Gulf Coast communities plead for resilience dollars

Gulf states account for more than 60 percent of federal disaster relief fund expenditures, said one expert.

March 10, 2022

Advocates for climate resilience and adaptation yesterday called on lawmakers to approve more federal dollars and cut red tape to help states — particularly along the Gulf Coast — prepare for climate change.

“On the coast, we do have to talk about either reinforcements or we have to talk about the movement of people," said Lauren Alexander Augustine, executive director for the Gulf Research Program at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

Gulf states — Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida — account for more than 60 percent of federal disaster relief fund expenditures, Augustine said, and Louisiana coasts are expected to see a rise in water levels of 2 feet by 2050.

"Louisiana has a plan, and that’s very important. We have a coastal master plan that is a 50-year plan that is rooted in science to rebuild our coast," said Matthew Jewell, president of St. Charles Parish, La. "What we need is an investment in coastal restoration projects … but we also need to eliminate those regulatory hurdles so that we can start doing these projects now.”

Committee ranking member Garret Graves (R-La.) used the hearing to attack Democratic energy and climate policies, and he called for more domestic production (E&E Daily, March 9).

Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) said Democrats' concerns about climate-fueled disasters were “inflated,” and Graves said counting only on renewable energy sources would be like relying on “pixie dust.”

Graves tried to amend spending legislation this week to add $6 billion in spending for disaster relief. Another amendment would have required the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide more information about the federal flood insurance program's new risk system.

The White House has touted the bipartisan infrastructure law as having the "largest investment in the resilience of physical and natural systems in American history." The fiscal 2022 omnibus spending bill includes almost $2 billion for infrastructure resiliency.

Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) said renewable energy would help curb future climate disasters while also cutting down on the country’s reliance on foreign oil.


By:  Jack Forrest, Manuel Quinones
Source: E&E Daily