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09/25/2024

DEEP Seeks Input on Expanded DEEP Climate Resilience Funding and Loan Initiatives to Help Connecticut Communities Become More Climate Resilient

Feedback Sought to Inform Next Round of DEEP Climate Resilience Fund, New Revolving Loan Fund; Virtual Public Meetings Oct. 24 & 30, Written Comments Due Nov. 8

(HARTFORD, CT) — Today, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) announced the strategic expansion of the successful DEEP Climate Resilience Fund (DCRF) program to better enable communities to access federal funding for climate resilience. This upcoming investment of state funds will help towns, Councils of Government, and other stakeholders pursue project planning, and in some cases construction, allowing them to tap into the billions of federal dollars available to improve local resilience. As Connecticut experiences mounting costs from severe weather events, securing federal funding for proactive climate resilience planning and investment is critical to getting more projects built and keeping communities safe.  DEEP is seeking feedback on a new framework for the DEEP Climate Resilience Fund, including from municipalities, Councils of Government, tribes, electric distribution companies, academic partners, private entities, and non-profit organizations.  DEEP made this new future grant round announcement as part of a tour of the Meriden Green resilience project, a 14-acre flood control project using nature-based solutions located in downtown Meriden. The announcement was part of the State’s Sustainability and Resiliency Week

Climate change and extreme weather are costing the state and its residents hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Initial estimates have found that the August 18, 2024 flooding event caused over $200 million in damage. Superstorm Sandy in 2012 cost the state an estimated $360 million (equivalent to $500 million in 2024 dollars) in damage to public infrastructure and homes. The state’s two largest electric distribution companies have incurred hundreds of millions of dollars in storm preparedness and recovery costs since 2011. Ensuring our cities and towns are resilient to these intense storms is critically important. 

The expanded framework for the DEEP Climate Resilience Fund announced today builds on several years of partnership and funding for community climate resilience investment.  DEEP issued the first awards in the DEEP Climate Resilience Fund in 2023, through grants totaling $8.8 million that are supporting development of 21 innovative resilience plans and projects in 17 communities across the state. The DCRF’s predecessor program, the DEEP Microgrid Grant Program, constructed 10 microgrids to provide backup power to critical facilities. DEEP’s efforts to support community climate resilience also include a recent rapid response program deploying in-kind contractors for those communities affected by August 18’s unprecedented extreme flooding in southwestern Connecticut. 

Today DEEP is issuing a Request for Information, seeking feedback on two programs: First is a new DCRF funding category for deployment to give eligible applicants money to build projects that will make Connecticut more resilient to the impacts of climate change and extreme weather. Eligible solutions could include stormwater parks, resilience hubs that serve as cooling and warming centers, microgrids and clean backup power and storage, and establishing stormwater authorities.  Second, DEEP is seeking feedback on the design of a new Climate Resiliency Revolving Loan fund that the Legislature authorized earlier this year.  

DEEP will hold virtual public meetings on both programs on October 24 and October 30; and written comments are due by November 8. 

“The costs of climate change are being felt by communities and consumers around our state, and most acutely for those who were in the direct path of the devastating floods last month,” DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said. “DEEP is committed to helping Connecticut communities compete for every federal dollar available to fund a more resilient Connecticut that can withstand, adapt to, and recover faster from future events. The DEEP Climate Resilience Fund can help communities plan, design, and construct resilience projects like the Meriden Green that use nature-based solutions. In Meriden, they restored a river and built a park to prevent flooding and strengthen and revitalize this community. We look forward to hearing responses from towns, COGs, and other stakeholders on how to best design our resiliency work to leverage federal dollars and use our state funds strategically.” 

"Our nationally recognized Meriden Green, which opened in 2016, has added vibrancy to our city, but more importantly, it has been a critical component in the City’s commitment to flood control and climate resiliency,” said Meriden Mayor Kevin Scarpati. “During the 1990’s, two of the floods that overwhelmed downtown Meriden resulted in nearly $30 million of damage and forced multiple businesses to either close or relocate,” Scarpati noted. “However, ongoing flood resilience projects, such as the Meriden Green, are helping to revitalize our community." 

 More about the proposed next phase of the DEEP Climate Resilience Fund 

The DEEP Climate Resilience Fund is designed to move climate resilience projects along a project pipeline from Planning to Advancement to Deployment with funding provided at each stage. The Planning category funds community-level climate resilience planning for municipalities and neighborhoods that have yet to conduct resilience planning or that need to update resilience plans. The Advancement category funds identified climate resilience project advancement activities, including project scoping, feasibility studies (including for stormwater authorities), drafting applications for federal resilience funding, and preliminary design and engineering. The Deployment category funds the implementation of climate resilience projects through providing a share of the costs of construction. 

DEEP is especially interested in feedback on the new Deployment funding, which is proposed to include matching funds for federal resilience grants, microgrid and energy resilience project construction grants, and funds for habitat restoration and land acquisition in Connecticut’s coastal areas. By providing access to matching funds for federal resilience grants, DEEP aims to remove a barrier that Connecticut communities face by not having sufficient financial resources to cover the match required to compete for federal funds.  

Within the proposed funding structure that DEEP seeks public feedback on are ideas for how DEEP can reduce the administrative burden for local governments, including whether the agency should create a program that provides in-kind assistance from contractors that DEEP has procured.  

DEEP also seeks feedback on how it can potentially use state bond funds to structure a Climate Resiliency Revolving Loan Fund, which was authorized by the legislature in the 2024 session. This fund is intended for low-interest loans to municipalities and private entities for infrastructure repairs and resiliency projects in response to unplanned climate events. 

The design of these programs is based on the following five strategic principles: 

  1. Comprehensive, complementary approaches that may incorporate nature-based solutions 
  1. Support for planning and community engagement  
  1. Maximizing federal resilience funding 
  1. Establishing predictable, equitable state and local match for federal resilience funding 
  1. Leveraging other state and federal funding resources for climate resilience 

More details can be found here

More information about the Meriden Green Resilience Project here: Meriden Green | City of Meriden, CT (meridenct.gov)

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Contact

DEEP Communications  
DEEP.communications@ct.gov
860-424-3110