Chesapeake Bay Foundation urges Virginia localities to apply for state funding

An organization formed in 1966 to draw attention to deteriorating water quality in the Chesapeake Bay wants towns, cities and counties across Virginia to apply for the fourth round of a state program despite Virginia’s withdrawal from an interstate compact that provided a majority of its funding. 

The Chesapeake Bay put out an alert on September 25 reminding recipients that the Community Flood Preparedness Fund is seeking applications for grant funding for projects to prepare for more powerful storms that are predicted to be more common in the future. 

“The need for effective climate resiliency projects has never been more urgent and the Community Flood Preparedness Fund gives localities the opportunities to invest in their communities prior to damage occurring,” a press release quotes Jay Ford, Virginia Policy Manager at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. 

The fund was established by the General Assembly in 2020, the same year that the legislature approved a bill for Virginia to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The legislation established that a substantial portion of Virginia’s proceeds from carbon emission auctions go toward the fund.

Since then, Governor Glenn Youngkin took action in the executive branch to pull Virginia from RGGI and that has meant a reduction in revenue coming into the fund. 

Charlottesville received a first round award of $153,500 to create a 2-dimensional stormwater management model of the Moores Creek watershed. (read the application) 

In the second round, Charlottesville received $94,276 for a resilience plan (read the application) and the Town of Scottsville obtained $123,346 for a study of the floodplain along the James River (read the application). 

Albemarle County received $118,313 in the third round for a resilience plan (application) and Charlottesville got another $275,000 for watershed modeling (application). 

Applications for the fourth round close on November 9. 

By then, a Floyd County Circuit Court Judge may have ruled on a lawsuit filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center arguing that Youngkin’s withdrawal is unlawful because only the General Assembly could take that action. A hearing was held earlier this month. 

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