Feds Should Shore Up Coasts to Fight Climate Change

Anthony Flint reports on Bruce Babbitt's presentation at the Lincoln Institute's 5th Annual Land Policy Conference.

Babbitt said, "If we're serious about getting on with this (adaptation to climate change in coastal regions) – here's a minimum step: a national coastal restoration agency, with national standards based on cost-benefit analysis. Lay it out in cold print." Such an agency "would turn to the states and say, no money, until there's a state plan, that is real, and begins with a land use plan, that tells you, here's what this coastal region is going to look like by the end of the century." The plan should address how people live and the management of retreat as necessary, he said."