Baker Asks Feds for Hundreds of Millions of Dollars for Snow Cleanup
Governor Charlie Baker submitted a request to President Barack Obama Friday to issue a Major Disaster Declaration for Massachusetts that would reimburse at least 75 percent of the approximately $400 million costs associated with snowstorms this January and February.
“I am of the opinion that without federal disaster assistance, Massachusetts does not have the resources required to adequately respond to and recover from the impacts of this severe winter weather,’’ Baker wrote in the request.
While the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Snow Assistance and Severe Winter Storm Disaster Assistance Policy confines eligibility for reimbursement to a 48- or 72-hour period of snowfall, Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito are asking for the incident period to be extended 28 days, from Jan. 26 to Feb. 22.
“Quite simply, allowing only a 48-hour, or 72-hour period of snow assistance for an event that involved 4-weeks of record-setting accumulating snow would not begin to provide the extent of federal disaster assistance this Commonwealth requires,’’ Baker wrote.
The requests cites $350 million in costs to plow and remove the nearly nine feet of snow that fell during the four-week period in 10 counties, including Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester. Another $50 million is attributed to other storm costs.
FEMA issued major disaster declarations for Massachusetts in 2011 and 2013. FEMA awarded around $1 million in Public Assistance funds in 2011 and more than $4.2 million in 2013. Both times, a 48-hour incident period was used.
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