Boston partnership with Army Corps to study coastal storm risk may be in jeopardy

A multi-million dollar partnership between the city of Boston and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study coastal storm risk is one of many projects that may be in jeopardy after the U.S. Office of Management and Budget announced a pause of $11 billion in Army Corps projects earlier this month.

In an Oct. 17 social media post, OMB director Russell Vought said that the government shutdown, which he blamed on Democrats, "has drained the Army Corps of Engineers' ability to manage billions of dollars in projects."

Vought’s announcement initially triggered concern in Massachusetts over the fate of a major project: replacing the two bridges to Cape Cod. The state had been relying on $1.72 billion in federal funding to replace the bridges, including $350 million from the Army Corps. State officials said they have not received any information from the federal government on whether the funding for the bridge projects is stalled.

There may be other projects at risk, as well. The Army Corps is currently involved in more than two dozen projects across Massachusetts, according to the regional office website, including the six-year, $6 million coastal storm risk management study with the city of Boston.

The study, which is already halfway completed, is part of a years-long effort to protect Boston's coastline from climate-change related flooding. The current study is intended to lay the groundwork for a decades-long partnership with the Army Corps, and could eventually lead to billions of federal dollars for coastal resilience projects in Boston.

“Completing that first step helps us to unlock that future funding,” said Kate Roosa, a senior climate resilience project manager for the city.

It is unclear whether the Boston project, or any Army Corps projects in Massachusetts, have been paused. A spokesperson for the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works would not provide a list of paused projects, or confirm whether the Boston project was one of them.

However, in a statement, the spokesperson said that after projects are reviewed, the Trump administration may take further actions “that limit, cancel, or reprioritize resources.”

Boston has about 47 miles of coastline, parts of which already experience flooding at high tide or during storms. Flood risk is expected to increase in Boston as climate change leads to sea level rise, larger storms and more heavy downpours. The city estimates that sea level will rise up 40 inches over 2013 levels by 2070.

In a recent public meeting, Army Corps Program Manager Jeffrey Herzog acknowledged the increasing flood risk. He also said that it was in the federal interest to protect people, housing, evacuation corridors and critical infrastructure like hospitals.

"What we're looking at doing is, how do we manage the impacts of storm surge and sea level change on the community along the Boston Harbor," he said.

Roosa said the city has gotten no word that the project status has changed. She also noted that Boston is splitting the cost of the project evenly with the Army Corps, so can continue their portion of the work without federal support. However, she's hopeful the federal collaboration can continue.

"This partnership has been going well," she said. "They have a lot of expertise from doing this work that they can share, and I'm excited to see where it keeps going."