The South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce held its final Impact luncheon for 2010 Thursday in Elberta.

    Walter Bell, former Alabama insurance commissioner and current chairman of Swiss Re America Holding Corporation spoke to civic and business leaders on insurance, building codes.

He also spoke on how the coastal communities can rebuild stronger than ever, even if a dime of payment is never received from BP. According to Bell, building a stronger coast is dependent upon individual responsibility, but some legislation changes and planning are necessary as well.

Bell also spoke at length on the Coastal Recovery Commission's report to Gov. Riley and Gov. Elect Bentley, which was delivered earlier this week.

According to Bell, the issues facing this area go deeper than just insurance issues, building codes lacking enforcement and natural and man made risks.

“For this roadmap, the BP oil spill was a catalyst to take a look at this whole thing again and say how can we protect ourselves living here in the Gulf Coast area. Because, quite frankly, we have substantial risks and those risks aren't going to go away,”  Bell said.