Despite wide support from scientists, coral reef bill has some detractors
Posted on February 26th, 2009By: Allison Winter
E&E Daily: Legislation to protect coral reefs won praise from Democrats, island governors and federal coral reef experts yesterday, but Republicans said the long-stalled bill may face similar roadblocks to those that have held it up in the past.
The “Coral Reef Conservation Act” from Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) would expand federal coral reef conservation efforts and give the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration more authority to respond to emergency situations when corals are harmed. It would codify a coral reef task force first created in 2000.
The bill, H.R. 860, is similar to a previous version of the coral reef act that passed the House in 2007 but stalled in the Senate.
Rep. Henry Brown (R-S.C.), the ranking member on the Subcommittee On Insular Affairs, Oceans And Wildlife, said the measure may face a similar fate this time.
“This bill does nothing to resolve the concerns of the Senate, which caused the bill to wither and die last year,” said Brown. “In fact, I think it will actually increase the heartburn.”
One concern Brown raised is that the bill would give added authority to the Commerce Department and Interior Department to issue permits for potential harm to reefs and crack down on those who hurt them through ship strikes or other means. Brown said such measures could delay dredging or construction projects.
“I would think giving authority to these two secretaries would scare those of you who do have coral reefs in your district,” he told the committee.
But the governors of Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands all welcomed the increased protections for reefs.
The issue also won praise from Kacky Andrews, director of the coral reef conservation program for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She said the bill would help provide an “extra layer of protection” for reefs that have seen rapid decline from a combination of stressors. “I am pleased so many committee members are committed to authorizing the coral reef act,” Andrews said.
Concerns over climate change
The hearing came as officials gathered at the Interior Department yesterday for a meeting of the Coral Reef Task Force — a group that would get added authority under the act. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told task force members that the Obama administration is committed to quick action on global climate change, one of the key threats to coral reefs.
“Addressing climate change is a critical aspect of protecting coral reefs across the world and I know it will be high on the agenda of this task force,” Salazar said.
The coral reef conservation act would not directly address warming ocean temperatures and acidification — the chief threats to corals. Rather, it gives more enforcement authority against direct threats from ship strikes or improper use of corals. Scientists said that extra protection would give reefs a better chance of surviving warmer temperatures.
“If we plan to have coral reefs around for the long term, we need to address carbon dioxide emissions, but coral reefs are also affected by other things, like pollution and overfishing,” Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution’s department of global ecology told the House committee.
Caldeira added: “We must work to enhance their resilience and to do this we must reduce what we can control, like pollution and ship strikes, so coral reefs can cope with the things we can’t control as easily, like acidification and warming.”
Recent studies have shown mounting threats to coral reefs from climate change. A report in December — which the governments of the United States, Australia and Japan endorsed — found that climate change is the greatest threat to the long-term survival of the world’s coral reefs.
The report, released by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, found that just under half of the world’s reefs are in good shape. Nineteen percent of coral reefs have been destroyed, while another 35 percent could die within 10 to 40 years. The scientists predicted coral reefs would see even more severe problems unless action is taken within eight to 10 years.