FEMA freezes money designated for Massachusetts seawall repair
Federal funding cuts have stalled seawall projects in Massachusetts designed to protect coastal communities from storms like this weekend's nor'easter.
On Thursday, Kevin Gill was hoping his waterproof siding project at his oceanfront Scituate home would be completed by the weekend, when he has renters for a wedding coming to stay at the property.
"We are in the middle of that project and lo and behold, here we are within a nor'easter that just stumbled upon us," Gill said.
He had previously been repainting two sides of his house every two years because of damage from the ocean.
"So the waves hit the seawall and they go straight up about 60, 70, 80 feet and the wind hits it from the northeast and every wave ends up hitting the house," he explained.
A seawall restoration project — which made parts of the Scituate seawall deeper and thicker — finished up just recently. The brand new seawall stops just inches from Gill's property, which is part of the second phase of the project.
"We may have to wait until 2028. I'm not sure," he said, referencing federal funds designated to help with seawall repair.
FEMA had previously designated funds to a number of Massachusetts coastal communities to fix damage to their seawalls, in response to storms that occurred over a decade ago.
But recently, the federal agency decided to freeze the funds, claiming the Massachusetts communities took too long to get the actual work done.
"In Massachusetts, we're trying to make our communities safer and more resilient against severe weather like we are expecting this weekend, but President Trump is hurting our ability to do so by terminating millions in federal disaster recovery funding for Massachusetts communities," Governor Maura Healey said in a statement to WBZ-TV. "These projects were supposed to protect homes, businesses, roads, utilities and public spaces from coastal erosion, flooding and future storms. I'm continuing to demand that the Trump Administration reverse this decision, and we are monitoring this weekend's storm closely and working with communities to help them prepare and keep people safe."
In July, Healey wrote a letter to FEMA's administrator asking the organization to reverse its decision to freeze the funds.
"I am writing to urge you to reconsider FEMA's decision to categorically deny period-of-performance extension requests made by Massachusetts communities with active projects to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy and subsequent severe winter storms," she said in the letter.
The walls "are not in any imminent danger of falling down," explained Scituate Town Administrator Jim Boudreau. Scituate joins Marshfield, Rockport, and more among the towns impacted. "They still need some repair work."
"There's about $30 million of projects that [FEMA is] not going to fund at this point," he added. "The permitting has been absolutely nightmare-ish... I thought we were at the finish line ready to go and then the feds said, 'it's taking too long. We are not going to do it anymore.'"
