Red Lodge and Cooke City Receive $10.5 Million For Infrastructure Improvements
By Denise Rivette
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on January 16 announced the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is investing $10.5 million in the state of Montana to support roadway and wastewater infrastructure improvements. The City of Red Lodge has been granted $2.9 million of that funding to accelerate the timeline to improve its stormwater system and streets.
The EDA investments announced are:
Cooke Pass-Cooke City-Silver Gate County Water and Sewer District in Cooke City will receive a $7.6 million grant to construct a new wastewater collection and treatment system to support local businesses in an area impacted by recent natural disasters. This EDA investment will be matched with $1.9 million in local funds and is expected to create or retain more than 20 jobs and generate $280,000 in private investment, according to grantee estimates.
The City of Red Lodge will receive a $2.9 million grant for roadway and stormwater infrastructure improvements to support business growth and provide resilience against future flooding. This EDA investment will be matched with $717,000 in local funds.
In the statement, Raimondo said, “The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that all communities in Montana and across the country have the resources needed to recover from natural disasters and to grow strong, resilient, and prosperous local economies. These EDA investments ensure that Cooke City and Red Lodge will have the infrastructure needed to support local business growth.”
The Cooke City project was made possible by the regional planning efforts led by the Northern Rocky Mountain Economic Development District (NRMEDD). The Red Lodge project was made possible by the regional planning efforts led by Beartooth Resource Conservation and Development Area, Inc. (BRC&D). The EDA funding allows NRMEDD and BRC&D to bring together the public and private sectors to create an economic development roadmap designed to strengthen the regional economy, support private capital investment and create jobs.
Mayor Dave Westwood, in his letter to EDA outlining the need for and scope of the project explained that the aging and “sporadic system of inlets and stormwater conveyance pipes and ditches” that serve as Red Lodge’s stormwater system have been overwhelmed more often in recent years with more frequent and higher intensity storms causing flooding and overloading the wastewater lagoon system. “The unprecedented flood event in June of 2022 greatly exacerbated the problems with the existing stormwater facilities and further highlighted the need for a new system. Flood waters entering the sanitary sewer system threatened to overtop the City’s wastewater lagoons until portable pumps were brought in to pump the excess flows into the old lagoon cell as an emergency measure. The existing streets in Red Lodge do not have paved parking lanes or curb and gutter to direct stormwater or, in the case of the 2022 flood, floodwaters down the streets. This led to significant erosion of these parking lanes and edges of existing pavement.”
Westwood, in detailing the need for and scope of the project and the commitment of local funds wrote, “To promote the economic recovery and resilience of our business owners in the area, we are motivated to complete the reconstruction of the streets in a timelier manner than the 1% resort tax can provide. The estimated project cost is $3,585,000, and we are requesting $2,868,000 from the EDA. Our confidence in the success of this project to enable businesses to become more economically resilient to flooding disasters and promote economic development is so high that we have obligated $717,000 from the City’s 1% resort tax, BaRSAA and SB536 funds to the project budget.”
The EDA funding comes from the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023, which provided EDA with $483 million in additional Economic Adjustment Assistance Program funds for disaster relief and recovery for areas that received a major disaster declaration under the Robert T. Stafford Act as a result of Hurricanes Ian and Fiona, wildfires, flooding, and other natural disasters occurring in calendar years 2021 and 2022. You can visit EDA’s Disaster Supplemental webpage for more information.
Thank you, President Biden!