$70,000 Awarded to Swampscott For Climate Change Initiative

In an attempt to avoid the fate of sea-buried city Atlantis, Swampscott officials applied for a grant to prevent flood damage from rising sea levels. On Dec. 1, the application came through.

More than $70,000 from Governor Deval Patrick’s $50 million investment in climate change initiatives has been awarded to Swampscott.

Swampscott plans to use the funds to assess how the town’s buildings and natural resources are vulnerable to storms and sea level rise. In their application for the grant, Swampscott officials said, “The project will develop conceptual engineering solutions and policy recommendations to help protect residents, property and infrastructure from extreme weather and climate change impacts.”

Swampscott received $70,100 from the grants for its Climate Change Coastal Resiliency and Flood Control Plan for the project.

The town was one of 11 awarded grants totaling $1.5 million from the Coastal Community Resilience Program to combat the effects of climate change in Massachusetts.

“The strong response to this program by coastal communities demonstrates the significant need that is being addressed by Governor Patrick’s climate change initiatives,” Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Maeve Vallely Bartlett said in a press release. “These forward-thinking local projects will result in important, on-the-ground strategies to protect essential infrastructure and natural resources from the impacts of sea level rise and increased intensity of storms.”

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