Vermilionaire

On March 25, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, which is now on its way to President Obama’s desk for his signature. Five critical pieces of ocean legislation were included in the bill, including provisions for an ocean acidification research and monitoring program, as well as a coastal and estuarine land conservation program, with funding for both totaling $340 million. Also, this bill will protect 3,000 acres of cypress-tupelo wetlands permanently, as part of Jean Lafitte National Park! GRN and our conservation partners have been fighting for this for years, and we are very happy to finally see it come to fruition. This bill is very good news for the Gulf, which is not only losing its wetlands and estuaries at an alarming rate, but is also suffering coastal pollution and loss of marine habitat. Read more about how the new legislation will affect our ability to monitor and cope with the coastal impacts of climate change here.