Commerce Department may fund $575M for coastal climate change resilience

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said Friday the department and NOAA are recommending $575 million in funding for 19 projects to boost coastal climate resilience.

“As part of President Biden’s commitment to combatting the climate crisis, we are investing $575 million to help make sure America’s coastal communities are more resilient to the effects of climate change,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in a statement. “This is a historic investment in our nation’s climate resilience, the largest in the history of the Commerce Department, and a key piece of the Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious climate agenda.

NOAA’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge is a competitive grant program funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.

National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi said in a statement that work is underway with state, local and tribal governments to build capacity, upgrade aging infrastructure and to protect vulnerable communities from climate change impacts.

“From sea level rise and storm surges to eroding infrastructure, coastal communities are on the frontlines of dealing with the worsening impacts of the climate crisis,” Zaidi said in a statement.

The funds under this program would be used by states and communities to acquire vulnerable land, build natural infrastructure, improve public infrastructure resilience, update state and local codes and policies, build regional capacity to increase resilience and strengthening and protecting public access to coastal natural resources.

According to an August 2023 report, tidal flooding along the East and West coasts of the United States hit record highs in eight places over one year.

Meanwhile NOAA’s 2023 Annual High Tide Flooding Outlook predicted the United States will have three times the number of “nuisance flood” or “sunny flood” days compared with 2000.

A 2021 NOAA study said coastal flooding in the United States is expected to worsen in the 2030s due to rising seas and an expected wobble in the moon’s orbit.

NOAA said increased global warming is expected to worsen the problem.

Researchers at Ne Orleans’ Tulane University released a study in April 2023 that documented record sea-level rise along the southeastern coasts and Gulf of Mexico caused by man-made climate change.

That study said the record sea-level rise of half an inch detected over 12 years was more proof of the “urgency of the climate crisis for the Gulf region.”