WASHINGTON, DC AND BOROUGHWIDE — FOUR OF BROOKLYN’S POLITICAL POWER PLAYERS have secured $160 million for New York City, and they applaud President Joe Biden’s enactment of legislation that will combat flooding and improve climate resiliency efforts. Brooklyn delegation Democratic Congressmembers Dan Goldman (D-10), Nydia Velázquez (D-7) and Jerrold Nadler (D-12), and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York on Thursday, Jan. 9 praised Biden’s enactment of the Water Resources Development Act of 2024, which authorizes $160 million for environmental infrastructure improvements and authorization of measures mandating a comprehensive flood protection plan for the New York-New Jersey Harbor. This legislation also mandates a comprehensive feasibility study, with the New York-New Jersey harbor and tributaries as a focus area, to protect against multi-hazard flood risks.
Reps. Dan Goldman and Nydia Velázquez also successfully secured language in the law that mandates the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers include in their New York-New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries Focus Area Feasibility Study (HATS) plans that address the variety of flooding threats facing New York City, such as tidal and river flooding, heavy rainfall, groundwater emergence, erosion and sea level rise.
The law also specifies that USACE must incorporate into their plan recommendations relating to projects and activities that maximize the net ecological and societal benefits to neighboring communities.
✰✰✰
