Biden Administration Revokes Trump Rule That Allowed Sand Mining in Protected Coastal Areas
探花精选 successfully defended a decades-old bipartisan law that protects important beaches and wetlands for birds and people.
WASHINGTON (July 16, 2021) 鈥 Today the Department of the Interior it will overturn a Trump-era rule that weakened the Coastal Barrier Resources Act. Jessica Grannis, interim vice president of coastal conservation at the 探花精选, made the following statement in response:
鈥探花精选 applauds Interior鈥s action to reverse the unlawful Trump-era rule that would have allowed sand mining in sensitive coastal habitats. These pristine beaches and islands protected by the Coastal Barrier Resources Act will remain intact to provide coastal communities a buffer against climate change, as well as habitat for birds, for generations to come.鈥
Last year the 探花精选, represented by Democracy Forward,听filed suit听against the Trump administration to defend the Coastal Barrier Resources Act against then-Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt鈥s unlawful Excavation Rule, which allowed taxpayer money to be used for dredging sand from protected coastal areas. In June, documented the many harmful impacts of sand mining on the coastal environment and nearby communities.
鈥淭he Trump administration鈥檚 unlawful policy incentivizes destructive dredging of coastal barriers needed to protect coastal communities from storms and protect important habitats,鈥 said Aman George, counsel & legal policy director for Democracy Forward. 鈥淲e are pleased that the Biden administration has chosen to take steps to reverse this unlawful, potentially disastrous policy.鈥
The Coastal Barrier Resources Act, created in 1982, prohibits nearly all federal expenditures in a system of hurricane- and storm-prone coastal areas, which covers 3.5 million acres along the Atlantic Coast, Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A听2019 study听found that the Coastal Barrier Resources Act saved taxpayers $9.5 billion over 25 years by banning taxpayer-funded development in these areas, with a projected additional savings of $11-109 billion over the next 50 years.
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听protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. 探花精选 works throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. State programs, nature centers, chapters, and partners give 探花精选 an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire, and unite diverse communities in conservation action. A nonprofit conservation organization since 1905, 探花精选 believes in a world in which people and wildlife thrive.听
is a nonprofit legal organization founded in 2017 to litigate challenges to unlawful executive branch action on behalf of organizations, individuals, and municipalities. The organization has taken 650 legal actions and reversed dozens of harmful policies. Democracy Forward is expanding its work, building on its success to confront unlawful threats to democracy and social progress.
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Contact:听Rachel Guillory,听rachel.guillory@audubon.org; Megan Uzzell, muzzell@democracyforward.org