“Coastal communities in Washington State are extremely vulnerable to sea level rise and coastal hazards and that’s why we must continue to push forward to help communities construct climate-resilient infrastructure and habitats. In the next 30 years, the sea will rise as much as it has in the last 100 years. We have to ensure that our coastal communities have the tools and resources to prepare and adapt to climate change and sea level rise.” - Senator Cantwell 

In the last few years, we’ve seen an historic megadrought, catastrophic flooding, debilitating heatwaves, and deadly hurricanes and wildfires. In 2024 alone, the United States endured 24 separate billion-dollar extreme weather and climate-fueled disasters. By 2050, many coastal communities could be permanently underwater. With nearly 87 million people living in coastal communities, new investments are critical to ensuring these communities are resilient against a changing climate and built to last against extreme weather. 

In 2022, Senate Democrats passed the largest climate action bill in American history. The Inflation Reduction Act is an historic investment to lower costs for American families, tackle the generational challenge of climate change and reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030. President Biden signed the Act into law on August 16, 2022.  

Senator Cantwell secured $3.3 billion in investments for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to support our coastal communities’ resiliency strategies by: 

• Making communities more resilient to climate impacts by reconstructing natural habitats, including fish habitat, after years of erosion to protect against rising sea levels and mitigate storm surges.   

• Constructing new NOAA facilities, including fishery laboratories and piers, to support cutting-edge science, research and innovation. 

• Adding a new Gulfstream G550 Hurricane Hunter aircraft to collect data on incoming hurricanes and atmospheric rivers to help communities prepare for extreme weather.

• Investing in National Marine Sanctuaries to support critical monitoring of ocean conditions that contribute to climate change and impact coastal communities.

• Funding competitive grants to universities, state and Tribal governments for climate research on atmospheric and oceanic processes, causes of extreme weather, and changes in the numbers of marine species and how they use coastal habitats.

View NOAA’s Awards Explorer

(Projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Law)

…

Restoring Salmon Populations

“The PCSRF is the most critical federal program addressing major threats to Pacific salmon and ensures that these fish can continue to sustain economies, cultural values, recreation and ecosystem health.” - Senator Cantwell 

With the declining West Coast salmon populations, Congress created the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF) in 2000 to help restore endangered and threatened salmon populations in the West. While some stocks are showing improvement, climate change and other factors continue to threaten a number of salmon stocks. The PCSRF grant program provides funding to states and Tribes to reverse the decline of threatened and endangered Pacific salmon. 

Senator Cantwell is a longtime champion of the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund and secured an additional $172 million in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the grant program to protect, conserve and restore threatened and endangered salmon. Every $1 million invested through PCSRF supports more than 16 jobs and generates about $2.3 million in economic activity.  

…

Protecting Orcas in the Puget Sound

Sen. Cantwell led efforts to strengthen the recovery of endangered Southern resident orcas. The three main threats to orca recovery are salmon declines, pollution and vessel impacts such as noise and ship strikes. Sen. Cantwell authored a new pilot program to establish a “Whale Desk” within the Coast Guard Puget Sound Vessel Traffic Center to expand and improve near real-time monitoring of whales to bolster the conservation and management of orcas. This was included in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022, which was signed into law in December 2022 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.