Sponsors (4)
Provides targeted federal funding and interagency coordination to accelerate southeast New England watershed restoration and resilience, at the cost of modest new federal spending and program design choices (low admin/TA caps and competitive grants) that could limit access and flexibility for smaller or under‑resourced communities.
States, tribes, and local governments in southeast New England receive dedicated grants to fund pollution reduction and habitat restoration projects, backed by $30 million per year from FY2027–FY2031 to support regional water-quality and resilience work.
Local and state project sponsors face much lower matching costs because the federal government can cover up to 75% of project costs, making more restoration and resilience projects financially feasible.
EPA is required to coordinate federal actions and enter interagency agreements, which should reduce duplication, streamline permitting/funding interactions, and speed implementation of regional restoration efforts.
This creates $150 million in new federal spending over five years, modestly increasing federal outlays and potentially requiring offsets elsewhere in the budget.
Caps on administrative (5%) and technical-assistance (10%) spending limit program flexibility and may constrain capacity-building, monitoring, and oversight—especially for small or resource‑limited recipients.
Competitive grants may favor institutions with grant-writing capacity (universities, larger nonprofits), disadvantaging small towns, under-resourced communities, and some tribal entities from accessing funds.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates an EPA program to fund and coordinate restoration, pollution reduction, monitoring, resilience, and workforce projects in RI and southeastern MA, authorized at $30M/year for FY2027–FY2031.
Establishes a new EPA program to protect, restore, and improve coastal watersheds in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts that drain to coastal waters between Long Island Sound and the Gulf of Maine. The EPA may award grants to state and local governments, tribes, nonprofits, regional organizations, and colleges for projects like pollution reduction, habitat restoration, water-quality monitoring, stormwater control, resilience, and workforce development, with the federal share up to 75 percent. Authorizes $30 million per year for fiscal years 2027–2031 (available until expended). Sets limits on spending: no more than 10% of annual grant funds for technical assistance and no more than 5% for administrative uses. The Administrator must coordinate federal actions affecting the region and may form interagency agreements, working groups, contracts, and staff to run the program.
Introduced April 21, 2026 by John F. Reed · Last progress April 21, 2026