State agency asks for $38M in capital, highlights aging dams and BRIC match opportunity

The Department of Environmental Services told the Fiscal Committee it needs significant capital for aging water infrastructure and dam safety work, including a bid to use state match to leverage federal BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) funding.

DES Commissioner Bob Scott told the panel the department’s list covers more than 270 state‑owned dams with an average age near 100 years and growing maintenance and safety needs. "We're asking for a little over $38 million," Scott said, laying out a set of prioritized design and construction requests.

The department highlighted a focused proposal to repair four structures at Puckway (Tuckaway State Park), where DES staff estimate roughly $21 million in work would be most efficiently done as a single mobilization. DES is asking for $5.25 million in state enabling funds as a 25% match to position the project for BRIC funds. "We require a 25% match," Scott said. Cory Clark, chief engineer at the Dam Bureau, told the committee he could find no precedent nationally for using BRIC funds for this kind of dam rehabilitation but argued the dams "qualify well for that resiliency check mark."

Committee members pressed DES on how FEMA/BRIC evaluates projects and whether the department was asking for engineering funding (to make projects shovel‑ready) or construction money. DES officials said some items on the list are design funds to reach bid‑ready status, while others are construction‑level asks. The department noted prior estimates: a 2023 review valuing replacement of all 270 dams at about $414 million and an aggregated figure of roughly $300 million to address 64 high‑hazard dams.

DES emphasized that federal grants often favor shovel‑ready projects and that state design funding is a necessary step to access those federal pools. Officials said that, if BRIC funds are not awarded, the requested state funds would be used to proceed. The committee asked for clearer labeling of each line item (design vs. construction) for subsequent finance committee review.

Next steps: DES will provide more precise design vs. construction breakdowns for the committee and hopes to have BRIC application outcomes by this fall if federal timetables hold.