Loss of FEMA program spells disaster for hundreds of communities and their projects
By JACK BROOK Associated Press Statement for America NEW ORLEANS AP The textile mills that once served as the backbone of Mount Pleasant North Carolina have long been shuttered and authorities thought federal money would be key to the town s overdue revitalization They hoped an improved stormwater drainage system and secured electrical wires funded through a scheme to help communities protect against natural disasters and state change would safeguard investments in new businesses like a renovated historic theater to spur the largely rural financial system Mount Pleasant was about to receive million when the Federal Urgency Management Agency eliminated the plan Personnel say their plans years in the making and those of hundreds of communities nationwide supported by the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities scheme have been upended This is a generational set of infrastructure projects that would set us up for the next hundred years and it just poof went away stated Erin Burris assistant town manager for Mount Pleasant miles east of Charlotte FEMA s elimination this month of the BRIC project revoked upwards of billion in funding earmarked for communities like Mount Pleasant Though President Donald Trump has openly questioned whether to shutter FEMA utterly local leaders revealed they were blindsided by the move to end BRIC established during the Republican president s first term FILE A sign for the Federal Crisis Management Agency is pictured at FEMA headquarters April in Washington Al Drago The New York Times via AP Pool Several affected communities are in Republican-dominated disaster-prone regions FEMA called the BRIC grants wasteful and politicized tools but administrators and residents say they were a vital use of leadership materials to proactively protect lives infrastructure and economies Money would have gone toward strengthening electrical poles to withstand hurricane-force winds in Louisiana relocating residents in Pennsylvania s floodplains and safeguarding water supply lines in Oklahoma s Tornado Alley Disasters affect the vast majority of Americans live in a county that has had a federally declared weather accident since revealed Amy Chester director of Rebuild by Design a nonprofit focused on mishap prevention The BRIC activity stated communities We re going to help your society be stronger ahead of time she declared Cutting one of the sole sources of funding for that need is essentially telling Americans that it s OK that they re suffering Administrators call FEMA s campaign imperfect but key Across multiple states leaders declared the BRIC effort was far from perfect they were often frustrated with the wait for funding But in southeastern Louisiana Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson announced despite his issues with FEMA s bureaucracy he s seen firsthand that money invested to fortify homes and infrastructure works Related Articles Promises made promises kept Trump s agenda remains a work in progress after days Other voices Muck up the tax code to control tariff damage Bad idea James Stavridis My old warship is caught up in the battle over DEI Trump expresses doubts Putin is willing to end the Ukraine war a day after saying a deal was close F D Flam Geoengineering s risks need to be studied more The hurricane-ravaged state receives the highest rate of federal calamity assistance per capita with more than billion pouring in since according to Rebuild by Design Lafourche Parish has seen more than a dozen federally declared extreme weather disasters since Lafourche had been set to receive more than million from several grants to replace wooden electrical poles with steel and take other initiatives to lower the soaring costs of home insurance Chaisson a Republican whose parish saw of voters endorsement Trump in November disclosed he backs efforts to streamline federal agencies as long as funding continues to flow for calamity prevention I m hopeful that that s what the president s trying to do with this he commented Is there chosen other way to get the money so we can continue to do these projects No matter where you sit on the political spectrum the programs themselves and the dollars allocated make our communities more resilient Research backs him up A analysis funded by the U S Chamber of Commerce discovered every invested in tragedy preparation saved in economic impact damage and cleanup costs Democratic agents in states that lost money have publicly expressed outrage Minimal Republicans have joined in at a national level even though about two-thirds of the top states in total FEMA funds received spending per person and number of federally declared disasters lean heavily Republican An exception has been Louisiana s senior U S senator Bill Cassidy He took to the Senate floor this month calling for BRIC s reinstatement saying it s a lifesaver and a cost-saver About million intended for Louisiana evaporated and personnel had to shelve dozens of applications for hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding according to figures compiled by state and federal agencies This isn t waste Cassidy explained To do anything other than use that money to fund flood mitigation projects is to thwart the will of Congress FEMA says more than billion of BRIC funds will be returned to the federal Tragedy Relief Fund for calamity response and recovery and an additional million is being returned to the U S Treasury or reapportioned by Congress in the following fiscal year Agency leaders did not comment further for this story Certain states fight to restore funds Twenty-two mostly blue states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit demanding the federal authorities release obligated funding including FEMA grants The lawsuit highlights Grants Pass in conservative southern Oregon where FEMA has refused to release BRIC funding awarded for a million water rehabilitation facility Flooding could knock out the water supply for people for months commented Jason Canady city residents works director Funding would have been used in part to build a modernized plant on higher ground If you can t provide drinking water hospitals groceries restaurants are going to have trouble Economically it would be devastating he noted It really is the cornerstone on which the area is built In Stillwater Oklahoma Mayor Will Joyce spent two years working with FEMA on a BRIC application to overhaul and provide backup supply for a regional water system used by people Its -mile pipeline is at hazard of damage from tornadoes and flooding If it breaks Stillwater has less than a day s worth of reserve drinking water We can t just hope nothing bad happens Joyce stated This project is a necessity Without FEMA s help he stated Stillwater will have to double the cost of water for residents to fund the project In an open letter U S Rep Rob Bresnahan Jr a northeast Pennsylvania Republican urged FEMA to revive BRIC saying communities in his district would struggle to fund tragedy adaptation work including relocating families in flooded homes Bresnahan wrote that programs like BRIC are not wasteful but well within the purview of federal coordination of accident relief efforts and noted that Trump promised not to leave the forgotten men and women of America behind Certain towns fear their necessities will be forgotten In Mount Pleasant Whit Moose the fourth-generation owner of a downtown pharmacy revealed sparse of his neighbors seem aware that funding disappeared though his own business would have benefited It was going to be a wonderful thing he commented Now we just got to start over Republican voters in the town embrace efforts to downsize administration but the perception is that cuts are focused on federal bureaucracy related waste and redundancy or diversity equity and inclusion spending explained Jim Quick vice chairman of the Cabarrus County Republican Party It would be a surprise for us to learn that those budget cuts would be impacting a local municipality Quick mentioned The reality is all of us have to trim back Town voters are unlikely to retract their help for Trump he noted noting that supported him in November Burris the assistant town manager worries about flooding downtown And she points to one vulnerable utility pole she s nicknamed Atlas after the Greek god carrying the world on his shoulders holding up the electricity internet and telecommunications for the town s people It s a special district and it deserves good things Burris commented choking up I don t know what was political about Mount Pleasant little teeny tiny Mount Pleasant getting a little bit of help with chosen stormwater flooding Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press Assessment for America Statehouse News Initiative Record for America is a nonprofit national system undertaking that places journalists in local newsrooms to overview on undercovered issues
