Homeland Security Awards State $2 Million for Emergency Management
Emergency
New Hampshire Union Leader
Greg Hellman
Boston University Washington News Service
2/28/07
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28– The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a grant Wednesday for almost $2 million to support local emergency management throughout New Hampshire.
The award is part of $194 million given nationwide this year under the department’s Emergency Management Performance Grants Program.
The New Hampshire Department of Safety will use $1.1 million of the grant for operating expenses, according to Jim Van Dugan, spokesman for its Bureau of Emergency Management. The remainder of the money will go to local projects, Van Dugan said, and local communities will have the opportunity to apply for a share of the money.
“These are competitive grants,” Van Dugan said. “If you have a pot of money there’s never enough.”
Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, hailed the grant money as indispensable to the Department of Safety’s mission.
“Through strategic planning, state and local officials play a critical and often unsung role in ensuring that New Hampshire residents remain safe day-in and day-out,” he said in a statement. “This Homeland Security funding will help them move forward with that mission by providing funding to prepare and implement plans for emergency situations wherever they may occur across the state.”
The money will assist in the Department of Safety’s preparations for the spring flood season, Van Dugan said.
“We’ve just been through two severe floods, so these projects tend to be related to managing water,” he said.
The Department of Homeland Security has awarded more than $750 million in emergency management grants since 2004, Maureen Phillips, the department’s public affairs specialist for grants, said. The grants, which are applied for by each state, are meant assist state agencies in planning, buying equipment and funding training exercises, she said.
“The grants are based on their identified needs and priorities,” Phillips said. “Basically it helps them implement their strategic goals and objectives.”
As part of the program, the department also maintains a regular monitoring process to ensure the funds are spent as indicated in each state’s application, she said.
“We have a regular monitoring visit that we make to the state regularly, along with state representatives who are to monitor continually the grant application,” she said.
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