Congresswoman Watson Coleman, Senators Booker and Menendez Send Letter to Army Corp of Engineers Requesting Disbursement of Funds to Complete Green Brook Flood Prevention
Today, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) lead a letter along with Senators Booker and Menendez of New Jersey requesting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers promptly disburse funds appropriated for the completion of the Green Brook Flood Risk Management Project that was appropriated in the end of year spending package passed by Congress last December.
Through the efforts of Congresswoman Watson Coleman and former Congressman Tom Malinowski in addition to the State’s two Senators and the Biden Administration, the Green Brook Project received a $495 million supplemental appropriation with the goal to fully fund and complete the long-delayed project to mitigate future flood damage in the region. Unfortunately, its annual $30 million appropriations line item needed to consider the project fully funded was not included in the year end spending package. Congress appropriated the remaining $30 million in its Fiscal Year 2023 spending package through discretionary funds to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. Once disbursed the project will be fully federally funded.
The letter reads in part:
Due to the time sensitivity of the project’s receipt of the remaining funding, we urge you to swiftly distribute the appropriated $30 million for the Green Brook Flood Risk Management Project. The State must meet its obligation by Spring 2023 if the project has not received the outstanding $30 million by then. The intention of the Biden Administration and Congress was to make this project fully federally funded, and we ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to uphold that intent by ensuring the project expeditiously receives its remaining funding.
Begun in the wake of two major floods in 1971 and 1973, the Green Brook Flood Risk Management Project has been delayed for decades due to a lack of federal funding. In 2021, Tropical Storm Ida caused several deaths in Central Jersey due mostly to flash flooding. Billions of dollars in damages were caused by flood waters and fires that could not be reached by emergency personnel.
The letter can be read in its entirety here.