OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act of 2019

Floor Speech

Date: June 5, 2019
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Environment Natural Resources

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for yielding time and for her support of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of Congresswoman Pingree's Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act.

I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill, which would direct NOAA to conduct a vulnerability assessment to identify communities that are dependent on coastal and ocean resources that may be affected by ocean acidification.

The Pacific Coast is more vulnerable to ocean acidification than other coastal regions, and it can be used as a testing ground for different strategies and models to manage and adapt to ocean acidification.

But ocean acidification is fundamentally a global phenomenon. We must strengthen our understanding of the socioeconomic effects of ocean acidification on a range of geographically diverse coastal communities.

Importantly, this bill directs NOAA to work with States, like my home State of Oregon, that are already developing ocean acidification response plans.

I thank members of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee for including my amendment during the full markup to authorize $2.7 million annually for fiscal years 2020 through 2024.

I hope that my COAST Research Act will complement this bill and address some of the gaps in our understanding of the socioeconomic effects of ocean acidification. But there must be a separate authorization for vulnerability studies.

Finally, and importantly, I thank all the staff who worked on not only this bill but also the COAST Research Act and the other two ocean acidification bills, especially, in my office, Maxine Sugarman, but all the staff on both sides of the aisle in our offices and the hardworking committee staff.

Finally, I thank Congresswoman Pingree for her continued leadership on protecting the health of oceans and improving research on ocean acidification.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT


Source
arrow_upward