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NOAA announced record-breaking $3.3B for coastal resilience

The U.S.’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced the largest investment in its history.

On June 9, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) joined U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, and NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad announced a US$3.31 billion framework to build climate resilience.

The funding, secured through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), will include $390 million for tribal fisheries, including salmon hatcheries to help boost orca populations; and $83 million to rebuild Seattle’s NW Fisheries Science Center. A more detailed funding breakdown was published in a press release on June 9.

“This is a record amount of investment in salmon, salmon habitat, and in salmon recovery,” Sen. Cantwell said. “(This funding) is about the removal of fish barriers, such as levees — or what we call deadbeat dams — investments in culverts and blockages, and helps to ensure salmon migration routes enable more salmon to return to their spawning grounds.”

This initiative is said to be part of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to support people on the frontlines of climate change, and benefit coastal and Great Lakes communities nationwide.

Low lying areas across Washington state could be permanently underwater by 2050, including parts of Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia. In Grays Harbor County, more than 20 per cent of the population is located in the 100-year floodplain, along with nine schools, three police stations, and three fire stations. Communities in these areas will benefit the most from technical assistance and coastal resiliency construction grants to help prepare for the threat of extreme weather and flooding associated with climate change.