Feds Newly Dangling $2.6B For Climate, Coastal Efforts

Feds Newly Dangling $2.6B For Climate, Coastal Efforts

Source: State House News Service

Gov. Maura Healey has talked a lot about competing for federal funding and created a $160,000 post for Quentin Palfrey to help her in that quest. Now, the feds have put another $2.6 billion on the table, an outlay that should be especially enticing to a coastal state like Massachusetts.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last week unveiled a $2.6 billion framework that the agency said is designed "to build climate resilience and support coastal communities" with Inflation Reduction Act funds. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo called it "the most significant direct investment in climate resilience in the nation's history" and details on many of the programs are expected to be available by early summer.

A $575 million Climate Resilience Regional Challenge -- a new competitive grant program at NOAA that will invest in "holistic, collaborative approaches to coastal resilience at regional scales" -- is the largest single area of the effort. Another $390 million bucket of funding is earmarked for tribal priorities, including efforts to support habitat restoration, fish passage, capacity building, science, fish hatcheries and Pacific salmon.

Significant amounts of funding will also be made available to support projects to conserve fisheries and protected species in coastal regions ($349 million); to fund an "accelerator" program targeting businesses with coastal resilience products that are seeking commercial pathways; and to broadly meet the needs of employers by helping place workers in "high quality jobs that enhance climate resilience" ($60 million).

In April, the Biden administration recommended $562 million for 149 projects geared toward making communities resilient to climate impacts.

Nine projects in Massachusetts shared $27.5 million from that outlay, including $14.6 million for the Herring River Restoration Project in Wellfleet, a project described as "the largest salt marsh restoration effort" in the Northeast; a $2.7 million Center for Coastal Studies award for a New England coalition to remove, recyle and dispose of discarded fishing gear from the Gulf of Maine and its shorelines; and $428,000 for Chelsea to gather input and remove Slade Mill Dam on Mill Creek, an area eyed for a new park and riverwalk. - Michael P. Norton/SHNS | 6/12/23 1:04 PM