Funding Area: Climate Resistance

Resilience and mitigation spending saves taxpayers more than $6 for every $1 invested. But the majority of current disaster relief programs focus on post-disaster response, rather than pre-disaster mitigation, preparation, and resilience. The Safeguarding Tomorrow through Ongoing Risk Mitigation (STORM) Act creates a new “resilience revolving loan fund” program modeled after similar water programs (the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds) and will spur investment ahead of future disasters. Led by FEMA, this new revolving loan fund will be eligible for mitigation projects and activities to increase resilience and mitigate the impacts of events such as drought, extreme heat, severe storms, wildfires, floods and earthquakes. This provides an opportunity to prioritize low-impact development, wildland-urban interface management, conservation areas, reconnection of floodplain and open space projects. These low-interest funds will allow for cities and states to repay the loan with savings from mitigation projects. It also gives states and localities the flexibility to respond to oncoming disasters without paying high-interest rates so they can invest in their communities – cutting the red tape of having to wait on the federal government. Planning ahead to prevent serious disruptions when a disaster strikes will reduce risks to people, property, and save taxpayer dollars.

Section 319 funding supports the implementation of state nonpoint source management programs. In each state, a significant portion of funding goes to local watershed projects that control stormwater runoff. Many projects feature green and nature-based approaches such as rain gardens, bioswales, permeable pavement, and streambank restoration. Each state runs its own project solicitation process. Find your state nonpoint source program here.

Co-sponsors, the EPA and the Urban Waters Federal Partnership, work to develop community capacity with modest financial and technical assistance to diverse local partnerships for urban restoration and education programs. Streambank and shoreline stabilization, stormwater management, urban tree canopy restoration, and projects to prevent trash in waterways are just a few of the projects awarded grants. The grants are administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s (NFWF) Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program.

Clean Water State Revolving Funds provide low-interest loans for water infrastructure and management projects. Beginning with The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, Congress requires all CWSRF programs to use a portion of their federal grant for green infrastructure projects, water and energy efficiency, or other environmentally innovative activities, called the Green Project Reserve. The EPA issued a policy encouraging states to prioritize green infrastructure in their CWSRF programs in 2016. 

Although it is a loan program, CWSRF has the flexibility for debt purchasing or refinancing, loan guarantees and insurance to increase access to private credit markets or to lower borrowing costs. 

States can also reward high-priority projects with incentives, including subsidies. Some states have built-in priority points for green infrastructure, including Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, New Hampshire, Maryland, and New Mexico. Several states have opted to provide principal forgiveness, negative interest loans, and grants. The EPA reported that from 2009 to 2015, states provided more than $70 million in additional subsidization for green infrastructure projects.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Office for Coastal Management provide grants to improve the resilience of local communities and wildlife habitat in the face of increasingly severe and frequent natural disasters.  These are post-disaster grants for communities impacted by extreme weather events and natural disasters. The grants support natural and nature-based infrastructure that help with recovery of people and wildlife. Grants are offered through this program sporadically.

This competitive grant program provides funding for projects that reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flood damage to buildings insured by the National Flood Insurance Program. Flood Mitigation Assistance funds may be used for projects such as Project Scoping; Technical Assistance; Community Flood Mitigation Projects; Individual Structure/Property-Level Flood Mitigation Projects; and Management Costs.

This program provides flexible grants for recovery from Presidentially declared disasters, especially in low-income areas. Congress may appropriate additional funding for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program as Disaster Recovery grants. Since CDBG Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) assistance may fund a broad range of recovery activities, Department of Housing and Urban Development can fund the creation of parks and green infrastructure in low-income areas to increase community resilience.

This program helps communities implement hazard mitigation following a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to reduce the risk of loss of life and property in future disasters. Funds can be used for land protection, aquifer storage and recovery, floodplain and stream restoration, flood diversion and storage, or green infrastructure methods to manage flood and drought conditions. Applicants must have a Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) approved mitigation plan before applying.

Water utilities may prefer investing in green over gray infrastructure. It is often less expensive and offers additional quality of life, environmental, and health benefits, which make it easier for utilities to “sell” necessary ratepayer increases.

In order to partner with a water utility on green infrastructure, it is essential to find projects that meet their regulatory requirements and the community’s park and greenspace needs. Other partners that can be critical to building a successful program include school districts, park agencies, departments of the environment, nonprofit land trusts, and park conservancies.

Many cities and wastewater utilities operate under an EPA consent decree that establishes clean water milestones to be reached over 20 years in order to avoid financial penalties. Some utilities have negotiated green infrastructure investments in their milestones.

Examples of water utilities partnering on park and green infrastructure investments is critical to convincing water utilities it is not only a viable, but an advantageous approach.