Reed, Whitehouse Announce ~$1.2 Million in NCRF Grants for Rhode Island

RIDEM and Pawtuxet River Authority will receive grants from Whitehouse-created National Coastal Resilience Fund

Johnston, RI - U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, today announced $1,186,200 in federal funding to improve the resiliency of Rhode Island communities. The federal funding will help mitigate flooding in Johnston, restore dunes near Block Island's Town Beach, and reopen a fish migration passage and alleviate flooding along the Pawtuxet River. The two grants for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and the Pawtuxet River Authority are funded through the National Coastal Resilience Fund (NCRF), which was developed by Senator Whitehouse to restore and strengthen the natural infrastructure protecting coastal communities.

Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena, Jr., RIDEM Director Terry Gray, New Shoreham Town Planner Alison Ring, and Pawtuxet River Authority Chairman Bob Nero joined Reed and Whitehouse at an event in Johnston to celebrate the federal awards.

"Senator Whitehouse spearheaded the National Coastal Resilience Fund to help Rhode Islanders and coastal communities across the country implement nature-based solutions to strengthen flood resilience and adapt to the changing climate. This latest round of federal funding will advance local efforts to restore dunes and shore up natural infrastructure, reduce risks and lessen damage from storm surge and flooding, and reopen rivers to help restore migratory fish populations and revitalize local ecosystems," said Senator Reed.

"My National Coastal Resilience Fund is helping communities in the Ocean State prepare for and adapt to the climate crisis that is causing more frequent severe flooding across Rhode Island," said Senator Whitehouse. "This new batch of funding will help strengthen infrastructure and keep Rhode Island communities connected during storms and floods, particularly here in Johnston where flooding is a persistent concern."

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) was awarded $839,100 to provide design support for two nature-based resilience projects in Johnston and New Shoreham. The project will utilize dune and marsh restoration, floodplain restoration and nature-based stormwater infrastructure techniques to provide security from coastal hazards.

"Rhode Island's communities are on the front lines of flooding and coastal erosion, and these investments will help protect people, property, and our environment," said RIDEM Director Terry Gray. "By bringing together our Chief Resilience Officer, Regional Resilience Coordinators, and local leaders in Johnston and New Shoreham, we were able to design smart, nature-based projects that reduce flooding, protect ecosystems, and strengthen both inland and coastal areas. Thanks to Senator Whitehouse, these investments reflect our commitment to turning local priorities into real solutions that safeguard the environmental, cultural, and economic benefits Rhode Islanders depend on."

The Town of Johnston will receive $340,000 from RIDEM to transform existing town-owned land parcels into a vast ecosystem of outdoor recreational space that will double as a network of floodwater detention and bioretention areas. These areas will mitigate flooding in the town's commercial and residential areas as they hold, absorb, and redirect rainwater. Last January, Senators Reed and Whitehouse and Congressman Seth Magaziner delivered a $2 million federal earmark to help advance another key flood mitigation project in Johnston.

"This grant, secured by Senators Reed and Whitehouse, will provide funding for critical infrastructure improvements at Johnston Memorial Park. These infrastructure projects will enhance the town's open space, help mitigate chronic flooding, and significantly improve quality of life for Johnston residents," said Mayor Polisena, Jr.

The Town of New Shoreham will receive $439,200 from RIDEM to conduct dune restoration on Corn Neck Road. Corn Neck Road is the sole transportation route connecting the northern and southern parts of Block Island. The road is highly susceptible to coastal storms that lead to flooding, erosion, and infrastructure damage.

"This funding allows New Shoreham to continue advancing priority vulnerable sites along Corn Neck Road toward shovel-ready design, strengthening the resilience of a state-owned evacuation route that is essential to the safety and long-term sustainability of Block Island,"said New Shoreham Town Planner Alison Ring.

A NCRF grant of $347,100 was also awarded to the Pawtuxet River Authority to develop designs to reopen two and a half miles of a riparian migratory corridor for anadromous fish passage, while reducing flooding, improving water quality and protecting infrastructure along the Pawtuxet River. The funding will support community outreach, the finalization of engineering designs, and permits to restore fish passage, reduce flood damage and ensure public safety. The riparian migratory corridor flows from West Warwick and will also help mitigate the persistent flooding of the Pawtuxet River in Johnston and Cranston.

"The Pawtuxet River Authority is elated for having been awarded a grant of over $347,000 to further pursue the restoration of anadromous species of fish to the Pawtuxet River System. These species, though abundant in RI coastal waters, were extirpated in the Pawtuxet by 200-year-old practices of the textile industry of the Industrial Revolution and need freshwater spawning grounds to propagate. Included in this category of fish is the Striped Bass, the state fish of RI," said Robert J. Nero, Chairman of the Pawtuxet River Authority & Watershed Council. "These funds will carry our initiative through design and permitting to alter or remove one of the largest impediments in the Pawtuxet System, the historic Pontiac Mill Dam, opening 2.5 miles of habitat for anadromous and catadromous species of marine life. We are grateful to the Office of Senator Whitehouse and appreciate their keen sense of the environmental needs of both the Pawtuxet River and the state of Rhode Island."

Past local recipients of the NCRF include the Eastern RI Conservation District, Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council, Bristol County Water Authority, Town of New Shoreham, University of Rhode Island, Friends of Green Hill Pond, Save The Bay, and the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council and its partners. In Rhode Island, funding has been used to identify sites vulnerable to sea level rise that would benefit from shoreline adaptation, design projects to prevent inland and coastal flooding, and improve shoreline habitat, and protect critical infrastructure from storm surge.

This round of grants, for 68 projects nationwide totaling $78 million, was made possible with additional funding from Democrats' Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which invested $492 million over five years for the National Coastal Resilience Fund. Since its creation in 2018, the NCRF has invested $669 million in 559 projects. The National Coastal Resilience Fund is jointly administered by NOAA and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.