Governor Mills Announces $21.2 Million in Resilience Grants for 68 Maine Working Waterfronts Damaged by Winter Storms

July 22, 2024

Grants stem from $60 million in recovery funds from Governor Mills and the Maine Legislature following historic, intense storms in December and January

Governor Janet Mills today announced that 68 Maine working waterfronts are set to receive $21.2 million in resilience grants from the State of Maine to support recovery and rebuilding from damage caused by devastating storms this past winter.

Grants from the Working Waterfront Resilience Grant Program are funded with $60 million in State funding that Governor Mills proposed and the Legislature authorized through the supplemental budget in May €“ the single largest investment in storm recovery by any Administration in Maine history.

The 68 working waterfront projects set to receive grant funds represent a range of needs, including reconstruction and improvement of damaged wharves and piers, rebuilding and restoration of key support buildings such as bait sheds, and repairing and upgrading fuel and electrical systems. A list of preliminarily approved applicants and funding requests is available here (PDF).

In total, the resilience grant program had $25 million available for working waterfront recovery. The grants announced today are considered preliminary, pending a final review of project eligibility. Once a project receives final grant approval, funding is expected to be distributed after August 9, when the supplemental budget legislation takes effect.

"Working waterfronts are a cornerstone of our coastal communities and our economy, and last winter's devastating storm demonstrated just how vulnerable they are to extreme weather and climate change," said Governor Mills. "These grants will help rebuild working waterfronts so they are able to better withstand future storms, protecting access to the water now and for generations to come."

"This funding represents an important investment by the state in Maine's critical yet vulnerable working waterfront," said Patrick Keliher, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources. "With commercial access already so limited, it is imperative that we protect these properties from climate driven events and safeguard an industry that is so important to our state's economic future. I would be remiss if I didn't publicly thank our state partners. This is a great example of agencies working together on a common cause to expedite this program and bring much needed relief to an impacted industry."

"The storms of December and January were a wake-up call for many across our state to the need to urgently invest in resilience to the growing effects of climate change, such as flooding, storm surge, and intense, extreme storms," said Hannah Pingree, Director of the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future and co-chair of the Maine Climate Council. "These grants today will help our critical working waterfronts recover and rebuild from the unprecedented damage caused by the January storms, while work on ways to improve our ability to protect our state's people, communities, and infrastructure from future harm is underway."

"This funding is critical for us, because we had to replace both docks here at the co-op after the storms last winter destroyed pilings, snapped fuel lines, left our office building with no support structure, and damaged electrical wiring and our freezer," said Linda Vannah, Manager, New Harbor Co-op. "These funds will help rebuild the docks higher by up to two feet, repair the wiring, replace our freezer, and move the office to a safer location. With these repairs, we should be able to withstand the more intense storms we're seeing and continue to serve the fishermen who depend on us."

"Without this funding we wouldn't be able to complete the reconstruction of our wharf here at the co-op after the damage caused by last winter's storms," said Ron Trundy, Manager, Stonington Co-op. "We were able to start the process so we could return to work by June, but this funding lets us complete the work by reinforcing the base of the wharf with stonework and increasing the height of the wharf by two feet, which will make the co-op resilient to future storms."

The Working Waterfront Resilience Grant Program is a joint initiative of the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT), the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), and the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF).

DMR, MaineDOT and GOPIF reviewed 80 applications for the program. Projects eligible for funds included owners of critical working waterfront infrastructure on the that served at least 10 commercial fishermen or aquaculturistsfor the purposes of providing waterfront access and landing product to maximize the impact of each award.

The Island Institute and the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association also dedicated resources to help property owners complete and submit grant applications.

The program enabled grant applicants to request up to $2 million for design, permitting and construction of their project; applicants were also required to provide a 1-to-1 financial match toward the cost of the work.

MaineDOT administers the grant funds, which will be distributed to recipients in collaboration with municipalities in an approach adapted from DOT's Locally Administered Project (LAP) program. Municipalities will act as a pass-through for funding to the applicant and confirm that funded work has been completed.

In addition to the Working Waterfront Resilience Grant Program, the Governor and Legislature allocated $35 million to two other funds for storm recovery: the $10 million Business Recovery and Resilience Fund, to provide direct support to businesses harmed by the winter storms, and $25 million for the Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund, for projects that make public infrastructure more resilient to storms and flooding.

Grants applications for those programs are now being reviewed, with decisions expected in coming weeks.

In May, Governor Mills signed an Executive Order to establish a new commission that will develop the State of Maine's first plan for long-term infrastructure resilience, following the two devastating winter storms and a record eight storm-related Federal disaster declarations in Maine over the past two years.

The 24-member commission will engage with communities, industries, and organizations across Maine to understand challenges following storms, identify and bridge gaps in resources like funding, financing, and insurance, how to improve the resilience of energy systems, propose new approaches to improve disaster recovery and response, and strengthen resilience supports at the state, regional, and local levels.