Politics
Gov. Maura Healey said the funding cuts “suddenly ripped the rug out from under cities and towns” relying on federal aid.
Gov. Maura Healey slammed the Trump administration Wednesday for canceling $90 million in disaster prevention aid for Massachusetts — a move that “makes our communities less safe,” she said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency earlier this month ended the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, also known as BRIC, which offered funding for hazard mitigation. The program’s cancellation revokes millions in aid intended for 18 Massachusetts cities and towns, a regional planning commission, and two state agencies, Healey’s office said in a press release.
“In recent years, Massachusetts communities have been devastated by severe storms, flooding and wildfires. We rely on FEMA funding to not only rebuild but also take steps to protect against future extreme weather,” Healey said in a statement. “But the Trump Administration has suddenly ripped the rug out from under cities and towns that had been promised funding to help them upgrade their roads, bridges, buildings and green spaces to mitigate risk and prevent disasters in the future.”
Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll echoed Healey’s outrage, accusing President Donald Trump and his team of undermining efforts to make communities more resilient in the face of natural disasters.
“Our administration is here to support our local leaders as much as we can, and we have impactful resilience programming underway, but we need the federal government to uphold their end of the bargain,” Driscoll added.
In announcing the program’s discontinuation, a FEMA spokesperson derided BRIC as “yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective” agency initiative. BRIC “was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters,” the spokesperson alleged in a statement.
According to FEMA, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act made $1 billion available for BRIC over five years, with $133 million paid out to date. Approximately $882 million of funding from the 2021 law will be returned to the U.S. Treasury or reapportioned by Congress in the next fiscal year, the agency said.
The local cuts included nearly $22.9 million intended for “Resilient Moakley Park” in South Boston and just shy of $12 million meant to address rising sea levels at Tenean Beach and nearby Conley Street, according to Healey’s office.
“The Trump Administration’s unlawful cancellation of nearly $35 million in federal grants for flood protection projects at Moakley Park and Tenean Beach will put jobs, people, and property at risk,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement. “These crucial projects follow years of community planning for critical access to open space while securing vulnerable flood paths so that thousands of families in the surrounding neighborhoods would be protected from storm surge and coastal flooding.”
She added: “We will fight to restore this funding to protect our communities.”
Chelsea and Everett also saw nearly $50 million pulled from the “Island End River Coastal Flood Resilience Project,” Healey’s office said. Chelsea City Manager Fidel Maltez urged the Trump administration to reconsider, while Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria said losing the funding means “not being able to address critical flooding that often threatens thousands of residential homes, access to our regional supply of fresh produce as well as a major and vital transportation corridor to the North Shore.”
U.S. Rep. Richard Neal also released a statement decrying the cuts, saying the move is “yet another example of the chaotic decision-making that has been a hallmark of this administration, in addition to their continued blatant disregard for the congressional spending power under Article I of the Constitution.”
Without the sorely needed BRIC funding, he said, “these municipalities will have to account for the difference, leading to increased costs for residents and businesses — a common theme for this administration.”
According to Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper, every dollar invested in climate change resilience today saves $13 in avoided damages and economic impacts.
“Each BRIC award represents a neighborhood that needs support,” Tepper said in a statement. “These are real costs our communities will bear with the loss of BRIC funding.”
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