Research & Developments is a blog for brief updates that provide context for the flurry of news regarding law and policy changes that impact science and scientists today.
The Trump administration has announced plans to dismantle a program responsible for funding billions of dollars’ worth of projects meant to help communities prepare for disasters, according to reporting from Grist.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for supporting communities after hazards and disasters, including aiding in rebuilding infrastructure and providing financial assistance.
FEMA also runs the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, or BRIC, an initiative established in 2018 that has made billions of dollars available to communities to prepare for disasters in advance. An internal FEMA memo obtained by Grist directed the agency not to allocate $750 million planned for this year’s BRIC grants and to stop funding BRIC projects that were previously funded but are still underway.
“BRIC was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program,” a FEMA spokesperson told Grist.
Some of the disasters that BRIC grants help communities endure—especially hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires—have been made more frequent and more intense due to human-caused climate change. These disasters often disproportionately affect communities that are already disadvantaged.
BRIC grants have funded projects such as power station upgrades, flooding protections for wastewater facilities, efforts to bury power lines, and updates to buildings to improve earthquake resiliency. The program has been extremely popular, report E&E News and Grist. In fiscal year 2023, the agency received more than 1,200 requests for funding from states, tribes, and territories but was able to provide less than 20% of all funds requested.
“The administration now has one of FEMA’s most effective grant programs on the chopping block,” Shana Udvardy, a senior climate resilience policy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Grist.
—Grace van Deelen (@gvd.bsky.social), Staff Writer
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