(June 16)--Forty-one American businesses, corporations, and industry trade groups issued an open letter today supporting federal coastal ecosystem programs as good for both the economy and the environment.

America’s Small Businesses and Corporations Agree: Coastal Ecosystem Restoration is Good for the Environment and Business

(Washington)—Forty-one American businesses, corporations and trade industry groups have joined together to support federal coastal ecosystem restoration programs as good for both the economy and the environment.

The letter, from businesses with ties to the nation’s coasts, estuaries and rivers, urges legislators and other federal government decision-makers to show “strong support for federal habitat restoration programs that are essential components to restoring the health and vitality” of the nation’s coastal communities. It notes that “when healthy, these areas support and protect countless commercial and recreational industries that feed dollars into local economies,” but that “ever-increasing demands placed on these areas have resulted in substantial habitat loss…requiring restoration efforts to reverse these trends.”

The letter states that for more than a decade federal habitat restoration programs overseen by NOAA, USDA, and the Army Corps of Engineers, among others, have worked together successfully to complete on-the-ground restoration projects through non-regulatory approaches that emphasize community involvement and unique public-private partnerships. And that, further, these cost-effective restoration programs not only help the environment, but create jobs for local and regional economies and in industries represented by each of the companies and associations—a powerful one-two punch on behalf of the environment and the economy and jobs.

But, it warns, America’s coastal, estuarine, and riverine habitats continue to decline at a precipitous rate and that funding cuts to essential programs could imperil these gains and put ongoing work and projects at risk. Coastal economies generate more than half the nation’s gross domestic product.

The forty-one signatories to the open letter include a cross-section of American business—from energy giants Shell Oil Company and Cheniere and powerhouse industrial engineering firms CH2M HILL and CDM, to the Reinsurance Association of America; seven U.S. ports along the Pacific, Atlantic, Gulf and Great Lakes coasts; the American Sportfishing Association; and Blue Circle Foods, LLC, a small sustainable seafood company.

“The businesses that signed this letter prove that the corporate community recognizes that all of us—public and private alike—are stakeholders in the future of America’s coasts,” said Jeff Benoit, President and CEO of Restore America’s Estuaries.

Founded in 1995, Restore America’s Estuaries is a national alliance of 11 regional, coastal conservation organizations with more than 250,000 volunteer-members dedicated to preserving our nation’s estuaries. RAE members include: the American Littoral Society, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Conservation Law Foundation, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Galveston Bay Foundation, North Carolina Coastal Federation, People For Puget Sound, Save The Bay-Narragansett Bay, Save The Bay-San Francisco, Save the Sound-a program of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, and Tampa Bay Watch.

A full copy of the letter with a complete list of corporate signers:  Corporate_letter_final.pdf

Press contacts:

Chris Lyons, RAE Director of Government Relations: (703) 524-0248;  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Jeff Benoit, RAE President and CEO: (703) 524-0248;  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it