A house on Fortune’s Rocks beach in Biddeford, Maine tilts after a series of severe coastal storms in winter 2024. The house was later torn down. (Maine Morning Star)

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine introduced legislation this week designed to aid coastal homeowners amid increasingly frequent storms. 

Pingree, a Democrat representing Maine’s 1st Congressional District, and U.S. Rep Greg Murphy, a Republican from North Carolina, put forward the Prevent Environmental Hazards Act on Wednesday.  

The bill is meant to provide homeowners covered by the National Flood Insurance Program enhanced flexibility in the face of natural disasters. 

“Coastal communities in Maine know all too well how devastating the impacts of the climate crisis can be,” Pingree said in a statement. “Over the last year, Maine has been hit with multiple major storms and climate emergencies are continuing to increase across the country.”

She added that the legislation “gives homeowners the ability to tackle coastal erosion before losing their homes.” 

Specifically, the bill allows National Flood Insurance Program payouts for buildings that have been condemned because of frequent erosion or flooding, permits advance payments for demolition or relocating of up to 40% of a home’s value or $250,000, caps payouts at 40% if an owner doesn’t act before a building collapses, seeks to address confusion in attributing damage to floods, and incentivizes demolition or relocation before a structure collapses.

An increasing number of buildings are at risk of collapse because of erosion, according to a press release from Pingree’s office, and owners often wait for a collapse from a flood to submit a claim, leading to hazardous cleanups and public health and environmental risks. 

Maine has been hit by several violent wind and rain storms in recent months, triggering widespread flooding in different areas of the state and causing significant infrastructure damage. The costs of natural disasters are also increasing around the country, driving up insurance prices, as climate change escalates.  

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