Great Lakes Leaders Represent at Surfrider’s 9th Annual Coastal Recreation Hill Day
Politics is not a spectator sport-- luckily surfers, paddlers, boaters, and beach stewards are not the type of people inclined to sit on the sidelines. Coastal recreationists across the country served as spokespeople for our coasts when meeting with DC lawmakers during the Surfrider Foundation’s 9th annual Coastal Recreation Hill Day.
This year’s event was the largest Coastal Recreation Hill Day ever held - with 177 community voices elevated at the federal level, including those of over 100 chapter volunteers and 40 students from 28 different states and territories. Participants met with congressional members and staff to discuss priorities critical to protecting an enjoying our coasts.
Delegations from Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio met with 13 congressional offices. They discussed the importance of fully funding and staffing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as key programs housed underneath those agencies, including the BEACH Act grants program that supports states' beach water quality monitoring efforts. They also relayed to these offices the importance of protecting waters outside of the region from new offshore oil and gas development. All offices were thanked for their leadership in supporting the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative—an important federal program that supports projects designed to restore clean water, recover native species and natural habitats, and prevent degradation of critical resources in the Great Lakes region.
Moving the needle in DC is not something that can be accomplished through a one-time event - it requires ongoing participation from our communities back home. You, too, can participate in the legislative process by taking a quick minute to send your federal lawmakers an email through our action alert system, advocating for these priorities: https://surfrider.org/action