Brockbank: Federal CZM appropriations flat for FY26, Guam urged to stretch dollars
BY SKYLER OBISPO
Journal Staff
Dereck Brockbank, executive director of the Coastal States Organization said that annual congressional appropriations for coastal zone management remained level for fiscal year 2025 from last year, and will likely remain the same for 2026.
Brockbank was the keynote speaker at the Bureau of Statistics and Plans Guam Coastal Management Program’s 10th Assembly of Planners Symposium.
From 2020-2024, annual appropriations for coastal programs saw slight increases year-over-year with 2024 seeing the most funding at $81.4 million; that year Guam received approximately $1.1 million. However, inflation has caused purchasing power of the funding to decrease.
Dereck Brockbank, executive director of the Coastal States Organization, delivered the keynote address at the 10th Assembly of Planners Symposium. Photo by Skyler Obispo
Coastal funding was supplemented through six Covid Response Bills, the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act which allocated $2.6 billion for coastal resiliency programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s discretion.
Brockbank said that the H.R. 1 “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” aims to cut climate and renewable energy programs, but funding for coastal management was not as impacted. However, the measure rescinded unobligated IRA funding for coastal communities and climate resilience.
BIL funding, on paper, remains unchanged but he said that coastal communities need to be ready for cuts in fiscal year 2026.
Some of the more drastic funding changes will impact NOAA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
According to Brockbank, NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management saw a roughly 30% staffing cut and its Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research is poised to be eliminated. The office is responsible for NOAA’s climate research and the Sea Grant program.
FEMA will be seeing cuts to mitigation programs which include defunding its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities and Flood and Hazard mitigation programs. Brockbank says that this is a possible shift towards state-led disaster response.
Ultimately, federal funding attitudes are shifting away from environmental and climate resiliency to supporting industry and aquaculture.
Coastal community planners would need to frame their projects to align with federal interests in order to receive continued funding, he said. Brockbank outlined several ways to prepare for the tenuous federal landscape for CZM funding.
Make the money stretch
Brockbank recommended that planners find ways to extend their projects over several years so that they can ride out their federal funding instead of abruptly spending it within a one year project.
“Can you get no cost extensions on federal funds? Can you use this to build out projects? … Can you maybe put those projects on that longer term horizon,” he said. “You’re not riding that roller coaster high and then crashing down, you’re sort of smoothing out that roller coaster of federal funding.”
Get creative
With federal funding drying up, Brockbank said that planners need to take a look at who has funding, namely the Department of Defense.
DoD in H.R.1, received an additional $156.2 billion in fiscal year 2025.
“Some of the most innovative coral restoration projects and coral management projects that I’ve heard of are being funded through the Department of Defense … as infrastructure projects,” he said.
In Waikiki, Hawaii, the government and businesses established a beach preservation district where hotels pool funding to improve the quality of their beaches.
Plan now, funding will come again
Brockbank said that having a plan is important for when funding does flow again.
He shared that when coastal Louisiana needed federal funding for restoration after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, state planners had a plan in place which prompted Congress to pass the RESTORE Act, a fund to finance projects aimed at restoring the environment and economy of the Gulf Coast region.
“They had those plans in place, and they could point to it and say ‘give us the money, we know what we’re going to do with it’,” he said. “Who knows where money might come from, so get that plan in place.”
Engage with your decision makers
Brockbank told planners to continuously have discussions with Guam’s delegate to Congress, James C. Moylan.
“I know Guam only has a nonvoting delegate in the house of representatives, but make sure you’re continuing to educate delegate Moylan,” he said.
As Guam’s delegate, Moylan has the power to speak on the House floor, committees, and propose appropriations.
Additionally, planners are encouraged to engage with and invite other key administrators to Guam and continue to especially engage the DoD .mbj
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