Lori Townsend, APRN – Anchorage
A new law affecting funding for coastal erosion and storm damage protection efforts went into effect this month. In 2009, Congress repealed a previous version of the law, known as section 117. That law provided federal funding at 100 percent of the cost for planning, design and construction of erosion mitigation and storm protection efforts. The new law, section 116 will dramatically change the funding formula, requiring local and state matching funds at 50 percent for project planning and 35 percent for design and construction.
He says a baseline assessment of coastal communities found 178 villages had some level of erosion and 26 have urgent and compelling needs. The Corp has $5.5 million to work on projects in nine communities but no money beyond that yet.
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