Suzanne Potter, producer/reporter, California News Service, a bureau of Public News Service.
Dozens of disaster preparedness projects across California will be interrupted or canceled because the Trump administration is shutting down a significant grant program.
The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program was created during the first Trump administration. It has distributed millions to local governments and tribal nations for projects to help recover from natural disasters. But now, that funding source has been canceled. In a statement posted on its website, FEMA called BRIC a ” wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”
BRIC’s five-year plan
A 2021 law made $1 billion available for BRIC over five years. So far, $133 million has reportedly funded about 450 applications. FEMA estimates more than $3.6 billion will remain in the disaster relief fund. The agency says those monies will assist with disaster response and recovery for communities and survivors.
Em Donahoe, a policy specialist for resilient coasts and floodplains at the National Wildlife Federation, said funding disaster response should be a nonpartisan issue.
“Every dollar invested in natural-disaster resilience and preparedness saves approximately $13 in long-term economic savings and damages and costs avoided, post-disaster,” she said. “So, it’s really just a bad investment decision.”
In the meantime, Sonoma County, for example, is partway through a $48 million wildfire resilience program to harden structures, cut back dry vegetation, and create defensible space. Nevada County, near Tahoe, is in the early stages of a program to create fire fuel breaks near Woodpecker Ravine.
Donahoe said BRIC has also funded many nature-based hazard-mitigation projects.
“Examples of this range from things like restoring coastal wetlands and creating living shorelines to implementing green roofs or permeable pavement, or urban green spaces,” she said.
Donahoe said BRIC also helped communities improve their disaster planning and update their building codes to make them more resilient in the long term.
