Boston Launches Office of Climate Resilience to Guard 47 Miles of Coastline

BOSTON -- October 3, 2024, Boston's City Council heard three hours of testimony Thursday on coastal flood risk, spotlighting the new Office of Climate Resilience and a $75 million capital reserve aimed at protecting 47 miles of shoreline. Chaired by District 1 Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, the hearing on Docket 0190 featured Chief Climate Officer Brian Swett, who warned that one-sixth of the city's land sits on man-made fill built before sea levels began rising, and that Boston has narrowly missed a catastrophic one-percent flood event at least a half-dozen times in recent years. Director of Climate Resilience Chris Osgood outlined three concurrent strategies, emergency preparedness, near-term flood-path closures in neighborhoods such as East Boston and Dorchester, and a long-term U.S. Army Corps of Engineers feasibility study concluding in spring 2028. Deputy Chief of Emergency Management Matthew Kearney confirmed the city's emergency operations center has outgrown its current facility, stating plainly that a new command center is needed, and disclosed a newly awarded $2.3 million FEMA regional catastrophic planning grant. Boston Water and Sewer Commission Chief Engineer John Sullivan described a conceptual storm surge barrier at the Northern Avenue Bridge that would allow the Fort Point Channel to store 100 million gallons of stormwater, and noted a $150 million pipe-separation project already underway in East Boston.