Bill would create Coastal Adaptation Fund to protect infrastructure
Coastal
shorelines are vital to the economy of Rhode Island and its cities and
towns. The tourism, real estate and seafood industries depend on the
coast, marshes and open space, all of which are being threatened by erosion
from rising seas and storms.
The
urgency to protect our coastal assets for our economy and quality of life is
the reason that Rep. Deborah Ruggiero has sponsored the Coastal Adaptation Fund.
The legislation (2017-H 5808) establishes the Rhode Island Coastal Adaptation Trust Fund
through a 5-cent-per-barrel surcharge on petroleum products, and uses the money
for grants to cities and towns for the design, planning and construction of
climate change adaptation projects for public infrastructure, as well as
funding coastal and estuarine habitat restoration.
Representative Ruggiero is
working in conjunction with Save the Bay on the bill.
“Our coastline is critical to our identity, our economy and our culture in Rhode Island. Because it’s where people want to be, it’s historically where we’ve built our communities and where many of their greatest resources in terms of infrastructure tend to be concentrated. We must be proactive and step up our efforts to protect those resources from flooding and damage before we lose them, and this is one way to help Rhode Island communities do just that,” said Representative Ruggiero (D-Dist. 74, Jamestown, Middletown).
“Also, businesses need stability. Investments to prevent
increased flooding will help provide reassurance for those near the shore. And
businesses — as well as all taxpayers — all need to know their taxes aren’t
going to suddenly skyrocket because their community has to embark on expensive
projects to replace public properties that weren’t protected from foreseeable
degradation and destruction. Businesses invest in protecting their own assets
and appreciate and stay in communities that make investments to protect public
assets.”
Under the bill, the new fund could be used to provide
cities and towns grants to adapt infrastructure on public land to protect it
from the damages of rising sea levels, storm surge, flooding and coastal
erosion.
Projects could include things like removal, relocation,
and redesign of infrastructure, regrading of banks and revegetation,
acquisition of that area of land necessary to maintain public access and
preserving or securing lateral access along the shoreline.
A
technical advisory committee with representation from the Department of
Environmental Management, the Coastal Resources Management Council, the State
Planning Council and Rhode Island Emergency Management Authority would determine which projects would be funded.
The legislation also would send $250,000 each year from
the proceeds to the existing Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration Trust Fund,
which helps restore the salt marshes that are vital to the state’s commercial and
recreational fishing industries.
Salt
marshes are nurseries for fish and feeding grounds and nesting areas for birds,
and they act as a natural sponge during flooding.
According
to Save the Bay, southern New England is losing a greater percentage of marshes
than the fast-eroding Mississippi Delta, with damaging impacts on shellfish and
the fishing industry. Their disappearance also increases flooding of homes and
businesses.
The 5-cent-a-barrel surcharge on petroleum products
translates to about 1/10 of one cent per gallon at the gasoline pump, so the
effect on drivers would be about penny per tank. But it would add up to an
estimated total of $2 million a year for adaptation around the state.
Adaptation projects would be investments that save the
public money in terms of avoiding disasters that affect lives as well as public
and private property, reducing risk and insurance costs for municipalities and
increasing the lifespan of public infrastructure.
The fund could be used to enhance coastal public properties,
such as India Point Park in Providence, Rocky Point in Warwick, King’s Beach in
Newport, that need work done to remain valuable assets to their communities.
Making public infrastructure reliable for the future
also has a positive effect on Rhode Island communities’ ability to attract and
retain businesses, said Representative Ruggiero.
Using the fund for municipal projects will meet a
critical need, said Representative Ruggiero, since most city and town budgets
have been stretched very thin and have little room for the sort of projects the
fund would finance.
Implementing these projects also creates jobs for Rhode
Islanders, by providing work for landscapers, environmental engineers and
construction workers, she said.
She added that the proposed slashing of federal funds
for environmental protection makes it even more critical for the state to
identify other means of funding efforts to defend against the damage of rising
seas.
In May 2016, a House commission that studied the
economic risk Rhode Island faces as a result of sea rise made a number of
recommendations about increasing efforts statewide to protect public and
private property from destruction.
With over 400 miles of coastline, Rhode Island has
substantial public and private assets along the coast and floodplain. Twenty of
Rhode Island’s cities and town lie below the floodplain.
The House commission’s
report pointed to Federal Emergency Management Agency data showing that 15,380
flood policies were written in Rhode Island as of September 2015, insuring
property worth over $3.8 billion.
The legislation was introduced March 1 and is
cosponsored by Rep. Teresa Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, South Kingstown, Narragansett),
Rep. Christopher R. Blazejewski (D-Dist. 2, Providence), House Environment and
Natural Resources Committee Chairman Arthur Handy (D-Dist. 18, Cranston) and
Rep. Lauren H. Carson (D-Dist. 75, Newport). Identical legislation (2017-S 0442) has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Erin Lynch Prata (D-Dist. 31,
Warwick, Cranston).
