[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 108 (Wednesday, July 6, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H4284]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1045
                    CONFRONTING OUR CHANGING OCEANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, my constituents and I are blessed to 
live, to work, and to play in the paradise that is south Florida. And 
those of us who have fallen in love with south Florida all want our 
kids and our grandkids to enjoy the same positive experiences that 
define our unique community.
  That sense of wanting to be able to pass down that south Florida 
lifestyle to future generations is really what has motivated me to 
action on the threat my community faces from a changing ocean. Sea 
level rise has been occurring steadily along southeast Florida for the 
last hundred years, and we should be concerned about increasing coastal 
flooding and saltwater intrusion into our drinking water sources.
  Meanwhile, new research at the University of Miami suggests that 
ocean acidification is not only slowing the growth of corals off our 
coast, but is actually causing the underlying reef structure to begin 
to dissolve. To counter the threats from changing ocean conditions, we 
must develop strategies to protect people's livelihoods and the coastal 
waters upon which south Florida's local economy depends.
  One such strategy that could pay huge dividends is the restoration of 
the coral reefs off south Florida. This is actually, Mr. Speaker, the 
third-largest barrier reef in the entire world. Our reefs have been 
declining for 40 years, and recent coral disease outbreaks and 
bleaching events have proved to be devastating.
  To save south Florida's reefs, I am introducing the Conserving Our 
Reefs and Livelihoods Act, or the CORAL Act. The CORAL Act would widen 
the scope of reef restoration and conservation research to include the 
impact of ocean acidification, warming seas, and invasive species on 
coral reefs. It would allow for the release of emergency response funds 
to study coral disease and bleaching events as they happen, instead of 
as a postmortem.
  It would expand the focus of the law from simply focused on 
conservation, to gearing Federal agencies and their partners to play 
active roles in restoration and recovery. And it would promote 
innovative work toward understanding the genetic diversity of corals, 
so that researchers can captive-breed native corals that are specially 
adapted to current and future ocean conditions for use in restoration 
projects.
  The environmental and economic benefits of coral reefs are strongly 
intertwined, and the CORAL Act would give everyone a place at the table 
to help develop consensus-based and scientifically rigorous 
conservation and restoration efforts--efforts that produce real results 
for Floridians.
  Restored reefs will increase economic activity through better 
fishing, diving, recreation, and tourism; and healthy coral growth will 
allow reefs to keep pace with rising seas to limit the potentially 
devastating impacts of storm surge on our coasts in the future.
  Mr. Speaker, having fled the oppressive Castro regime in Cuba with my 
parents decades ago, I know that south Florida is special because it 
serves as a place of hope for so many. We cannot allow changing ocean 
conditions to rob us of our livelihoods, of our lifestyle, of our 
identity as an optimistic community.
  My CORAL Act is only a start for south Florida, but it will help in 
understanding the impacts of ocean acidification, warming seas, coral 
disease, and invasive species on our reefs so that we can develop 
effective solutions, so that we can salvage our reefs, and so south 
Florida will continue to thrive as part of an ever-changing landscape 
and as an enduring source of hope and inspiration to people from around 
the world.

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