South Raleigh News

Today, Governor Roy Cooper visited Green Swamp Preserve in Brunswick County alongside United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan and N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Reid Wilson to celebrate significant federal funding aimed at supporting carbon-reducing natural land conservation and restoration projects in North Carolina and neighboring states. This announcement follows the recent disclosure of a $421 million grant under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) program.

Governor Cooper emphasized the importance of preserving natural resources as part of the transition to clean energy. “As we move toward a clean energy future, we must also recommit ourselves to preserving, restoring, and protecting our natural resources that play such an important role,” he said. He added that this funding would enhance resilience to storms, attract tourism dollars, and improve carbon removal from the air.

EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan highlighted the administration's commitment to community-driven climate solutions. “President Biden and Vice President Harris believe in the power of community-driven solutions to fight climate change, protect public health, and grow our economy. Thanks to Governor Cooper’s leadership, North Carolinians will benefit from unprecedented resources to fund the solutions that work best in their communities,” Regan stated.

Secretary Wilson underscored regional cooperation for environmental resilience: “The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources stands ready to manage this crucial funding that will make our state more resilient to the devastating effects of climate change.” He expressed enthusiasm for partnering with South Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland on these initiatives.

Katherine Skinner from North Carolina Nature Conservancy noted additional benefits of restored peatlands beyond greenhouse gas reduction: “Restored peatlands also have other benefits including absorbing floodwaters, which is particularly important on our hurricane-prone coast,” she said.

North Carolina’s Atlantic Conservation Coalition (ACC) was awarded $421 million through CPRG—the fourth largest single award distributed by EPA under this program. The funds will be managed by DNCR and mark EPA's largest investment in natural climate solutions thus far.

Each participating state—North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland—will receive $50 million for immediate projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 28 million metric tons of CO2e by 2050. Planned activities include salt marsh restoration, land conservation for recreation purposes, living shoreline construction, support for small forest landowners, urban tree planting efforts among others.

This initiative aligns with Governor Cooper’s Executive Order 305 goals set forth in 2022 Inflation Reduction Act legislation focusing on conserving natural lands by 2040 through comprehensive action plans across multiple states.

In particular within North Carolina alone—efforts are planned towards restoring over 600 acres coastal habitats building living shorelines reforesting approximately 55 thousand acres planting around twelve hundred urban trees permanently adding about thirty-three hundred acres into State Park System while Nature Conservancy targets broader scope encompassing four-state region overall covering one hundred twenty-six thousand acre preservation/restoration endeavors including thirty-three thousand specific statewide allocations ensuring habitat diversity management continuity via controlled burning restoring pine plantations Green Swamp Preserve hosting fifteen six fifty-five acreage maintaining longleaf pine savannas biodiversity orchids carnivorous plants

Further information about Atlantic Conservation Coalition’s project outcomes can be found [here](URL). Additional details on other Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Awards can be accessed [here](URL).