My favorite ASBPA “memory” is a series of many interactions with Senator Tom Carper from Delaware. Sen. Carper was truly a Coastal Advocate in Congress and friend to ASBPA, not just because he received our awards, but because he cared about our issues. He served for many years as the Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, and so he had tremendous influence on Army Corps policies and coastal conservation. He was also a charming raconteur, who could quiet a packed reception room without ever raising his voice. Anyone who came to an ASBPA Summit between 2015-2020 will surely remember me shouting vainly into a microphone at the Coastal Celebration to get folks to quiet down, only for Sen. Carper to take the microphone, crack a quick joke, and get the room laughing and listening. While Executive Director of ASBPA, I had the opportunity to testify at Sen. Carper’s committee, staff ASBPA President, Tony Pratt, in testifying before his committee, and – perhaps my most special moment – do my very first podcast interview with Sen. Carper. Shortly after I left ASBPA for CSO, Sen. Carper invited me to speak on a panel at field hearing on coastal conservation with Governor John Bel Edwards (LA) and Jack Markell (DE); my message came directly from CSO & ASBPA’s joint beach and inlet management policy, so was an ASBPA memory as much as CSO.Derek BrockbankInvolved since 2015
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