As ocean levels rise, members of Congress are turning to simple tools to protect their districts: seawalls.
Rep. Gus Bilirakis, who represents a coastal area north of Tampa Bay, said in an interview that there’s a growing need for seawalls and other flood mitigation projects back home.
“A lot of this infrastructure is decaying,” said Bilirakis, who got a $2 million earmark for a seawall in his hometown of Tarpon Springs. “We’ve always had flooding. We’ve had flooding issues all over my district,” he said, adding that he wasn’t sure if climate change is to blame. “In the low-lying areas, even in some of the subdivisions as well.”
