WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA) and Congressman Jim Saxton (R-NJ) unveiled bipartisan legislation, the Coastal and Estuarine Land Protection Act (CELP), to establish a new federal program to encourage the protection of coastal areas from development.

“Now more than ever, the pressures of development along our coast threaten to impair watersheds, impact wildlife habitat and cause irreparable damage to the fragile coastal ecology,” said Capps, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee.  “That’s why I am supporting legislation to establish the Coastal Estuarine and Land Protection (CELP) Program.  This legislation will protect some of California’s most sensitive coastal ecosystems by allowing the state to acquire land or easements that have conservation, recreation or ecological values that are threatened by development.  Not only will this legislation protect our coastal areas and the wildlife they support, but also sustain the health of our communities and the quality of life we cherish on the Central Coast.”

The Coastal and Estuarine Land Protection Act authorizes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a competitive program that will provide coastal states with federal matching funds to acquire coastal properties, either in full or through conservation easements.   The federal funds provided through this program would be combined with state, local and private funding.  The new program would be administered by NOAA's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. 

NOAA currently operates a similar program, which has provided funding for coastal land protection initiatives throughout the Central Coast, including Ellwood Mesa, Gaviota State Park, Morro Bay Dunes and Piedras Blancas.  Capps helped secure federal funding for these conservation projects.  The current program will be improved by the changes in the Coastal and Estuarine Land Protection Act to ensure that critical coastal and estuarine lands under the threat of development receive acquisition funding.  Numerous environmental and community groups, including the Trust for Public Land, a land conservancy group, have endorsed the bill.

"The Trust for Public Land applauds Representative Capps for her continued leadership in conserving our remaining coastal open spaces in California and across the nation," said Alan Front, Sr. Vice President for The Trust for Public Land.  "The CELCP program has already provided more than $10 million to help California communities protect vanishing coastal resources and create additional public access to their waterfronts, including the Gaviota Coast and Morro Bay. We look forward to realizing the benefits of this new legislation to protect more public open space along the California coastline."

Congresswoman Lois Capps serves on the Natural Resources Committee.

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Pictured above: (center) Congresswoman Capps meets with Central Coast firefighters to discuss emergency preparedness.