Senate Bill Would Fund Climate Change Resilience in Coastal Communities

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) recently proposed legislation [pdf] that would "make federal financing available to communities who need to upgrade their infrastructure to address climate change-related events, such as tidal flooding, beach erosion or saltwater intrusion caused by sea level rise," according to a press release from the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. "Communities could apply for the assistance through state-run revolving loan programs funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)."

The bill would also jumpstart research and grant funding by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute for Standards and Technology into improved building codes to account for extreme weather, create a prize competition for new techniques for natural shoreline risk reduction measures, and order new research by the NOAA into the use and effectiveness of "natural, nature-based and nonstructural" approaches to reduce flood risk.

Senator Nelson hopes the bill will advance through the larger process of approving and funding a large infrastructure program, like the one sought by the Trump Administration (which, it should be noted, has been heavily criticized and very much in doubt since it went public in February 2018).