{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases/reed-announces-115-million-for-rhode-islands-regional-environment", "Reed Announces $11.5 Million for Rhode Island\u2019s Regional Environment", "2024-09-05", "2024", "2024-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "RI", "Jack Reed", "R000122", "www.reed.senate.gov", "jackreed", "https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases", "scraper", "PROVIDENCE, RI \u2014 The Southeast New England Program (SNEP), funded by Congress and managed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), works to restore clean water, healthy ecosystems, and sustainable communities in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts.\n\nOn Thursday, Sept. 5, U.S. Senator Jack Reed joined with federal, state and local partners to announce $11.5 million in grants and technical assistance for local organizations working on high-priority environmental projects throughout the region.\n\nThe funding announced includes $1.5 million in grants to seven Rhode Island organizations through SNEP Watershed Implementation Grants (SWIG), managed by Restore America\u2019s Estuaries (RAE) (more on the individual grants below).\n\nAt the event, EPA also announced $8.75 million in new funding for technical assistance to help communities working on clean water and healthy ecosystems. The assistance will be provided over the next five years through the SNEP Network, managed by the New England Environmental Finance Center at the University of Southern Maine, part of the University of Maine system.\n\n\u201cI helped create the Southeast New England Program to strengthen our ecosystems by bringing people together across communities to develop a strategic, informed approach to protecting and improving the health of Narragansett Bay and our entire coastal watershed,\u201d said Senator Jack Reed. \u201cThe SNEP awards we are celebrating today will advance several key projects that will enhance water quality and improve the overall health and well-being of our communities, waterways, and estuaries.\u201d\n\n\u201cEPA New England is thrilled to help announce this year\u2019s grant awards under the Southeast New England Program (SNEP). Through its partners Restore America\u2019s Estuaries and the Environmental Finance Center of the University of Southern Maine, SNEP has worked closely with local communities to improve water quality and restore coastal habitats in Rhode Island and southeast Massachusetts.\u201d said EPA New England Deputy Regional Administrator Karen McGuire. \u201cThanks to support from Senator Reed and his Congressional colleagues since 2014, this beautiful landscape of coasts and communities has benefitted from millions of dollars in funding for projects and technical assistance. Today\u2019s award enables the great work of restoration and protection to continue.\u201c\n\n\u201cThese grants will result in big benefits across Rhode Island,\u201d said Terry Gray, Director of the RI Dept. of Environmental Management. \u201cThe projects that are being funded will improve water quality, support important habitat, and help combat the threats from stormwater pollution and the impacts from climate change. These projects also show a great diversity in investments across the state on both the types of projects being supported and the communities where they are located. We look forward to working with the SNEP team and all the applicants as this work goes forward.\u201d\n\n\"The funding from these grants will help protect our waterways, improve stormwater management infrastructure and further our efforts to build a more climate resilient city,\" said Mayor Brett P. Smiley. \"Thanks to Senator Reed's continued leadership and advocacy on behalf of Providence, we are creating a healthier, more sustainable future for generations to come. I am looking forward to collaborating with the team at SNEP to advance these important projects and improve the health and well-being of our entire community.\"\n\n2024 SNEP Grant Recipients\n\nThe recipients of the 2024 SNEP Watershed Implementation Grants were selected through a competitive process from among $9 million in requests. The 12 projects to be funded are:\n\nRhode Island Grants\n\nTrout Unlimited / RI Dept. of Environmental Management | Breakheart Pond Dam Removal Engineering (Arcadia Management Area, Richmond, RI) | $190,000\n\nGroundwork Rhode Island / Blackstone Park Conservancy / City of Providence | Stormwater Management in York Pond Watershed | $282,288\n\nTown of Coventry | Upper Dam Pond Restoration | $87,568\n\nTown of South Kingstown | Green Hill Pond Water Quality Improvements | $250,000\n\nPawtuxet River Authority | Fish Passage Engineering at Pontiac Dam (Cranston) | $150,000\n\nTown of Smithfield | Esmond Village Natural Infrastructure Park | $346,522\n\nCity of Cranston | Natural Solutions for Flood Mitigation, Fenner Pond Watershed | $192,500\n\nMassachusetts Grants\n\nNantucket Conservation Foundation | Windswept Bog Wetland Restoration| $200,000\n\nBuzzards Bay Coalition | Remediating Stormwater Pollution at Buttonwood Park Zoo (New Bedford) | $362,838\n\nTown of Yarmouth | Chase Brook Park Coastal Restoration | $434,230\n\nBarnstable Clean Water Coalition | Marston\u2019s Mills Cranberry Bog Restoration | $200,000\n\nInterstate Grant\n\nNew England Water Pollution Control Comm. | Community-Based Habitat Restoration: Water Chestnut Management in Blackstone & Ten Mile Watersheds, Phase 2 | $100,000", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:43:57Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases/reed-announces-115-million-for-rhode-islands-regional-environment"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8613813444972038, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}