Virginia's New "Community Flood Preparedness Fund."
Poquoson, Virginia
Snapshot: Virginia is joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and, when the carbon credits are auctioned off in early 2021, millions of dollars will be returned to Virginia to address climate change impacts. Much of that money will go to a newly created “Community Flood Preparedness Fund,” a statewide pot of money to be used to help localities deal with flooding impacts from climate change. To get ready for this program, Wetlands Watch conducted a statewide study to outline the work Virginia is going to have to do in the coming months to get ready.
Full Story: Virginia has become the latest state (and the only “southern” state) to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap-and-trade/carbon allowance auction that has power generators buying carbon allowances to meet carbon emission reduction caps. The money generated in these auctions comes back to the state to fund climate change impact programs.
In Virginia, the legislation authorizing our participation in RGGI set up two programs to use the funds. Fifty percent of the RGGI money will go to fund a low-income energy efficiency program and forty-five percent will go to the Community Flood Preparedness Fund (Fund). The Fund is a statewide pot of money, administered by our Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), to provide funding for projects to protect communities from sea level rise and rainfall flooding.
The first RGGI auction for Virginia will happen early next year and it will be a challenge to get ready in time. Between now and then the state government is therneeds to: get input from local and regional governments and the public on how to run the program, then use that information to develop program guidelines and operational processes, all while they staff the program up. Even without the COVID restrictions this would be tough and meeting these deadlines will be difficult.
To speed things up (and make sure we don’t miss any issues in the rush), Wetlands Watch started interviews and webinars with over 50 local and regional government staff, seeking their views on how the Fund should work and what issues need to be addressed in setting it up. We put together a report to help guide the program development and look forward to a vigorous outreach process in the weeks and months ahead.
Key findings of the report include:
If the Fund is to distribute first revenues to localities by next year, there is probably no time for a full regulatory process for Guideline development. This means in place of a regulatory process there needs to be a robust separate stakeholder outreach process on the Fund to receive input, ensure transparency, and gain support and buy-in.
Currently, neither DCR nor most local governments have the capacity to develop guidelines and run this program or prepare and evaluate project proposals. Developing this capacity is the first step that needs to be taken.
With a statewide scope, this Fund covers bot coastal and river/inland flooding across very diverse geographic regions and across a wide range of localities - urban and rural, wealthy and resource limited, etc. There is no “one size fits all” for this program and program operations must address this reality.
While there are numerous statewide tasks required (getting updated rainfall data, developing a better flood gauge network, etc.) the Fund cannot become the “cash cow” for unmet and neglected state agency or local government needs. This Fund must seek to advance state flood resilience efforts and should require local and regional resilience plans.
The process for selection of local government projects needs to be transparent, merit based, and independent of political influence.
The Fund needs to drive increased resilience planning and performance in Virginia’s localities.