Gov. Janet Mills (D) announced Tuesday that $2.4 million worth of grants have been awarded to municipalities throughout the state to “help prepare for climate effects” and “improve energy efficiency.”
These grants are to be used for projects that help to “protect infrastructure from damaging storms or rising sea levels, increase local planning capacity, and improve energy resilience and efficiency.”
All of these awards were distributed through the Community Resilience Partnership, a program that was established in 2021 to “help local communities undertake projects that increase resilience to climate effects and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
A $5 million additional allocation for the Partnership — designed to allow another hundred municipalities to participate in the program — was included in the supplemental budget signed into law earlier this year.
Funded by the grants announced Tuesday are a wide range of projects, including expanding access to electric vehicle (EV) charging, installing heat pumps, “investing in climate-ready infrastructure,” and undertaking various planning related planning efforts. Award values for these projects ranged from $12,195.20 to $75,000.
Separately, six Energy Efficiency Priorities Grants were also awarded by the State, ranging in value from $29,009 to $200,000. Projects under this umbrella include the installation of rooftop solar panels and the retrofitting of municipal properties.
“While Maine communities continue to recover from recent devastating storms, it’s vital that we strengthen vital infrastructure for future severe storms, expected to become more frequent with climate change,” said Mills. “These grants will help 54 Maine communities improve their resilience to intense storms and other impacts of climate change, reduce carbon emissions, and boost energy efficiency.”
“Since I unveiled the Community Resilience Partnership nearly three years ago, hundreds of cities and towns across the state have taken action to fight climate change and strengthen their communities,” Mills continued. “My Administration will continue our collaborative work with communities across Maine to protect our state for future generations.”
“The storms of this past winter, and the past two years, have shown the increasing need for communities to take action to strengthen their infrastructure to withstand climate effects, and make climate investments and actions that reflect local priorities,” said Hannah Pingree and Melanie Loyzim, co-chairs of the Maine Climate Council.
“The Community Resilience Partnership is now supporting 226 communities across Maine in this important work,” Pingree and Loyzim said. “We are grateful for the efforts of our communities, and the support of this program from Governor Mills and the Legislature, to advance local and regional climate solutions.””
“Continuing municipal interest in the Community Resilience Partnership is not only evidence of the program’s success but also of the importance of the state/municipal partnership,” said Cathy Conlow, Executive Director of the Maine Municipal Association.
“As designed, this partnership strikes the perfect balance between the state’s ability to access non-property tax revenue and provide technical assistance and local ingenuity and the ability to nimbly implement much needed resiliency building projects where they are most needed,” Conlow said. “The Association joins municipal leaders across Maine in commending Governor Mills and the Office of Policy Innovation and the Future for their ongoing investment in this program.”
Click Here to Read Gov. Mills’ Full Press Release
In addition to the $5 million for the Community Resilience Partnership, the supplemental budget signed into law earlier this year also included $60 million for recovery efforts in response to the damaging storms the state faced in December and January.
Both of these initiatives received bipartisan support in Augusta, but lawmakers were divided along partisan lines over what would be the most appropriate source for the necessary funding.
[RELATED: $60 Million for Storm Relief Initiatives Soon to Be Transferred from Budget Stabilization Fund]
While Democrat lawmakers backed the plan to utilize funds from the Budget Stabilization Fund (BSF), Republican legislators advocated for the money to be drawn from the unappropriated General Fund surplus.
Colloquially known as the Rainy Day Fund, the BSF is statutorily required to be used primarily as a reserve account to offset state expenses in the event of a General Fund revenue shortfall.
The BSF may also be used to to provide assistance to the families of fallen first responders or cover specifically-defined expenses during certain emergency situations.
In addition to distributing funding for climate-related projects in various municipalities, Mills has also recently moved to have the State study the intersection of environmental concerns and infrastructure.
Earlier this year, Mills signed an executive order establishing a commission to develop the state’s first plan for “long-term infrastructure resilience.”
According to the executive order, the ongoing effects of climate change will necessitate a continued investment in “recovery and rebuilding resources” because “extreme storms, inland and coastal flooding, and other natural hazards are projected to increase in frequency and severity as the climate warms.”
This commission must publish an interim report on their findings by November 15, 2024 and a final report by May 15, 2025.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="28749 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=28749">6 Comments
The Governess, Pingree, and Miss Loyzim will stand tall, together, to save us all from the hoax of “Global Warming”, and make as much money for themselves and their demorat fellow travelers as is humanly possible.
“Since I unveiled the Community Resilience Partnership nearly three years ago, hundreds of cities and towns across the state have taken action to fight climate change and strengthen their communities,” Mills continued. “My Administration will continue our collaborative work with communities across Maine to protect our state for future generations.”
What a bunch of gobbledy gook.The BSF should be changed to just BS as we continue to be abused.
Have you spent any money to find 85,000 missing joe biden kids which to NGO’s have sent around the country side Janet?
…blah, blah, blah. No amounts of money will stabilize the climate. It occurs naturally and has for the last 4.5 billion years. Mankind is merely a pimple on the a$$ of earth progress. Democrats need to get over themselves and stop with the incessant BS concerning climate.
Mother Mills thinks she can beat Mother Nature. When Chellie Pingree’s mansion off the Coast of Maine gets raised up on stilts, then I start taking this seriously.
$2.4 million should almost cover the costs of examining the issue and formulating a preliminary list of recommendations…
… and then another $5 million will be needed to read the recommendations.
Yeah, Jan — we know how it works.