From the Office of Senator Kerry

Thursday, September 28, 2000

Washington, DC – The Center for Marine Conservation and coastal advocates congratulate Senator John Kerry (D-MA) for his leadership in today's unanimous Senate passage of a bill to reauthorize the Coastal Zone Management Act. This bill includes crucial funding to control polluted runoff and reauthorizes the CZMA for five years boosting funding for state coastal zone management programs with a dollar-for-dollar federal match.

The US coastal zone covers less than 10% of the nations land area, yet is home to more than 50% of its population. "With 3,600 people moving into coastal communities in the U.S. every day, this Coastal Zone Management Act will help local agencies anticipate and protect against the increased ecological strain brought on by the coastal population explosion," noted Center for Marine Conservation President, Roger Rufe.

In Massachusetts, coastal counties are growing three times faster than counties elsewhere in the country. The number of housing units on Cape Cod more than doubled between 1970 and 1990 (from 65,676 to 135,192); that's adding almost 10 new housing units a day for 20 years. Rufe adds, "Unfortunately, this increasing concentration of people is upsetting the natural balance of estuaries and threatening their health."

Boston Harbor is a center for countless activities including shipping, marine research, whale watching, and the Harbor Island Park system. Less urban parts of the Massachusetts coast attract visitors from all over New England looking to sunbathe, kayak, sail, hike, and simply enjoy being outdoors. Overall, tourists in coastal Massachusetts spend about $1.5 billion per year, and support over 80,000 jobs. Water- based economies such as tourism, commercial fisheries and marinas directly depend on the wealth provided by estuarine natural resources.

"The Massachusetts coastal zone is bearing the brunt of the expanding development and pollution pressures in the state, placing our coastal communities, fishing economies, and resources in grave jeopardy. Fortunately, Senator Kerry recognized this fact and pushed an effective federal response through the United States Senate," said Peter Shelley of the Conservation Law Foundation.

For the first time, the CZMA provides roughly $10 million dollars in funding for nonpoint source pollution projects to assist coastal communities with ways they can reduce the impacts of polluted runoff. "Senator Kerry realized early on the problems resulting from polluted runoff and led the charge in the Senate so that coastal communities across our nation can benefit from this legislation," declared Rufe.