Search Articles
(CN) — A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from shutting down a $4.5 billion grant program aimed at preventing natural disasters by strengthening local infrastructure.
In a 15-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to maintain the status quo, pending further litigation, by continuing to fund the Building Resilient Infrastructures and Communities program, a bipartisan initiative that supports infrastructure projects nationwide.
Stearns’ ruling is a win for a coalition of 20 states, which sued the Trump administration last month over its “devastating” announcement to cancel the program.
Granting a preliminary injunction for the states, Stearns found that the risk of harm to the public and the states far outweighs the risk to the federal government.
“The BRIC program is designed to protect against natural disasters and save lives,” the Bill Clinton-appointed judge ruled Tuesday. “The potential hardship to the government, in contrast, is minimal.”
Stearns found the states’ request to be “appropriately narrow” — to prevent the government from reallocating the funds and spending them elsewhere. But he did leave the door open for the Trump administration to ask to release certain funds on an emergency basis “should a disaster of unprecedented proportions occur while the injunction remains in place.”
Still, he acknowledged in a footnote that this would be a high bar for the government to clear. Stearns pointed to a hearing last month, in which he claimed that federal attorneys were “unable to articulate any immediate hardship the government would face” if he granted an injunction in the states’ favor.
A FEMA spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
FEMA announced the program’s end in the spring, claiming in a now-deleted press release from April 4 that the program was “wasteful” and “politicized.”
The states argue in their July 16 lawsuit that the BRIC program is essential and highly cost-effective. They cited studies showing that, for every $1 spent through the initiative to prevent disasters, it saves an average of $6 in post-disaster costs.
They claim the funding is more necessary now than ever, thanks in part to the impact of climate change on floods, heat waves and other extreme weather events. Without that funding, the states argue their residents are at greater risk of being harmed by extreme weather, as more than 2,000 FEMA-approved projects would be jeopardized.
“Projects that have been in development for years, and in which communities have invested millions of dollars for planning, permitting, and environmental review, are now threatened,” they claim in the lawsuit. “And in the meantime, Americans across the country face a higher risk of harm from natural disasters.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration baselessly panned the program as politicized as it moves to slash funding throughout numerous agencies in the federal government.
“Resiliency is a priority for DHS, but over the last four years, the Biden administration used the BRIC program as a piggy bank for its Green New Deal agenda,” a FEMA spokesperson told Courthouse News in response to the lawsuit last month, declining to provide details. Former President Joe Biden did not support the Green New Deal during his presidency.
FEMA acting director David Richardson has since claimed in a declaration that, actually, “FEMA has not ended the BRIC program,” only that the Department of Homeland Security must now approve certain grants.
Stearns’ ruling will ensure that the BRIC program continues to receive funding, at least until the judge issues a final injunction. This should preserve the numerous projects the states claim were threatened by the announced axing of BRIC, like California’s $21 million flood-preventing project in Sacramento and New York’s $50 million initiative to protect New York City residents from rising sea levels and extreme heat.
The 20-state coalition behind the lawsuit includes Massachusetts, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Follow @Uebey
Follow @uebey.bsky.socialSubscribe to our free newsletters
Our weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.