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Congresswoman Jen Kiggans’ (VA-02) bill, H.R. 5490, the Bolstering Ecosystems Against Coastal Harm (BEACH) Act, was signed into law by President Biden. This bipartisan legislation aims to protect Virginia’s coastline by approving new, expanded maps under the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA).
The BEACH Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously on September 24, 2024, passed the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent on November 19, 2024. “I am incredibly proud to see the BEACH Act become law,” said Congresswoman Kiggans.
“We owe it to ourselves and the generations after us to take care of the world we live in, and my bipartisan bill does exactly that. For 40 years, the Coastal Barrier Resources Act has protected millions of acres of beaches and wetlands, prevented billions of dollars in property damage from natural disasters, and undoubtedly saved lives. With the BEACH Act as law of the land, I am confident Americans can continue to be good stewards of both our environment and taxpayer dollars.".
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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.
“The BEACH Act is the kind of sound policy that comes from the House Committee on Natural Resources,” said House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman. “This bill will improve and support coastal resiliency and beach renourishment projects for many communities across the country. I’d like to applaud Rep. Kiggans for her important work and dedication to get this bill across the finish line and officially signed into law.”
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“The coastal ecosystems that will now be protected by the BEACH Act will enhance resilience of our coastal communities and provide invaluable ecosystem services for humans and the environment,” said Dr. Derek Aday, Director of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science & Dean of William & Mary’s Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences. “We are pleased to see this piece of legislation enacted.”
“Healthy coastal ecosystems provide numerous protections and benefits to both people and wildlife,” said Emily Donahoe, policy specialist for resilient coasts and floodplains at National Wildlife Federation. “We thank Congresswoman Kiggans for her hard work in passing the BEACH Act, which marks a significant step forward in improving the resiliency of our coastlines, protecting critical habitats, and saving taxpayer dollars.”
“The CBRA system helps keep the public out of harm’s way and saves taxpayer money by limiting risky Federal expenditures in storm-prone natural areas along our coasts,” said Morgan Butler, Senior Attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “We celebrate the bipartisan passage of the BEACH Act into law, as the expansion of the system will strengthen the resiliency of the nation’s coasts and communities.”
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“After many years of advocacy, Audubon is proud to see the BEACH Act signed into law,” said Portia Mastin, coastal conservation policy manager for the National Audubon Society.
“The benefits of the Coastal Barrier Resources System cannot be overstated—for over 40 years, it has protected millions of acres of undeveloped beaches and wetlands, saved taxpayers billions of dollars, provided safe habitats for coastal birds, and buffered communities nearby from the harshest coastal impacts. Now this expanded system of protected areas will shield even more of our most vulnerable coastal communities and bird species against storms and sea-level rise for generations.”
In April of 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified 96,435 additional acres in Virginia to include in the Coastal Barrier Resources System, including 1,422 of land and 95,013 acres of wetlands and estuarine areas. Kiggans’ legislation would provide the congressional approval required for these maps and related protections to go into effect. Today, 163,589 acres along Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic coast are included in the CBRA system.
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This includes 974 acres of land and 42,192 acres of wetlands on which nearly all federal expenditures are prohibited. There are also 7,696 acres of land and 112,727 acres of wetlands in “Otherwise Protected Areas,” in which only federal flood insurance is prohibited.
A 2019 economic study reported CBRA has saved U.S. taxpayers $9.5 billion and is projected to save another $11-108 billion over the next 50 years. Additionally, these protected coastal areas provide habitats for economically important fish and shellfish, recreational opportunities for hunters, and flood protection for nearby coastal communities.
Areas in CBRA act as nature’s “speed bumps,” absorbing impacts from storms and hurricanes. It is estimated that nationwide, coastal wetlands provide more than $23 billion per year in storm protection services. During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, coastal wetlands prevented $625 million in property damages from Maine to North Carolina.
