EPA, Restore America’s Estuaries Join Forces

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday announced a major grant to Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE) under the Southeast New England Program (SNEP) of $3.9 million. 

With this grant, Restore America’s Estuaries will manage a competitive sub-award grant program to support projects that protect and restore coastal ecosystems and their watersheds, including associated water quality and aquatic habitats, in southeast New England, EPA said.

“EPA is extremely pleased with the opportunity to collaborate with Restore America’s Estuaries in the work of protecting our critical coastal watersheds,” said Acting Regional Administrator Deb Szaro. “It’s important to work with organizations with skills, local knowledge, and commitment to results, and we anticipate great success going forward.”

“We are very excited about partnering with EPA to work with local communities and organizations to protect and restore the coastal waters of southern New England. We are also looking forward to leveraging our broad reach and network to bring the lessons learned through this unique funding opportunity to a national audience to assist other coastal areas facing similar problems,” said Jeff Benoit, President of Restore America’s Estuaries.

The Southeast New England Program is a geographic program at EPA. It encompasses coastal watersheds in southeast Rhode Island and Massachusetts and serves as a collaborative framework to:

• advance ecosystem resiliency;
• protect and restore water quality, habitat, and ecosystem function;
• develop and apply innovative policy, science, and technology to environmental management.

Restore America’s Estuaries is a national alliance of community-based conservation organizations working to protect and restore the nation’s vital estuarine habitats.