At Save the Bay, U.S. Senator Jack Reed was joined by U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Representatives Jim Langevin and David Cicilline, along with officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state and community partners to announce new federal funding to benefit the Southeast New England Program (SNEP) for Coastal Watershed Restoration. The series of federal grants will contribute to the restoration, protection, and preservation of the Narragansett Bay Watershed and other surrounding watersheds in the southeast New England region.
Senator Reed, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, led efforts to establish and fund the SNEP for Coastal Watershed Restoration by securing $2 million to launch it in fiscal year 2014 and including a total of $5 million in the fiscal year 2015 omnibus package.
“Restoration of our wetlands and freshwater rivers and streams is critical to the health of our coastal ecosystem and the resiliency of the Bay. Our waters connect and sustain us and collaboration is key to protecting our watershed. Unfortunately, pollutants and storm runoff don’t stop at the border’s edge. That is why I spearheaded this program: to bring people together – across communities and state lines – to take a strategic, scientific-based approach to protecting and improving the health of the Bay and our entire coastal watershed,” said Senator Reed.
