in our Spotlight on Business Report protecting the environment costs big bucks the Department of Environmental Protection commissioner today testified before the assembly budget committee about some of the major climate challenges the state agency is facing and the price tag to try and fix them senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan reports from Trenton we're living within our means in a in a time where flat is the new up I think that we we are making good use of the resources that this legislature uh has provided D commissioner sha larette says his Department's facing some federal funding cuts at the same time climate change is creating even tougher challenges like more intense rainfall and frequent flooding he says newly updated forecast models show Jersey rainfalls expected to increase by 20 to 50% into the next Century assembly budget committee members from both sides of the aisle asked repeatedly about funding and flood control flooding is a massive issue that causes tremendous distress to the homeowner and the business owners and yet we continue to build build build build build the largest issue that we hear about is flooding no matter where we go there's no one silver bullet that is going to solve our flood control problems however uh there are uh a number of uh advancements that we have have made larette says recent rules restricting new development Inland require Builders to properly plan for storm water runoff and the D will soon release rules governing development along the coast but flood control requires towns and counties to collaborate because water recognizes no map we need to do a better job of looking at that and words aren't doing enough for this yeah I I agree with you I I believe it is a failure of government I think it is a failure of of of local government largely and the need for uh regionalization next fiscal year the D can't count on some $300 million in one-hot federal stimulus grants it's all committed to water infrastructure projects like grants to towns around like a Patong to control sewage pollution if there are any that maybe for some reason uh don't work out would that money be able to go for further water infrastructure or how how would that work the money spoken for larette said but he explained New Jersey needs a jaw-dropping $30 billion in water infrastructure upgrades we leave nothing on the table from the feds we pursue uh every uh penny that is uh available to us and uh we receive the matching funds for that uh through uh our general fund appropriation the D's proposed budget totals 400 $91 million overall that's about 22 million less than this fiscal year but the Department's actually counting on a modest increase in state Appropriations and adding 14 more staffers to help achieve its goals including emission control however emissions are still nonetheless uh increasing uh as population grows here and elsewhere larette says the DP is on track to improve the northern part of Liberty State Park with $35 million in state funding another 35 million will help plan the first two sections of the greenway a 9mile nature trail through 11 towns in the coming weeks lawmakers will get to chew over these budget proposals including the GS but looking farther down the road the real potential budget Buster could be coping with climate change at the State House Annex in Trenton I'm Brenda Flanigan NJ Spotlight news support for the business report is provided by review Jazz presenting the 11th annual Jersey City Jazz Festival May 29th to June 2nd event details including performance schedules and locations or online at Jersey City jazz festival.com [Music]