Officials introduce SHORRE Act

U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Bill Cassidy, along with U.S. Representatives Lisa Blunt Rochester and Garret Graves, have introduced the Shoreline Health Oversight, Restoration, Resilience, and Enhancement Act (SHORRE) Act.

The SHORRE Act would restore nation’s riverbanks and coastlines, while also making communities across our country more resilient to the effects of climate change.

This includes rising sea levels, extreme weather, flooding, and erosion. 

“We have to use all the resources at our disposal to safeguard coastal communities from worsening climate threats like extreme weather and rising sea levels. The SHORRE Act recognizes this reality – one we are all too familiar with in Delaware – and creates new authorities to protect those most vulnerable to climate change,” said Senator Carper, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

“Our beautiful coastal communities have long been a hallmark of Delaware’s natural heritage. Unfortunately, as the state with the lowest mean elevation in the country, those communities are also disproportionately at risk to suffer from the climate crisis,” added Rep. Blunt Rochester.

The SHORRE Act would ensure that coastal communities have greater access to federal climate resilience efforts.

It would do so by making of the most significant enhancements of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ coastal storm risk management and ecosystem restoration programs in more than two decades, including:

• Elevating coastal restoration in the face of climate change as the primary mission of the Corps
• Promoting the development of sustainable, nature-based coastal resilience projects
• Creating new flexibilities and authorities to help the Corps protect fragile coastal infrastructure
• Supporting vulnerable coastal economies directing the Corps to focus on climate mitigation projects