Flood Preparedness Fund Grants Awarded

This week Governor Northam today announced $7.8 million in grants awarded to support projects that address impacts of flooding, sea-level rise, and extreme weather statewide. These grants are the first to be awarded through the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund. Which was established in 2020 to assist communities in building resilience to the impacts of climate change, including floods, with targeted funding going to vulnerable and underserved communities.

Community Flood Preparedness Fund 2021 Grant Awards - Round 1:

• Eastern Branch of Elizabeth River Wetland and Floodplain Restoration $3,000,000-City of Virginia Beach
• McGuire and Chapel Drive Drainage Improvements Project $1,100,000-City of Richmond
• Norfolk Coastal Storm Risk Management Analysis $900,000-City of Norfolk
• Portsmouth's Data-Driven and Equity-Driven Resilience Strategy $527,949-City of Portsmouth
• Lake Whitehurst Watershed Study $500,000-City of Norfolk
• Plans and Capacity Building with Consultant Services $387,500-Buchanan County
• Oyster Plan - Capacity Building and Resilience Planning $202,232-Northampton County
• Resilient Hampton: Downton Hampton, Phoebus and Buckroe Beach $158,681-City of Hampton
• Moores Creek Watershed $153,500-City of Charlottesville
• Honor Park Resilience Park $147,994-City of Hampton
• Mill Point Living Shoreline $126,498-City of Hampton
• Resilient Stormwater Capacity and Green Streets Project $115,200-City of Alexandria
• Richmond Manchester and Shockoe Bottom Neighborhoods $103,500-City of Richmond
• Southern Chesapeake - Watershed 5 $91,404-City of Chesapeake
• Resilience Plan $74,997-City of Chesapeake
• Capacity Building and Planning  $68,024-City of Suffolk
• Resilience Plan $65,040-City of Winchester
• The Impacts of Climate Change on Crop Planning and Production: An Agricultural Study of the Eastern Shore $47,121-Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission
• Carlton Road Boat Ramp, Wake, Virginia - Design and Permitting $26,400-Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission (Middlesex County)

A second grant cycle closes on November 5. More information is available here.

Coastal Virginia is threatened by rising waters. High rates of land subsidence, combined with sea level rise, means Virginia is experiencing one of the highest rates of relative sea level rise in the United States. Virginia has experienced more than 18 inches of relative sea level rise in the past 100 years. More intense hurricanes and nor’easters, more frequent heavy rainfall events and increased frequency of tidal flooding from sea level rise are predicted from the changing climate.

The Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Planning Framework lays out the Commonwealth’s approach to coastal protection and adaptation which is intended to make our coastal communities and economies more resilient to increased flooding expected from subsidence of the land and climate change. This Framework establishes the goals, objectives, guiding principles, and key actions the Commonwealth plans to take to enhance costal resilience, with an emphasis on protecting key assets, developing cost-effective natural strategies, conserving and enhancing natural flood controls, and ensuring equity for underserved communities.

The Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund was established to provide support for regions and localities across Virginia to reduce the impacts of flooding, including flooding driven by climate change. The first thing that was needed was a source of funding. In the 2020 the Clean Economy Act was signed into law. Amongst other things the legislation had the state join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional cap-and-invest program for the electric sector in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

RGGI is a carbon-trading/ cap program that is already in place in ten New England states. The RGGI reduces carbon emissions from fuel fired power plants by putting a price on carbon. According to Governor Northam’s press release the RGGI will create nearly $75 million in revenue each year. This money does not appear out of thin air, the actual source of the RGGI revenue will be increased power rates since the cost of the carbon allowances is part of the rate base for electricity and will be passed onto consumers. So, increases in electric costs will go to mitigate some of the impacts of climate change and hopefully serve to reduce power use.

The Community Flood Preparedness Fund is receives 45% of the revenue Virginia generates through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. An estimated $75 million per year will be available through the matching grant program. At least 25% of the money distributed from the fund each year must be used for projects in low-income geographic areas. For this group of grants, 48%, or $3.7 million, of the total awards have been in low income areas.