By DAVID A. LIEB
Twenty Democratic-led states filed suit Wednesday against the Federal Emergency Management Agency, challenging the elimination of a long-running grant program that helps communities guard against damage from natural disasters.
The lawsuit contends President Donald Trump’s administration acted illegally when it announced in April that it was ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. FEMA canceled some projects already in the works and refused to approve new ones despite funding from Congress.
“In the wake of devastating flooding in Texas and other states, it’s clear just how critical federal resources are in helping states prepare for and respond to natural disasters,” said Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell of Massachusetts, where the federal lawsuit was filed. “By abruptly and unlawfully shutting down the BRIC program, this administration is abandoning states and local communities that rely on federal funding to protect their residents and, in the event of disaster, save lives.”
FEMA did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment. It said in April that the program was “wasteful and ineffective” and “more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”
The program, established by a 2000 law, provides grants for a variety of disaster mitigation efforts, including levees to protect against floods, safe rooms to provide shelter from tornadoes, vegetation management to reduce damage from fires and seismic retrofitting to fortify buildings for earthquakes.
During his first term, Trump signed a law shoring up funding for disaster risk reduction efforts. The program then got a $1 billion boost from an infrastructure law signed by former President Joe Biden. That law requires FEMA to make available at least $200 million annually for disaster mitigation grants for the 2022-2026 fiscal years, the lawsuit says.
The suit contends the Trump administration violated the constitutional separation of powers because Congress had not authorized the program’s demise. It also alleges the program’s termination was illegal because the decision was made while FEMA was under the leadership of an acting administrator who had not met the requirements to be in charge of the agency.
The lawsuit says communities in every state have benefited from federal disaster mitigation grants, which saved lives and spared homes, businesses, hospitals and schools from costly damage.
Some communities have already been affected by the decision to end the program.
Hillsborough, North Carolina, had been awarded nearly $7 million to relocate a wastewater pumping station out of a flood plain and make other water and sewer system improvements. But that hadn’t happened yet when the remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal damaged the pumping station and forced it offline last week.
In rural Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, town officials had hoped to use more than $4 million from the BRIC program to improve stormwater drainage and safeguard a vulnerable electric system, thus protecting investments in a historic theater and other businesses. While the community largely supports Trump, assistant town manager Erin Burris said people were blindsided by the lost funding they had spent years pursuing.
“I’ve had downtown property owners saying, ‘What do we do?’” Burris said. “I’ve got engineering plans ready to go and I don’t have the money to do it.”
Associated Press reporters Jack Brook, Michael Casey and Gary D. Robertson contributed to this report.
Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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