,” from Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), would reauthorize the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act through fiscal year 2027.

Guertin said the program has a "successful track record of restoring and managing fish and wildlife resources and their habitats in the Great Lakes Basin" by providing more than $32 million in federal funding to 193 projects and working with more than 100 organizations that have contributed about $15 million in matching nonfederal support.

The bill, introduced last fall, is sister legislation to H.B. 5973, from Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).

The House Natural Resources Committee already approved the measure, but panel leaders agreed to stall the bill until FWS submitted an overdue report on the program's functioning (E&E Daily, Feb. 17). That report has since been filed.

"We think these four pieces of legislation will be force multipliers for us," Guertin said. “They'll give us a needed authority and authorization for appropriations, and some flexibility, as well, to allow us to do a better job working with our partners on coastal resiliency, address climate change and work on some of these big natural resource programs."


By:  Hannah Northey, Jack Forrest
Source: E&E News