The Coastal States Organization, representing the nation’s 35 coastal states and territories, opposes the bill attacking the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) introduced yesterday by Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA). Falsely named the “Coastal Commission Accountability Act”, this legislation undermines every coastal state and territory. The bill would muzzle the voices of communities, small businesses, and states to speak out about federal government actions along the coast that affect their lives and livelihoods, including fisheries regulations, energy development, coastal building projects, and public land management.
The bill attacks coastal states’ rights to review federal actions under the CZMA, a 50-year-old bipartisan law recognizing that states, not the federal government, have the right and responsibility to manage ocean and coastal resources for the benefit of local communities. Specifically, the bill would amend the CZMA so that “a coastal state shall be conclusively presumed to concur” with nearly all federal actions in the coastal zone that they now review, eviscerating the CZMA’s federal consistency provisions.
The CZMA empowers states to work with federal agencies, including those issuing permits, to ensure decisions that impact the businesses, resources, and ecosystems of the coastal zone are consistent with the states’ coastal policies. For decades, coastal states across the nation, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the Gulf of America to the Great Lakes, have used the CZMA to defend their unique economic and cultural needs, recreational and environmental resources, and public values of their coastal communities. Every coastal state, red and blue, has used the CZMA to keep sand on the beach, fish in the sea, homes above floodwaters, and maritime businesses thriving.
Under the CZMA, federal consistency review provides businesses operating along the coast with a dependable, predictable process to integrate and harmonize state and federal approvals, helping make sure that federal decisions address local needs. It is a dialogue between states, industry, the federal government, and the public to raise areas of concern and identify effective solutions. The idea is to avoid and mitigate adverse impacts on ocean and coastal businesses, communities and resources in advance and as a result, avert conflict and costly litigation.
States have concurred with around 95% of federal consistency determinations over the last 50 years, letting businesses grow while pushing back on the most controversial federal actions that would harm communities. For example, states have used federal consistency to protect the interests of fishermen, homes losing land to coastal erosion, and defend Americans’ access to clean air, clean water, and clean land.
“The federal consistency process provides a crucial venue for preserving states’ rights on the coast. It provides a voice for coastal communities – fishermen, residents, and local businesses – on federal government actions that will impact their lives and livelihoods,” said Executive Director of Coastal States Organization Derek Brockbank. “Undercutting federal consistency means the federal government can do whatever it wants to any coastal community in the country.”
