PERTH AMBOY, NJ — The federal government is providing more than half a billion dollars to coastal communities to help them use nature-based preventive measures to address climate-related flooding and other disasters.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Friday that it is allocating $575 million to 19 resilience projects in several states, with a specific emphasis on Native American, urban and traditionally underserved communities that repeatedly face flooding, wildfires and other weather-related disasters.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement that the effort was intended to “ensure that America’s coastal communities are more resilient to the impacts of climate change.”
The projects include more than $72 million for so-called “living shorelines” in New Jersey, which use native plants, oyster reefs and other natural materials to restore and protect waterfronts. There’s also money to replace sidewalks with permeable pavement, to cover buildings with plants to absorb heat, and to build parks in flood-prone areas that can absorb floodwaters.
Other work includes climate risk assessments for more than 100 Native Alaskan communities, expanding technical assistance for state adaptation, and sharing local knowledge.
It also includes using nature-based solutions to protect California’s Monterrey Bay, creating native forests to reduce the risk of wildfires in Hawaii, and creating open spaces on Rhode Island’s Aquidneck Island.
Officials from NOAA and the U.S. Department of Commerce held a news conference Friday in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, to outline some of the work planned for that state, which ravaged by Superstorm SandyThe meeting took place on a bayside walkway that was rebuilt with government funds after the 2012 storm.
“Climate change is real, it’s here and it’s now,” said New Jersey Environmental Commissioner Shawn LaTourette. “We’re experiencing routine flooding that so often forces families from their homes. That illustrates the need for federal action and investment.”
The money is part of NOAA’s Regional Climate Resilience Challenge funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Environmental groups have long favored natural coastal protection over so-called “hard engineering” solutions such as sea walls and bulkheads, which they argue can worsen erosion by washing sand and sediment away from the barriers.
Many coastal communities are trying to implement a combination of both types of coastal protection in areas where nature-based solutions alone are not sufficient.
But a number of innovative projects have also emerged from this thinking, including the work of the American Littoral Society in New Jersey to protect the eroding banks of a river by using coconut shell fibers in mats to stabilize the land where it enters the water.
New Jersey Democrat Frank Pallone Jr., U.S. Rep., said several projects will include rainwater gardens, “green roofs” and permeable pavement to absorb rainwater and storm surges instead of draining them into quickly overflowing sewers.
___
Follow Wayne Parry on X at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC