I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4525 

To direct the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to make grants to States and local governments and nongovernmental organizations for purposes of carrying out shoreline stabilization 

projects utilizing natural materials. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 1, 2017 

Mr. PALLONE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To direct the Administrator of the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration to make grants to States 

and local governments and nongovernmental organizations for purposes of carrying out shoreline stabilization 

projects utilizing natural materials. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Living Shorelines Act 

5 of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LIVING SHORELINE GRANT PROGRAM. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the Na3 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall 

4 make grants to eligible entities for purposes of— 

5 (1) carrying out large- and small-scale, climate6 resilient living shoreline projects; and 

7 (2) encouraging innovation in the use of natural 

8 materials to protect coastal communities. 

9 (b) PROJECT AND SELECTION.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

11 grant under this section, an eligible entity shall sub12 mit to the Administrator a proposed living shoreline 

13 project, including monitoring and data collection 

14 with respect to the project. 

15 (2) SELECTION.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

17 shall select recipients based on criteria to be 

18 prescribed by the Administrator in consultation 

19 with relevant National Oceanic and Atmos20 pheric Administration offices, such as the Office 

21 of Habitat Conservation, the Office for Coastal 

22 Management, and the Restoration Center, and 

23 taking into account the potential of proposed 

24 projects submitted under this subsection to pro25 tect communities and maintain the viability of 


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1 the environment in areas where such proposed 

2 projects are to be carried out. 

3 (B) PRIORITY.—In selecting recipients the 

4 Administrator shall give priority consideration 

5 to a proposed project to be conducted in an 

6 area for which the President has declared, with7 in the 10-year period preceding the submission 

8 of a proposed project, that a major disaster ex9 ists pursuant to section 401 of the Robert T. 

10 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist11 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) due to a hurricane, 

12 tropical storm, coastal storm, or flooding. 

13 (3) MINIMUM LEVEL OF PROTECTION.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

15 shall select proposed projects for grants under 

16 this section that— 

17 (i) are primarily focused on providing 

18 protection for a coastal community; and 

19 (ii) demonstrate and quantify the abil20 ity of the project to meet a minimal level 

21 of such protection. 

22 (B) PROTECTION DEFINED.—In this para23 graph the term ‘‘protection’’ includes— 

24 (i) mitigating the effects of erosion; 


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1 (ii) absorbing the impact of coastal 

2 storms; 

3 (iii) mitigating shoreline flooding; 

4 (iv) mitigating the effects of sea level 

5 rise; and 

6 (v) other forms of protection as deter7 mined by the Administrator. 

8 (4) COMMUNITY PROTECTION STANDARDS.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator— 

10 (i) shall make the determination 

11 under paragraph (3) under standards es12 tablished by the Administrator in consulta13 tion with the Corps of Engineers and rel14 evant National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

15 Administration offices, such as the Office 

16 of Habitat Conservation, the Office for 

17 Coastal Management, and the Restoration 

18 Center; and 

19 (ii) in establishing such standards, 

20 may consult with relevant interagency 

21 councils, such as the Estuary Habitat Res22 toration Council. 

23 (B) CONSIDERATIONS.—Such standards 

24 shall take into account historic flooding and 

25 projected flooding, climate change, erosion, the 


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1 value of properties in the community, and eco2 logical benefits of a proposed project. 

3 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants made under this section 

4 may be used by recipients only to— 

5 (1) carry out living shoreline projects; and 

6 (2) monitor and collect data on the success and 

7 deficiencies of projects, in accordance with standards 

8 issued by the Administrator under subsection (e)(2). 

9 (d) COST-SHARING.—An eligible entity that receives 

10 a grant under this section shall provide, from non-Federal 

11 sources, not less than 50 percent of the funds towards the 

12 total cost, including administrative costs, of each living 

13 shoreline project funded by such grant. 

14 (e) MONITORING AND REPORT.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall re16 quire each recipient of a grant under this section (or 

17 their representative) to— 

18 (A) transmit to the Administrator data col19 lected with the grant; 

20 (B) monitor approved projects conducted 

21 with grants under this section and collect data 

22 on the protection provided by such projects and 

23 the success and deficiencies of such projects in 

24 providing such protection; 


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1 (C) make such data available to the public 

2 through the website of the National Oceanic 

3 and Atmospheric Administration; and 

4 (D) by not later than December 31, 2022, 

5 publish a report on the effectiveness of the pro6 gram under this section in increasing protection 

7 of coastal communities through living shorelines 

8 techniques, including— 

9 (i) descriptions of— 

10 (I) the projects that were award11 ed grants; 

12 (II) the construction carried out 

13 under such projects; and 

14 (III) what techniques and mate15 rials were used in such projects; and 

16 (ii) data on the performance of such 

17 projects in providing such protection. 

18 (2) STANDARDS.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

20 after the date of the enactment of this Act the 

21 Administrator shall, in consultation with rel22 evant offices of the National Oceanic and At23 mospheric Administration and nongovernmental 

24 organizations, issue standards for the collection 

25 under subsection (c) and this subsection of data 


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1 regarding the success and deficiencies of 

2 projects conducted with grants under this sec3 tion. 

4 (B) REPORTING.—The standards shall re5 quire reporting of such data to the Administra6 tion on a regular basis. 

7 (f) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

8 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis9 trator’’ means the Administrator of the National 

10 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

11 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti12 ty’’ means each of the following: 

13 (A) A State or a unit of general local gov14 ernment in a State. 

15 (B) Nongovernmental organizations that 

16 are described in section 501(c)(3) of the Inter17 nal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax 

18 under section 501(a) of such Code. 

19 (3) LIVING SHORELINE PROJECT.—The term 

20 ‘‘living shoreline project’’— 

21 (A) means a project to mitigate the effects 

22 of erosion caused by shoreline flooding or 

23 innundation, currents, and wave energy, 

24 through project design that stabilizes a shore25 line by using natural materials to create buffers 


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1 to absorb the impact of coastal storms, flood2 ing, and wave energy and to prevent or mini3 mize (or both) shoreline erosion, that— 

4 (i) incorporates as many natural ele5 ments as possible, such as native wetlands, 

6 submerged aquatic plants, native grasses, 

7 shrubs, or trees; 

8 (ii) utilizes techniques that incor9 porate ecological and coastal engineering 

10 principles in shoreline stabilization; and 

11 (iii) to the extent possible, maintains 

12 or restores existing natural slopes and con13 nections between uplands and adjacent 

14 wetlands or surface waters; and 

15 (B) may include, but not be limited to, the 

16 use of— 

17 (i) natural elements, such as sand, 

18 wetland plants, logs, oysters or other shell19 fish, submerged aquatic vegetation, native 

20 grasses, shrubs, trees, or coir fiber logs; 

21 and 

22 (ii) structural materials, such as 

23 stone, concrete, wood, vinyl, oyster domes, 

24 or other approved engineered structures. 


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1 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

2 the several States, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

3 Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, 

4 American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the North5 ern Mariana Islands, and each Federally recognized 

6 Indian Tribe. 

7 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 are authorized to be appropriated $20,000,000 to the Ad9 ministrator for each of fiscal years 2018 through 2023 

10 for purposes of carrying out this section. 

Æ 


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