Bill seeks to redirect funds to beach projects

Alex Coolman

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) introduced a bill in

Congress last week that he said should benefit the nation’s beaches.

The bill, the Coastal Resources Enhancement and Restoration Act of

2000, has a number of provisions, including proposals to allocate more

money for erosion control and the consolidation of efforts by agencies

that study pollution.

“It is designed to address some of the inequalities we’ve had in the

past” in spending, Rohrabacher said. “In the past, the vast majority of

the money that the Army Corps of Engineers spends on projects has gone to

the East Coast.”

Rohrabacher’s proposal would not have any new programs starting or any

new money generated for environmental projects. Instead, the bill

redirects existing funds toward coastal projects.

Ten percent of National Science Foundation funds would be directed

toward “coastal engineering and coastline protection research,” according

to the bill.

Additionally, the proposal would send 2% of funds from the federal

Outer Continental Shelf royalty fund toward sand replenishment, sewage

treatment and urban runoff programs. The transferred funds would probably

amount to roughly $66 million per year, said Ricardo Bernal, a

Rohrabacher spokesman.

The measure represents more government involvement in environmental

affairs than Rohrabacher has typically championed. The congressman has

often said he would rather create incentives for private enterprise to

tackle environmental challenges than use legislation to achieve those

goals.

Bernal said the proposed legislation was consistent with Rohrabacher’s

conservative political philosophy.

“It’s not creating any new bureaucracy, and it’s using already

existing funding,” he said.

The bill also contains language that would direct funding only to

public beaches with sufficient public access.

The bill will not be taken up in this session of Congress. But

Rohrabacher said he hopes it will be enacted next year.