NOAA Lab At Tip Of Sandy Hook Gets $5M From Inflation Reduction Act

HIGHLANDS, NJ — Not everyone may know that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) maintains a lab on the tip of Sandy Hook.

NOOA is the same federal agency that declared New Jersey has seen an "unusual" increase in fatal whale strandings in the past seven years, with whale deaths on the rise since 2015. In fact, that lab is where the dead whale found in Raritan Bay last week was towed to, where NOAA scientists cut it open for a necropsy, revealing it had been fatally hit by a motorboat.

And that lab just received $5 million from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to make critical upgrades to its saltwater intake system.

The current system at the James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory at Sandy Hook "suffers from deferred maintenance that threatens the facility’s core research mission," said the area's local Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ6), who pushed to get the funding.

The funding comes from $150 million in the Inflation Reduction Act for upgrades to NOAA facilities nationwide. Pallone said he pushed for money to be spent in the Inflation Reduction Act to preserve NOAA's research.

NOAA grant programs will invest $575 million in collaborative regional projects for coastal resilience that are modeled on Pallone’s Living Shorelines Act. Living shorelines projects support natural infrastructure projects that build coastal flood resilience, restore marine habitats and sustainably manage coastal areas.

“New Jersey is on the frontlines of the climate crisis, and this funding delivers the resources our coastal communities need to strengthen their resilience against the effects of stronger storms and rising sea levels," said Pallone. "Scientists at the Howard Lab develop cutting-edge research that’s critical to our ability to formulate local, national, and international fisheries, marine, and coastal policy. The lab needs properly functioning facilities to carry out their mission, which helps protect coastal communities from the growing effects of the climate crisis."

Pallone also led a years-long effort to formally transfer ownership of the NOAA lab to the federal government, as it had previously been operating under a lease agreement with the state of New Jersey. Because the lab is now owned by the federal government, the lab is again eligible to receive federal money.

Whale Floating In Raritan Bay Showed Signs Of Boat Strike, Feds Say (June 5)