Dem Rep. Castor: Inflation Reduction Act Provides Resources for ‘Best Science’ on Wetlands and Mangroves

On Monday’s broadcast of C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) stated that in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, there are resources in the Inflation Reduction Act “to help local communities with the best science” on mangroves and wetlands.

Castor said, “First, because of climate change and warmer waters in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic coast, these hurricanes more rapidly intensify. And that’s certainly what happened here. All of the scientists, and all the folks in weather are aghast at how quickly Hurricane Ian turned from a lower-category hurricane into — it was bumping up against a category five, plus the size of the storm. So, some of the resources from the federal government that we’re going to deploy relate even to the Inflation Reduction Act that was just passed.”

She continued, “Now, people know the Inflation Reduction Act as lowering the cost of prescription drugs, putting a cap on prescription drugs for those in Medicare, capping insulin at $35, and providing tax credits to make sure health care’s more affordable. But the other part of the Inflation Reduction Act is the large investment in clean energy and climate resilience. And when we’re talking about climate resilience, that means resources for local communities all across the country, but especially in flood-prone areas to improve their building codes. When you look at those devastating pictures of which structures are still standing and which structures were completely destroyed, if they were constructed after the building codes were revised after Hurricane Andrew, they did a lot better than structures that weren’t subject to updated building codes. So, that’s one thing that has to be deployed and updated all across flood-prone areas, not just coastal areas, new building codes. New building codes also should include — and the Inflation Reduction Act provides resources to help local communities deploy more natural solutions that attenuate floods. For example, we’ve learned, over time, in Florida, it’s not smart to tear down your mangroves. It’s not smart to tear down some of the other natural, rocky areas. It’s not smart to dredge and fill wetlands because those are buffers against flood and storm surge. So, [there are] additional resources in that Inflation Reduction Act to help local communities with the best science.”

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