Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) joined several of his Assembly colleagues in a letter to FEMA seeking to ensure adequate funding for projects necessary to protect Great Lakes shoreline communities and surrounding habitats. Within the letter to FEMA Administrator Peter T. Gaynor, Hawley and others requested the federal government to omit cost-sharing requirements that may come with a potential FEMA grant due to the state’s financial constraints.

“The people of our shoreline communities have already had to manage both flooding in recent years as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. If we do not prepare now for future flooding, things could become much worse for them given rising water levels in the Great Lakes,” said Hawley. “We need to be proactive in preparing our infrastructure for rising water levels, because every day we are not the problems our shoreline communities will have to face become more dire.”

The letter is attached.