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Thursday, March 28, 2024

McIntyre coastal legislation passes U.S. house

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Staff photo by Allison Potter. Congressman Mike McIntyre discusses the Wrightsville Beach Coastal Storm Damage Reduction project during a coastal tour of his district Thursday, April 24.
Staff photo by Allison Potter. Congressman Mike McIntyre discusses the Wrightsville Beach Coastal Storm Damage Reduction project during a coastal tour of his district Thursday, April 24.

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation authored and introduced by Congressman Mike McIntyre, D-N.C. 7th district, which will ensure that North Carolina houses that were mistakenly included in coastal protection zones are removed and can receive flood insurance. In addition, the bill ensures that environmentally vulnerable areas and wildlife on the state’s coast are protected for future generations.

In a Dec. 2 press release, Congressman McIntyre said, Today marks a great triumph for both our coastal homeowners and all those who enjoy our pristine beaches every year. With this bipartisan bill, we will make much-needed changes to the Coastal Barrier Resources System maps in order to provide financial relief to North Carolina’s coastal homeowners and ensure protection of some of the state’s most precious natural resources. Fighting for common-sense solutions to our nation’s challenges has always been my top priority during my time in Congress. With today’s passage of our legislation, we reaffirm that commitment.”

Known as the McIntyre Bill, H.R. 3572 sailed through the House with a strong bipartisan vote of 410 to 7.

The Coastal Barrier Resources Act of 1982 (CBRA) was designed to identify areas of undeveloped land on coastal barriers that were prone to damage by natural disasters and to prevent such land from harmful development.

CBRA was enacted to minimize the loss of human life, wasteful federal expenditures and the damage to natural resources associated with coastal barriers. In order to disincentivize development within these Coastal Barrier Resources System (CBRS) zones, financial expenditures and assistance are prohibited within the designated areas, meaning all homeowners within the zones are ineligible the National Flood Insurance Program.

However, when mapping the original portions of the CBRS zones in the 7th District, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made several errors designating the boundary lines of the zone, mistakenly including areas that were already under development at the time the mapping was conducted and now hold residences and structures. The maps outlining units “L07, L08, and L09” of the Coastal Barrier Resources System in North Carolina are corrected in H.R. 3572 in order to remove land from the CBRS zone which was incorrectly included during the original mapping process.

Congressman McIntyre is founder and co-chairman of the Congressional Waterways Caucus.

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