Deanna Moran
The cost of the climate crisis is increasing with each passing year. A 2018 report estimated that measures to curb flooding could cost up to $2.5 billion in Boston alone. Estimates for adapting to increasingly severe events have only gone up since then.
Extreme weather events like hurricanes Irene, Sandy, and Ida – and many more nor’easters –left behind a trail of destruction and a now-infamous image of a dumpster floating down Seaport Boulevard. Between 2011 and 2021, Massachusetts experienced nine major disaster declarations due to extreme weather impacting every county in the commonwealth. But it’s the no-named events, or so-called “nuisance flooding” that really begin to add up. In Boston, nuisance flooding has accelerated by more than triple the national average.
Thankfully, planning for these events is in our control. Cities and towns across the commonwealth have climate resilience plans, thanks in large part to the state’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program. The question is how we pay for these plans. The MVP program has awarded over $100 million for planning and action grants since the program launched in 2017. However, a much larger and sustainable source of money is needed to ensure communities can withstand increasing and more extreme climate events.
Amy Chester
Investments Have Big Payback
One dollar invested in flood infrastructure has the payback of six times its investment. There are at least three bills in the state legislature this session that could help create a long-lasting funding source to give local governments and others the money they need to adapt, saving every taxpayer money in the process.
An insurance surcharge bill proposes a surcharge on property insurance. It could support up to $1 billion in funding over 10 years for reducing the causes and addressing the impacts of climate change with a focus on low-income and environmental justice populations.
This bill would leverage insurance payments to pay for things like infrastructure upgrades that could actually lower insurance payments over time. As climate adaptation and mitigation projects are implemented, the risk of loss or damage will decline, reducing the payouts for some insurers. It could also lower flood insurance premiums by 5 percent to 45 percent for the 25 Massachusetts communities in FEMA flood zones that participate in FEMA’s Community Rating System.
A bill to make polluters pay proposes a state sponsored superfund program to make the largest fossil fuel corporations, who have been the biggest polluters and contributors to climate change, pay for climate adaptation. The program could raise $75 billion in funds over the next 25 years.
If we are not holding those responsible for this crisis accountable, every taxpayer will be on the hook. The principle behind the effort to make polluters pay has strong precedent in existing pollution laws and because it targets companies for harm already caused, asking them to contribute profits already earned, it should not affect prices going forward.
Reliable Funding Urgently Needed
A deeds excise fee bill would double the state’s current deeds excise fee, which is due upon the sale of real property from $4.56 per $1,000 to $9.12 per $1,000. The increase would bring in at least an additional $300 million in revenue annually. The bill proposes to divide this funding equally between climate change and affordable housing.
The deeds excise fee has remained at the same level for decades, and Massachusetts has the lowest fee in New England. There is a clear nexus between a fee paid on income generated during real estate sale and investments in climate resilience that will help mitigate impacts to communities. Much of the revenue would come from investors who buy and sell properties frequently, and not families that sell their homes once or twice in a lifetime.
Legislation to create one or more reliable funding sources gets us halfway there. We also need to take advantage of this opportunity to invest in infrastructure projects that not only protect our communities, but also enhance them. This includes prioritizing infrastructure investments with multiple benefits as well as prioritizing low-income environmental justice communities who will be disproportionately burdened by the impacts of climate change.
Massachusetts needs everyone – communities, businesses, state, and local government - working together to create and upgrade our infrastructure to address the effects of climate change before we’re hit with the next big storm. The commonwealth just released a statewide climate assessment, which evaluates the top climate impacts across five sectors including human, infrastructure, natural environment, governance, and economy. The state is set to apply the findings to its five-year update to the State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan. Now is the time to think proactively about how we will pay for implementation.
Deanna Moran is vice president at Conservation Law Foundation and Amy Chester is managing director at Rebuild By Design.
