EPA to spend up to $24M to restore, protect six New England estuaries
Photo / Jim Neuger
Casco Bay is one of six New England estuaries of national significance slated to receive U.S. EPA funding under the new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency New England plans to invest up to $24 million in federal money in six regional estuaries, including one entirely in Maine and one that's partly in Maine.
Funding will come from the $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, also called the Infrastructure and Investment Act, signed into law by President Joseph Biden last November.
In total, the EPA plans to invest $132 million nationwide in estuaries of national significance. The six in New England include Casco Bay in Maine and the Piscataqua-region estuaries, whose watershed covers which cover 52 communities in Maine and New Hampshire. Each estuary is in line receive up to $4.5 million in funding.
Other regional estuaries slated to receive funding are Buzzards Bay and Massachusetts Bay off Massachusetts; Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island; and Long Island Sound along the Connecticut coast.
“Estuaries, where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with salt water from the ocean, are among some of the most productive environments on earth,” said EPA New England Regional Administrator David W. Cash. “With these funds, our six New England National Estuary Programs will not only help to address key water quality and habitat challenges, but address climate resilience and prioritize equity as well, helping our most vulnerable communities.”
Besides Maine, EPA Region 1 includes Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and 10 Tribal Nations.
Since 1987, the National Estuary Program has funded projects that restore water quality and ecological integrity across 28 estuaries of national significance.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding aims to accelerate work on comprehensive conservation management plans, structured frameworks for protecting and restoring estuary resources and meeting water quality needs.
Currently, 28 estuaries located along the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts and in Puerto Rico are designated as estuaries of national significance.
Each National Estuary Program focuses on a study area that includes the estuary and surrounding watershed.
The non-regulatory program was established by Congress and was authorized by section 320 of the Clean Water Act in 1987.
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