[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 148 (Wednesday, October 5, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1768]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             KEEP AMERICA'S WATERFRONTS WORKING ACT OF 2011

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                          HON. CHELLIE PINGREE

                                of maine

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 5, 2011

  Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Mr. Speaker, coastal communities across this 
Nation are in trouble. Economically important working waterfront jobs 
are disappearing. Businesses that require access to the water are 
closing their doors, fishing wharves are being turned into condos. And, 
the cultural identity of our waterfront communities is dissolving.
  I live in a community built around a working waterfront. My friends 
and neighbors on North Haven need access to the coastline to land their 
lobsters, store their bait, load and unload their lobster traps. They 
need a place to keep their skiffs and park their trucks. Elsewhere on 
the coast, working waterfronts are critical connections between the 
ocean and land for boat builders, marina operators, aquaculturists, 
seafood processors, charter boat captains and crew, recreational 
fishing businesses, and many others who require access to the water. 
These businesses need to be located on the water and require access to 
the water for their business models to work. Water dependent, coastal-
related businesses are the cultural and economic heart of many of our 
coastal communities and working waterfronts are quickly disappearing 
under tremendous pressures from incompatible use and development 
trends.
  Of Maine's 3,300 miles of coastline, less than 20 miles support 
commercial fishing and other traditional marine-based activities. This 
small portion of the coastline contributes $800 million to Maine's 
economy and provides direct or indirect employment for about 30,000 
people. As the coastline became more developed, traditional uses 
disappeared, giving way to condos, summer houses, and other non-
compatible uses. These changes in how coastal communities use their 
land present one of the primary challenges facing Maine's working 
waterfronts.
  This problem is not unique to Maine, it occurs on all of our coasts 
and in the Great Lakes region. Across the country, working waterfront 
jobs are quickly disappearing under the tremendous pressure communities 
face from conversion to incompatible uses. Once these businesses close, 
once the waterfronts and waterways stop supporting water dependent 
businesses, the businesses do not come back. And, many states and local 
communities have recognized this dangerous trend and are taking action 
to preserve waterfront dependent businesses. In recognition of the 
national importance of working waterfronts, local community and state 
representatives have come together to form a national working 
waterfronts and waterways council that has helped put on symposiums 
that bring people to the table with the tools and knowledge needed to 
develop sustainable working waterfronts around the Nation. But, local 
communities and states need help at the federal level.
  It is time to help maintain working waterfronts through a federally 
authorized program that will serve to support, implement, and further 
develop working waterfront preservation efforts across the nation. That 
is why I am introducing legislation with Representatives Robert E. 
Andrews, Earl Blumenauer, Madeleine Z. Bordallo, Lois Capps, Donna M. 
Christensen, Gerald E. Connolly, Sam Farr, Bob Filner, William R. 
Keating, Barbara Lee, Mike McIntyre, James P. Moran, Pedro R. 
Pierluisi, Michael Quigley, Louise M. Slaughter, Paul Tonko, and Lynn 
C. Woolsey that encourages states to seriously think about these areas 
and how to best protect them. While recognizing the common problem of 
disappearing waterfront access for businesses, this program will also 
provide the flexibility that different states and local governments 
need to address working waterfronts around the Nation.
  Our legislation amends the Coastal Zone Management Act to establish a 
Working Waterfronts program. This legislation embodies the spirit of 
the CZMA in that it allows each coastal state to determine what working 
waterfronts are important to the people of that state, which working 
waterfronts are most threatened, and who should be protecting them--the 
state, local or regional government, or a collaborative public-private 
partnership.
  The CZMA was developed as a tool to allow states the flexibility to 
manage their coasts in a manner that fits that particular coast. The 
CZMA recognizes separate needs of various coastal states and provides 
the flexibility to states to manage their coastal resources. The 
working waterfront program creates a grant program that states can 
apply for. In order for states to be eligible for a working waterfront 
grant, the state must have a working waterfront plan that requires a 
thoughtful, collaborative, public process to identify the value and 
importance of working waterfronts. This bill is not designed to require 
states to undergo a completely new or comprehensive planning process 
but rather to utilize existing information, planning, and programs at 
state and local levels to the greatest extent possible. Finally, the 
bill provides technical assistance to the states to develop these plans 
as well as other tools to protect working waterfronts.
  Maintaining working waterfronts preserves and creates coastal jobs, 
but also jobs beyond the water's edge. Waterfront and waterway 
businesses support entire economies that depend on the American 
tradition of marine-based trades. The Keep America's Waterfronts 
Working Act of 2011 will serve to maintain jobs in our communities and 
maintain the American tradition of coastal and waterways industry.

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