Urge President Biden to Protect our Ocean and Coasts from Climate Change

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Goal: 2700

President Biden has made progress towards implementing laws and policies that combat the climate crisis. While his efforts have been beneficial to reduce greenhouse gases, expand renewable energy, grow electric cars, and overturn harmful policies implemented by the previous Administration, President Biden needs to focus more on our nation’s coastlines in order to help local communities proactively respond to climate change impacts.

Our ocean and coasts are literally at the center of climate change—the ocean has absorbed nearly 30% of CO2 emitted from burning fossil fuels and 90% of excess heat trapped in the atmosphere. Climate change is predicted to bring more intense storms, marine heatwaves, and increased sea levels that will devastate coastal communities, harm marine and coastal habitats, severely impact recreation, and cost taxpayers billions of dollars to adapt to the ever-growing-impacts of climate change.

But the ocean is not just a victim of climate change—it is also a powerful source of solutions. That is why Surfrider is calling on President Biden to leverage the ocean in the fight against climate change by: reinstituting the moratorium on offshore drilling, protecting blue carbon ecosystems, improving federal policies and programs, increasing coastal resilience funding and projects, and helping communities adapt to sea level rise.

Please join us in sending a letter to President Biden. Surfrider is meeting with the Biden Administration for our annual Hill Day and we will present him with your letter!

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Representatives

Dear President Biden,

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Thank you for working to combat the climate crisis. You have made significant efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, improve renewable energy, grow electric cars, and overturn harmful policies implemented by the previous Administration. Yet, more work is needed to protect our ocean and coasts from climate change impacts. Specifically, we have an opportunity to boost the ability of our ocean to mitigate climate change, while also protecting essential marine life and coastal communities. Below are some recommendations we hope you will implement as soon as possible to ensure our ocean and coasts are ‘front and center’ during the plight to combat climate change. 

•	Reinstitute executive moratorium on offshore drilling. A nationwide moratorium will further advance your recent Executive Order to pause new offshore drilling by reinstating the moratorium. 

•	Map areas at risk of rising sea levels: NOAA and FEMA should publish electronic maps of areas expected to be inundated because of higher sea levels.

•	Identify coastal migration pathways: Require federal agencies to map existing coastal beaches and wetlands and the upland areas that these ecosystems will migrate to as sea level rises, including identifying natural and anthropogenic obstacles to successful landward migration. These agencies should cooperate with states to facilitate landward migration of ecosystems on a priority basis.

•	Strengthen the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP): FEMA should strengthen NFIP regulations to better recognize risks of permanent flooding posed by rising seas, improve public information about storm surge and sea level rise risks, discourage development in sea level rise risk areas by declining insurance for new projects in these areas, and make insurance affordable for all.

•	Develop national plans to relocate critical infrastructure to higher ground: Federal agencies should identify critical infrastructure at risk of permanent inundation by rising seas and develop long term plans to relocate assets to high ground and avoid locating new infrastructure in at risk areas. 

•	Provide guidance and funding for state and local sea level rise plans: NOAA should use funds provided through IIJA or related legislation to offer grants to states to work with local governments to develop plans to address coastal flood resilience, consistent with national guidance that sets minimum standards for the plans.

•	Expand buyouts of coastal property at risk of rising seas: Using funds provided by infrastructure and related legislation, FEMA should expand funding for buyouts of property at risk of inundation by rising seas, giving priority to economically disadvantaged owners.  

•	Frame policies to support community scale relocation:  With leadership from CEQ and OMB, federal agencies should evaluate and develop programs to provide incentives and support to coastal communities interested in relocating neighborhoods and community infrastructure at risk of permanent inundation by rising seas to higher ground.

•	Address sea level rise in IIJA guidance: Major new infrastructure investments need to be sited and designed with sea level risks in mind. The Administration should ensure that all implementing regulations and guidance for IIJA funding and programs, as well as future infrastructure and disaster preparedness and relief funding, require all eligible projects to identify, analyze and address risks of greater storm surges and permanent inundation due to sea level rise. 

•	Expedite implementation of Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS): Federal agencies should expedite work to fully implement the FFRMS within their programs and operations. FEMA should support this work by providing guidance on key topics such as the Climate Informed Science Approach and practices to strengthen agency decision-making to avoid location of projects or investments in flood risk areas.

Thank you for expediting these efforts to take meaningful action on the climate crisis. The recommendations above will save our nation’s taxpayers money in the long run by allowing for effective pro-active adaptation, as opposed to dangerous and costly reactionary efforts. Additionally, protecting blue carbon ecosystems and their migration pathways will allow these ecosystems to continue to help mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon, as opposed to getting degraded or drowned by rising seas.

Sincerely,
[your name will go here] [your location will go here]

[node:og-group-ref] will keep [submission:values:first_name] and your constituents informed about your position on this issue.

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