The Tobin Bridge, as seen from the mouth of the Mystic River, connects Boston to Chelsea and points north. (Photo by Andy Metzger)

IN RECENT YEARS, extreme weather events and climate disasters—from severe storms and flooding, to damaging cold snaps and drought—have inflicted billions of dollars of damage on our state’s economy and communities. It will only get worse as climate change turbocharges extreme weather.  

We can either abandon impacted communities to face the consequences and pick up the tab for expensive repairs again and again, or we can proactively invest in climate resilience projects that protect families, neighborhoods, and livelihoods, and save more money than they cost. 

Last month, a years-in-the-making collaborative effort to protect essential infrastructure in Chelsea and Everett became the latest local project to be impacted by the Trump administration’s funding cuts.  

The shuttering of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program (BRIC) has led to the cancellation of a $50 million grant to support the Island End River Flood Resilience Project that is working to mitigate the region’s flood risks, which continue to grow each year, and protect infrastructure critical to New England and beyond. 

The loss of this grant deeply damages ongoing efforts to protect this region. But for the sake of communities across the Commonwealth, we can’t allow it to be a fatal blow. As the Trump administration continues to defund initiatives aimed at preparing communities and the economy to weather the impacts of climate change, we need to work together to step up and find alternate paths to fund urgent resilience projects that will safeguard our families, our infrastructure, and our future. 

The Island End River, nestled along the border of Chelsea and Everett, is a half-mile-long tributary of the Mystic River. It is surrounded by a 500-acre floodplain—about the size of 30 Gillette Stadiums—that includes former marshlands that were filled in for industrial use.  

The area already floods often, threatening businesses that serve New England and the mid-Atlantic states, as well as homes and other infrastructure, and shutting down roads. 

The risk of a catastrophic flood—on the scale of Hurricane Sandy—looms large over Everett and Chelsea in the near future. By 2030, just five years away, a rare but extreme event could produce flooding more than seven feet deep in some areas. With climate change and sea level rise, flooding events that disrupt regional supply chains and commuter travel are projected to occur at least annually by 2050 and daily by 2070 based on the Massachusetts Coast Flood Risk Model. 

Within this highly vulnerable area is the New England Produce Center, which provides fruits and vegetables to more than eight million people throughout New England, regional highways, two MBTA commuter rail stations, a regional FBI headquarters, jobs for 11,000 workers, critical energy hubs, the MGH Chelsea health care facility, schools, a local Market Basket grocery store, and housing for 5,000 people in Chelsea and Everett. The essential infrastructure and services housed in this area are not only critical for the wellbeing of our local communities, but also the people throughout New England and the mid-Atlantic states that rely on these resources.    

The Island End River Flood Resilience Project, spearheaded by the cities of Chelsea and Everett in close collaboration with community-based partners, residents, and a regional watershed organization, is a product of nearly a decade of regional collaboration and support among municipalities, community members, the private sector, and local, state, and federal leaders.  

The project will build a new linear flood barrier along the river and an underground facility to help prevent and manage storm surges. It will also create new ways for the public to enjoy the waterfront, including an elevated riverwalk, a new Island End Park, and restored wetland habitats. The project would generate more than $30 in benefits for every dollar spent on construction and maintenance, and billions of dollars in present-day net benefits.  

The loss in BRIC funding has put the project on life support; now it needs a new path forward. 

Everett and Chelsea, low-income communities already disproportionately burdened by environmental harms, simply do not have the money to build this regionally critical project by themselves. Instead, we need to embrace the opportunity to stand up, get creative, and set an example for protecting communities and infrastructure vulnerable to the effects of climate change. 

The data show that investments in resilience projects can make an enormous difference in our ability to withstand and reduce the economic impacts of climate change. A 2024 study by the US Chamber of Commerce found that for every $1 spent on disaster preparedness, $13 is saved in economic impacts, on average.  

Initiatives like the state’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Grant Program offer a potential state-driven solution to invest in these very efforts at the local level. MVP already helped fund planning and design phases of the Island End River project, and with additional resources, could offer an important pathway to ensuring that Island End River and similar vital projects across the Commonwealth can be constructed.  

Communities across the Mystic River watershed and throughout the state are all facing serious risks from climate change, and we can’t afford to abandon essential projects that will meaningfully improve the lives of people throughout the region. By making strategic investments in data-driven resilience projects like the Island End River flood barrier, we can build a Massachusetts that is resilient, secure, and prepared for the challenges ahead. 

Sal DiDomenico is a Democratic state senator from Everett. Roseann Bongiovanni is executive director of GreenRoots. Nasser Brahim is director of climate resilience at the Mystic River Watershed Association.