Senator Hassan Op-Ed in Seacoast Online: How Coastal Resilience Can Help Save Hampton Beach and Our Seacoast

WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, Seacoast Online published an op-ed by U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan that highlights how the bipartisan infrastructure package that passed the Senate will help strengthen coastal resiliency and address climate change in New Hampshire. In the piece, Senator Hassan discusses the impacts of climate change on the state and how the infrastructure bill will help protect New Hampshire’s environment and economy.

“Hampton Beach and the Seacoast as a whole is threatened as climate change brings on heavier rains, sea level rise, and more frequent – and dangerous – storms,” Senator Hassan wrote. “We know that tackling climate change is going to take an all-hands on deck effort and through coastal resiliency efforts in this package, we are making the critical investments needed to help protect New Hampshire’s environment, communities, and economy.”

Senator Hassan directly negotiated additional funding in the infrastructure bill for key federal programs that work to strengthen the resilience of coastal communities to flooding and inundation.

To read Senator Hassan’s full op-ed that ran in Seacoast Online, see below or click here.

How coastal resilience can help save Hampton Beach and our Seacoast

By Senator Maggie Hassan

Summer in New Hampshire is a special time. For families all across our wonderful state, summer means hikes in the White Mountains, trips to Story Land, endless amounts of fried seafood and ice cream, and, of course, time at the beach, particularly our iconic Hampton Beach.

But today, Hampton Beach and the Seacoast as a whole is threatened as climate change brings on heavier rains, sea level rise, and more frequent – and dangerous – storms. Just this summer, New Hampshire saw the hottest June on record, another symptom of climate change that has also resulted in more frequent and worse flooding.

And as a result, our state is already feeling the impacts on our economy and our communities.

According to the First Street Foundation and Columbia University, New Hampshire has seen a $15 million loss in property value – particularly in areas like Hampton, Exeter, Dover, and Portsmouth – as a result of the increased risk of flooding and damage. As climate change worsens, so will these threats -- according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, rising seas could threaten more than 5,000 homes on the Seacoast by the end of the century.

Granite State communities must reckon with the need to adapt and respond to these challenges. This starts with focusing on coastal resiliency efforts that will help vulnerable communities improve their infrastructure and develop strategies to be prepared for storms and other extreme weather events.

At the local level, we are seeing Granite Staters tackle these challenges head-on. At a recent roundtable discussion that I hosted, Erik Chapman, the Director of the New Hampshire Sea Grant, noted that local entities are already developing costal resilience strategies. He noted, however, that communities need funding and support to implement these strategies.

The good news is that help is on the way.

This month, the Senate passed a once-in-a-generation infrastructure package that invests in our country’s infrastructure while creating jobs and growing the economy. As a result of my conversations with Granite Staters, many of whom have felt the impacts of our aging infrastructure and worried about the readiness of our communities to respond to climate change, I pushed for federal funding to strengthen coastal resiliency.

As part of the infrastructure package, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Coastal Resiliency Fund, a partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, will receive significant funding to improve the resilience of coastal communities to flooding and inundation by restoring or expanding natural ecosystems, while enhancing fish and wildlife habitats and increasing protection for communities from coastal hazards.

The bill also includes a significant increase in funding for the NOAA Community-Based Restoration Program. This program helps protect the safety and well-being of coastal communities by buffering shorelines from erosion, reducing flooding, and removing potentially hazardous structures.

New Hampshire has already benefited from these NOAA programs. Past funding has been used to protect salt marsh habitats and coastal communities from erosion, sea level rise, and flooding in the Great Bay Estuary in Dover, Durham, and Newmarket as well as complete engineering and design plans for high-priority tidal crossings in New Hampshire’s coastal zone. This additional funding will extend these efforts to more of our Seacoast – creating a more resilient coast and protecting our environment and economy.

The strength of this infrastructure bill is that in addition to making a historic level of investment in our roads, bridges, and tunnels, the bill also recognizes that high-speed internet access, cybersecurity, clean water, and coastal resiliency are also components of our country’s modern infrastructure. In doing so, this infrastructure bill meets the needs of the 21st century and our rapidly changing world. We know that tackling climate change is going to take an all-hands on deck effort and through coastal resiliency efforts in this package, we are making the critical investments needed to help protect New Hampshire’s environment, communities, and economy.

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