Gosnold loses federal funding for drinking water protections

The smallest town in Massachusetts has been swept up in a nationwide wave of federal disaster preparedness funding cuts made by the Trump administration. 

Gosnold, which encompasses the Elizabeth Islands chain and is a part of Dukes County, lost $75,000 originally earmarked to explore protecting the freshwater supply of Cuttyhunk Island, where most of the town’s residents live. 

Gosnold select board chair Stewart Young told The Times the town was “on the verge” of actually receiving the funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency before it was pulled back. 

“There are a lot of things going on at the federal [level] that seems to be preventing preventive measures,” Young said. 

The Cuttyhunk funding was part of $90 million intended for the state that was cut, which was announced Wednesday by Gov. Maura Healey’s office. The funding came from a FEMA disaster prevention aid program called the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC). 

It’s the latest initiative in Dukes County to lose federal funding in the past four months as the Trump administration eliminates what it deems wasteful spending.

Gosnold’s project was prompted by a concern about climate change, and based on a climate action plan the town developed with help from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, according to Young. 

Young said Cuttyhunk has a single aquifer that it relies on for municipal and residential use. With climate change, the fear is that rising sea levels could eventually get into the aquifer, a severe drought could reduce water availability, or that excessive rain could pollute the aquifer. 

“It’s an existential risk,” Young said. 

Young said the town’s decision was a “smart approach” to prevent a potential environmental crisis, bemoaning what he called a “strong antiprevention bias” in the federal funding cuts. 

Whether the disaster prevention funding can be reinstated is uncertain. A FEMA spokesperson reached by The Times did not comment on if this was a possibility. Instead, the spokesperson reiterated a statement issued by the agency on April 4, calling the canceled grant program “yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agenda than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.” 

Still, that statement reads that FEMA estimates that more than $3.6 billion will remain in the Disaster Relief Fund to help communities’ disaster response. 

While Gosnold lost FEMA funding, the project isn’t necessarily done yet. Young said the town will be applying for funding from the Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program, this time with a wider scope that includes other natural resources, like Cuttyhunk Pond, an important shellfishing and recreation area in the town. Young said while the town’s application for the grant to study the water supply was denied last year, it was encouraged by state officials to reapply. 

According to the release from Healey’s office, BRIC was administered in the state through the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, which lost $2.85 million for statewide programs and management costs in the latest funding cut. 

Healey emphasized in a release that Massachusetts relies on FEMA funding to protect against “future extreme weather,” and to rebuild communities that have been “devastated by severe storms, flooding, and wildfires.” 

Other initiatives in Dukes County have also lost federal funding in the past months. Last month, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs decided it won’t renew funding for a veterans counseling program provided by Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, as part of a mass cancellation of contracts; two federally funded health researchers’ positions on the Island are in jeopardy after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pulled back funding. In February, Martha’s Vineyard public schools lost its partner for an equity audit project.