A federal judge has ruled the Trump administration cannot withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency grants to help states prepare for natural disasters, including $21 million in Kentucky that was to pay for flood control, warning sirens and other safety measures.
Gov. Andy Beshear was among Democratic officials in 22 states and the District of Columbia who sued to protect FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program which started during the first Trump administration.
“In Kentucky, we’ve faced more than our share of natural disasters and this FEMA funding is essential to our rebuilding efforts across the state, including our high-ground communities in Eastern Kentucky,” Beshear said in a news release. “Ending this program is more than just short-sighted, it’s just plain wrong. I am glad the judge agreed and ruled that Kentucky’s $21 million was unlawfully withheld.”
FEMA announced in April that it was pulling the plug on what it called a “wasteful, politicized grant program” and “canceling all BRIC applications from Fiscal Years 2020-2023.”
In their suit, the states said FEMA had selected nearly 2,000 projects “from every corner of the country to receive roughly $4.5 billion” and that “the BRIC program is critically important nationwide.”
U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns of Massachusetts, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, ruled last week in favor of the states, writing that the administration’s shuttering of the program is an “unlawful Executive encroachment on the prerogative of Congress to appropriate funds for a specific and compelling purpose.”
Kentucky was expecting to receive funding through the program for 13 projects, according to the governor’s news release, including flood control measures, emergency generators, warning sirens and more for Eastern Kentucky; as well as $10.5 million to identify the most effective flood protection for Frankfort after its second highest flooding in history in April. FEMA had awarded and then pulled $21 million for Kentucky, including $3 million for management costs.
Kentucky has been hard hit by flooding in recent years, including one in southeastern Kentucky in 2022 that killed 45 people and damaged or destroyed thousands of homes. Beshear responded with what he calls a “higher ground” initiative to replace homes lost to flooding by developing above the floodplains often on sites reclaimed from surface coal mining.
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