1st District Rep. Chellie Pingree has introduced legislation aimed at preserving and growing jobs in waterfront communities.
“Across the country, working waterfronts are rapidly disappearing from incompatible development,” Pingree says. “And once our working waterfronts are gone, they are almost always gone forever.”
Pingree says her legislation would require the Department of Commerce to set up a task force to examine the pressures facing coastal communities and to provide money for loans and grants to preserve and expand access for water-dependent businesses, such as lobstering. The bill will be considered by the committee before it goes to the full House.
“We can support the great work the states are already doing by giving them access to funding and other resources,” says Pingree. “We don’t need to duplicate that effort, but we can provide more resources and tools for our states to preserve our coastal economy.”
