State Funding To Orange, Sullivan To Fight Climate Change

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced Tuesday that five counties will receive grants totaling $1 million to combat man-made climate change. The grants will be used to help the counties develop resiliency plans to better prepare for, and efficiently recover from severe weather events in an era of increased storm and severe weather risk.

The five counties awarded funding through the grant are Albany, Genesee, Orange, Sullivan and Tompkins.

"With unpredictable weather becoming more and more frequent, we can't afford to wait for the next storm to happen before working to protect our communities and infrastructure," Cuomo said. "This funding will help counties across New York develop plans to prepare for future disastrous weather events and protect New Yorkers from some of the unpredictable ramifications of man-made climate change."

The $1 million, funded through the State Environmental Protection Fund's Smart Growth Program, will be used by the counties to create a pipeline of projects to protect streams, coasts and critical infrastructure, increasing the flood resiliency of their communities. The grant program builds on the governor's NY Rising Community Reconstruction Initiative after Superstorm Sandy, which was recognized by the Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Innovation in Government as a Top 10 innovative program in 2015.

Each county will use the funding to develop resiliency plans and identify projects while incorporating the principles of smart, sustainable growth and development. The plans funded through the grant will address:

• An increase in frequency and severity of storm and precipitation events;
• Sea-level rise;
• Storm surge;
• Coastal and riverine flooding;
• Drought; and
• Debris and ice jams.

The Smart Growth Grant Program was announced in December 2016 at Cuomo's Sustainable Development & Collaborative Governance conference in Binghamton. At the event and at nine additional conferences across the state, panelists and speakers from each region discussed different ways that communities have addressed sustainable development and community resiliency. Fourteen counties applied for the competitive grant, with the five winning counties achieving the highest scores.

Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus said, "We must build our communities and infrastructure to withstand powerful storms. This funding is an important part of keeping our communities ready to deal with these increasingly unpredictable weather events. I appreciate the opportunity to work with Governor Cuomo on this and other initiatives to secure our public facilities and homes against extreme weather events."

Sullivan County Legislature Chairman Luis A. Alvarez said, "Preparing our natural resources and infrastructure to withstand and recover from severe weather is essential to our State's economy. These targeted state funds have proven to be a key strategy for helping communities protect their homes and infrastructure against storm damage. I applaud Governor Cuomo for recognizing how climate change can drastically affect the weather and for working to protect future generations of New Yorkers and their communities."

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