Office of Insular Affairs Hosts 3rd Territorial Climate and Infrastructure Workshop, Highlights Historic Impact of President’s Investing in America Agenda on the U.S. Territories

HONOLULU, HAWAII – The Department of the Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Carmen G. Cantor and the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) hosted the 3rd Annual Territorial Climate and Infrastructure Workshop (TCIW3.0) in Honolulu from July 30 to August 2, 2024. The TCIW3.0 convened climate and infrastructure officials from territories and federal agencies, along with others to highlight transformational investments from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda in the U.S. territories and to facilitate conversations on how implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act can be most successful.

“The interagency and cross-cutting discussions we have shared this week to highlight implementation efforts have been extremely useful,” said Assistant Secretary Cantor. “Through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we are delivering historic investments to the territories that will build resilience for the future, especially as climate change continues to impact these areas.”

 This year’s TCIW3.0 facilitated direct conversations and roundtable working sessions on next steps for successful project implementation in the territories. The workshop emphasized in-person engagement and maximized productive conversations from face-to-face interaction among more than 250 representatives from the territories, federal agencies, and partner organizations participating in person, and another 75 or more representatives attending virtually. Previous workshops were held in 2022 and 2023.

Topics addressed during the workshop included water, energy, built infrastructure, invasive species, nature-based solutions, and broadband. Additional sessions were held on coral restoration, environmental justice, offshore wind energy development, biosecurity, food system infrastructure, gray-to-green solutions, and solid waste management.

Federal agency partners who participated in this year’s workshop were from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Transportation.

To date, the Office of Insular Affairs has provided $3.9 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for climate and infrastructure restoration projects in the territories. Additionally, the Inflation Reduction Act provided the Office of Insular Affairs with $15 million to support climate change planning, mitigation, adaptation and resilience for the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

These historic investments will help the territories implement and execute projects that will address many significant challenges related to ecosystem restoration and climate change. Projects supported in the territories to date include trainings and workshops to enhance biosecurity efforts, the development of databases and strategies for countering invasive species, and reclamation and restoration efforts that will protect and restore critical ecosystems in the territories. Additionally, these investments are supporting the development of climate-related planning documents, updating models related to sea-level rise, and supporting the valuation of where potential coral reef restoration could decrease the hazards of erosion and flooding faced by coastal communities in the Pacific territories. 

In 2023, the Department launched a BIL map tracking projects across the United States that also includes the territories.

The Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs and the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) carry out the Secretary of the Interior’s responsibilities for the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Additionally, OIA administers and oversees federal assistance under the Compacts of Free Association to the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. The OIA also administers a discretionary Technical Assistance Program for all the Insular Areas. Find information about OIA and its work on www.doi.gov/oia, Facebook, X, and YouTube.

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