U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she has secured $15 million to help communities recover from coastal infrastructure damage in the latest federal appropriations bill.
The bill was included in the March 8 funding package that was recently signed into law, Collins announced Monday, March 18, in a news release. Collins is vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The legislation includes $10 million through the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to repair and renovate infrastructure affected by recent storms and $5 million to establish a new program at the Economic Development Administration for working waterfronts, according to the release.
The funding supports the Working Waterfront Preservation Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Collins last November to create a new grant program at the federal Economic Development Administration to help municipal and state governments, nonprofit organizations, and participants in maritime industries purchase or improve working waterfront property in coastal states, the release says.
“Maine’s working waterfronts are the economic engine of our coastal communities, but recent damaging weather events have posed significant challenges to their resilience and underscored the urgent need for federal assistance,” Collins said in the release. “This investment aims to revitalize working waterfronts across the country, allowing communities like Harpswell to recover from severe storm damage whose financial toll exceeds the capacity of local government to meet.”
After the damaging storms of December and January on Maine’s coast, Collins said she met with a group of fishermen, including members of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association, at her office in Washington.
Collins also toured storm-damaged sites in Harpswell, accompanied by fishermen and town officials, and promised to bring financial relief to the area.
Collins also joined with the entire Maine congressional delegation in sending a letter to President Joe Biden in support of Gov. Janet Mills’ request for a major disaster declaration for the Dec. 18 storm damage. The delegation then sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in support of Mills’ request that the agency treat the Jan. 10 and 13 storms as a single disaster event for purposes of damage assessment and reporting, according to the release.
