The Maine State Government has awarded $21.2 million in funding from the Working Waterfront Resilience Grant Program to advance 68 projects aimed at aiding in the recovery process from last winter’s damaging storms.
The $25 million allocation to this program came as part of a $60 million spending package designed in response to these storms that was included in the supplemental budget approved by the Legislature earlier this year.
Although there was broad bipartisan support for funding this initiative, there was stark, party-line disagreement over where the money for these program ought to be sourced.
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.
[RELATED: $60 Million for Storm Relief Initiatives Soon to Be Transferred from Budget Stabilization Fund]
According to a press release published by Gov. Mills, the grants announced Monday are considered “preliminary, pending a final review of project eligibility.”
Once final approval is received, the money will be distributed after August 9 when the supplemental budget legislation takes effect.
Preliminary grant award values range from $3,486.90 for Johnson’s Boatyard on Long Island to $2 million each for the Town of Rockport, as well as Widgery Wharf, Maine Wharf, and Custom House Wharf in Portland.
Funding requests were capped at $2 million and recipients are required to provide a one-to-one dollar match for the amount awarded to them.
“Municipalities will act as a pass-through for funding to the applicant and confirm that funded work has been completed,” Mills explains in her press release.
Grant applications are currently being reviewed for the other programs funded by the $60 million allocation made earlier this year, including the Business Recovery and Resilience Fund and the Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund.
[RELATED: Applications Now Available to Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Municipalities for Combined $35 Million in Storm Relief Funding]
“Working waterfronts are a cornerstone of our coastal communities and our economy, and last winter’s devastating storm demonstrated just how vulnerable they are to extreme weather and climate change,” Mills said in a statement Monday. “These grants will help rebuild working waterfronts so they are able to better withstand future storms, protecting access to the water now and for generations to come.”
This funding represents an important investment by the state in Maine’s critical yet vulnerable working waterfront,” said Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher.
“With commercial access already so limited, it is imperative that we protect these properties from climate driven events and safeguard an industry that is so important to our state’s economic future,” Commissioner Keliher said. “I would be remiss if I didn’t publicly thank our state partners. This is a great example of agencies working together on a common cause to expedite this program and bring much needed relief to an impacted industry.”
The storms of December and January were a wake-up call for many across our state to the need to urgently invest in resilience to the growing effects of climate change, such as flooding, storm surge, and intense, extreme storms,” said Director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF) and co-chair of the Maine Climate Council Hannah Pingree.
“These grants today will help our critical working waterfronts recover and rebuild from the unprecedented damage caused by the January storms, while work on ways to improve our ability to protect our state’s people, communities, and infrastructure from future harm is underway,” Director Pingree said.
Click Here to Read Gov. Mills’ Full Press Release
In May of 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.”
The severe winter storms that swept through the state this past winter were cited by Mills both in her press release and in the executive order itself as critical context for the commission’s formation.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="29533 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=29533">2 Comments
So far I see only the rich getting the grants. Any grants to rebuild a home or for a car you know the poor?
” the growing effects of climate change, such as flooding, storm surge, and intense, extreme storms,” said Director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF) and co-chair of the Maine Climate Council Hannah Pingree.” Should the rich lady, Pingree, not just be knighted as the “Climate Control Zarr, in recognitioin of her excess production of hot air?