The Coastal Barrier Resources Act of the United States (CBRA, Public Law 97-348), enacted October 18, 1982, designated various undeveloped coastal barriers, depicted by a set of maps adopted by law, for inclusion in the John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System (CBRS). Areas so designated were made ineligible for direct or indirect Federal expenditures and financial assistance, including flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program, that might support or promote development. Coastal barriers are defined to include barrier islands, bars, spits, and tombolos, along with associated aquatic habitats, such as adjacent estuaries and wetlands. If some portion of a barrier landform is developed, the remaining undeveloped portion may be included in the CBRS. The Department of the Interior (Department), through the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is the primary authority in the implementation of this act, and may approve the use of subsidies for such uses as emergency assistance, national security, navigability, and energy exploration. CBRS areas extend along the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Great Lakes, and consist of 857 units. In 2000, the Service reported to Congress on the inclusion of Pacific Coast coastal barriers in the CBRS. The Service did not recommend the inclusion of Pacific Coast coastal barriers within the CBRS, and Congress has not subsequently amended CBRA to include these barriers. CBRA was amended in 1990 by the Coastal Barrier Improvement Act (CBIA, Public Law 101-591) to include the designation otherwise protected area (OPA), which applies to national, state and local areas held for conservation or recreation (for example, National Wildlife Refuges) that include coastal barriers. The CBIA expanded existing CBRS units, and created new units and OPAs. The Coastal Barrier Resources Reauthorization Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-514) provided specifications for determining if an area was undeveloped at the time it was included within the CBRS, and ordered the development of a Digital Mapping Pilot Project for between 50 and 75 CBRS areas for the purpose of information precision and accessibility. The Coastal Barrier Resources Reauthorization Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-226) directs the Department to conduct a public review of the draft maps produced by the digital mapping pilot project, finalize the digital maps, and present the finalized maps in a report to Congress for their consideration. The Act also directs the Department to produce digital maps for the remainder of the CBRS. Since the establishment of the CBRS in 1982, several pieces of legislation have removed land from the CBRS, making it available to Federal subsidies for development. The original act was authored by U.S. Representative Thomas B. Evans, Jr. and Senator John Chafee, and was signed by President Ronald Reagan. The program has been promoted as a fiscally conservative, free market approach to encourage coastal conservation because it relies on a withholding of tax dollars rather than on takings or regulation.
Sources
- US Fish and Wildlife Service: Legislation
- US Fish and Wildlife Service: Coastal Barrier Resource System
