We need urgent action, you guys!
House Introduces Sweeping Legislation to Tackle Climate Change on Our Coasts
Today, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva and Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Chairwoman Kathy Castor introduced the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act. This sweeping, 300-page bill calls for immediate climate action to protect the communities, economies, and birds and other wildlife that rely on a healthy ocean and coast.
“Seabirds and shorebirds are in peril—climate change is driving away the fish they eat, swallowing up their habitats under sea-level rise, and putting everyone on the coast at risk,†said Sarah Greenberger, interim chief conservation officer for the National Audubon Society. “This bill is the most comprehensive answer to the litany of threats that people and birds face on our coasts.â€
This is the first piece of legislation that advances comprehensive solutions for addressing climate threats to our oceans and coasts and for tapping these important resources in our efforts to fight the climate crisis. The bill will protect critical bird habitats by expanding the Coastal Barrier Resources System, and setting national goals for wind energy development and protecting 30 percent of the ocean by 2030. It will also help coastal communities and fishing industries prepare for and adapt to climate disasters, authorizes $3 billion to restore degraded wetlands, oyster reefs, and other coastal areas, and will explore the ability of those coastal habitats to store carbon pollution.
The bill will give the Federal Government more ownership of state, county, local, and private property. And control of oceans. It will give use taxpayer money to look to make these fisherman beholden to the money Dems have generously given them. Restoring wetlands and such has nothing to do with climate change, natural or manmade, it is more about actual pollution. I’ve seen that were I grew up on the Jersey Shore. Local were called clamdiggers, yet, the rivers were too polluted to dig clams. That’s changed quite a bit through late 80’s to now.
The sneaky thing is setting national goals for putting up wind turbines across the entire country.
(Roll Call) The bill would ban oil and gas leasing throughout the Outer Continental Shelf, set a national goal of protecting 30 percent of the ocean by 2030, increase funding for NOAA to study offshore wind–energy development and establish a program at the agency on blue carbon ecosystems, which remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The devil is in the details, and reading legislation can be tricky, so, does it end all leases by 2030, or just no new ones?
(The Hill) “This bill recognizes that oceans also must be part of a rapid transition to clean energy that starts with prohibiting any new offshore oil and gas leases because you can’t solve the crisis by continuing to dig the climate hole deeper,†said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), a co-sponsor of the legislation.
So he says. Anyhow, I’ll have to dig into the bill to see what other hidden gems there are.
