Congressman Carter Praises $59.8 Million for Climate Change Resilience and Coastal Hazards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. (D-LA) announced new funding administered by the Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for Louisiana through the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge. Awardees in Louisiana will receive $59.8 million for three projects to make the state’s coast more resilient to impacts from the climate crisis, including sea level rise and stronger tropical storms. These awards were made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which Congressman Carter proudly helped craft and voted for.

“I’m excited to announce Louisiana had multiple projects selected in NOAA’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge! Our communities live on frontlines of the climate crisis and witness the growing threats of extreme weather, heat waves, sea level rise, and drought,” said Rep. Carter. “This funding will help us become more resilient to these growing threats and sets up Louisiana to lead by example in sustainable, community-focused climate adaptation. In line with the Justice 40 Initiative, these projects emphasize equity, community engagement, and regional coordination, making sure our most vulnerable are prioritized. This historic investment in building Climate-Ready Coasts, made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, will provide Louisiana with resources to implement innovative, inclusive solutions that will benefit our future generations.”

The Climate Resilience Regional Challenge is an unprecedented opportunity to implement transformative, resilience-building initiatives throughout the coastal zone. This initiative is focused on investing in high-impact projects that create climate solutions by storing carbon; building resilience to coastal hazards such as extreme weather events, pollution and marine debris; restoring coastal habitats that help wildlife and humans thrive; building the capacity of underserved communities and supporting community-driven restoration; and providing employment opportunities.

“As part of President Biden’s commitment to combating 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. “As part of this historic investment in our nation’s climate resilience the Biden-Harris Administration is investing $59.8 million to help underserved communities in Louisiana develop and implement new strategies to protect themselves from flooding, storm surge, and extreme weather events.”

“Equitably and effectively strengthening a community’s ability to address climate change means enabling the leadership of those who have been most affected by climate impacts, and actively working with them to address these impacts,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “This funding provides Louisiana communities with the resources that empower local leaders, building their capacity for coordination and resilience now and into the future.”

“The Greater New Orleans Foundation, Tulane Bywater Institute, and our many partners, with support from NOAA, will have the ability to amplify and extend collaborative, equity-focused work that enhances our region’s capacity to build and maintain resilient green stormwater infrastructure that reduces flooding and subsidence in our most vulnerable neighborhoods, most of which are majority Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC),” said Andy Kopplin, President and CEO, of the Greater New Orleans Foundation. “We are working together on a holistic adaptive management approach for these projects so they can also help address extreme heat and other climate risks. And we are especially thrilled that through our resilience competition, The Next 100 Years Challenge, one of our grantees, the United Houma Nation leveraged their grant from us to secure over $56 million dollars in funding from NOAA. This grant is a shining example of the importance of investing in our regional nonprofits to bolster our collective efforts to secure major federal funding. We thank Congressman Troy Carter for his tireless efforts to ensure that our region receives the support needed to create more sustainable, just, and thriving communities for us all.”

Background

Recommended projects and funding amounts in Louisianainclude:

Enhancing the United Houma Nation’s Short-, Mid-, and Long-Term Coastal Resilience. United Houma Nation: $56,573,066

In Southern Louisiana, the United Houma Nation is pursuing a comprehensive approach to addressing impacts from increased storm activity and sea level rise through a project that will bolster resilience through a cultural, environmental, economic and emergency-response lens.

The five phases of the Houma Nation’s resilience plan are 1) enhance central community resilience hub; 2) establish and enhance satellite community resilience hubs; 3) strengthen and expand communications; 4) build capacity for economic development; and 5) community-led migration.

Southwest Louisiana and Central Acadiana Resilient Future. ByWater Institute, Tulane University: $1,998,800

This project uses a multipronged approach for community-based regional planning and governance for addressing storm and sea level rise impacts. The goal is todevelop a coordinated vision and sustainable, resilience-focused action plan. Activities include analyzing existing plans; characterizing climate risk; defining best practices; prioritizing potential projects; evaluating policies; and developing engineering reports to move prioritized projects toward implementation.

To meet future needs, the project will set up a regional collaborative to offer continued coordination and sustained knowledge and resource sharing. Additional outputs for this project include filling in technical and data-related information gaps; helping communities identify and use appropriate data and tools; strengthening coordination between all levels of governments, including tribal; assessing the robustness of existing resilience efforts; and evaluating equity impacts.

EMPOWER: Enabling Meaningful Progress for Water Equity and Resilience through the Greater New Orleans Regional Water Plan. New Orleans Community Support Foundation: $1,208,108

This project builds on more than a decade of planning and collaboration across the greater New Orleans region to adopt a holistic, adaptive water management vision centered on the leadership of Black, Indigenous and people of color communities. This vision will enable greater cohesion in selecting community green infrastructure projects and ensure the investments address multiple climate hazards and realize multiple benefits. Outputs include 1) a regional approach to making key water management and climate adaptation data more accessible to the community; 2) a policy manual for holistic, adaptive management of green infrastructure projects; and 3) a public communications campaign that highlights the collaborative’s efforts and findings with media, events, workshops and facilitated conversations about management efforts across the region. The primary climate challenge focus is flooding caused by precipitation, as well as tidal and riverine-sourced flooding.

More information about the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge can be found here.

Read the full NOAA announcement here.

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