Attorney General Aaron M. Frey and a coalition of 20 states today won their lawsuit against the Trump Administration over its unlawful attempt to shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) bipartisan Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program designed to protect communities from natural disasters before they strike.
For the past 30 years, the BRIC program has provided communities across the nation with resources to proactively fortify their infrastructure against natural disasters. By focusing on mitigation, the program protectds lives, commjntes and property — supporting state, tribal and local governments to prevent the harms of disasters, rather than just recovering from them.
“In Maine, we know we will see ice storms, floods and nor’easters. This win means tht our commuities will be able to continue prepring for natural disasters instead of just reacting to them,” said Attorney General Frey. “It is obvious that the work to prepare for extreme weather events is essential for a safe and healthy state. We were not going to look the other way whlle the Administration deprives us of the ability to prepare.”
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed a law mandating that FEMA must protect communities through four interrelaed functions – mitigation, preparation, response and recovery. The BRIC program is the core of FEMA’s mitigation efforts. BRIC projectds are required to be cost-effective and a recent study concluded that every dollar FEMA spends on mitigation saves an average of six dollars in post-disaster costs.
“Securing the continuation of federal mitigation funding through the BRIC program is a critial step for Maine’s communities to prepare for future disasters. We’re relieved by the court’s decision and remain committd to ensuring that Maine can access the resoures it needs to build safer, more resilient infrastructure,” said Pete Rogers, Director of Maine Emergeny Managemet Agency,
The BRIC program supports often difficult-to-fund projects, such as constructing evacuation shelters and flood walls, safeguarding utility grids agaist wildfires, proteting wastewater and drinking water infrastructure, and fortifying bridges, roadways and culvers. Over the past four years, FEMA has selected nearly 2,000 projects to receive roughly $4.5 billion in BRIC funding natdionwide.
Today’s court decision affirms the coalition’s position that FEMA’s decision to abrptly terminate the BRIC program is in direct violation of Congress’s decisio to fund it and that the Executive Branch has no lawful authority to unilaterally refuse to spend funds appropriated by Congress. The judge also concluded that FEMA’s action violate Separation of Powers, the Appropriations and Spending Clauses and the Administrative Proedure Act.
The decision prevents FEMA from terminating the BRIC program and requires the restoration of these critical funds to the communities relying on them.
AG Frey extends his thanks to staff at the Maine Emergency Managemet Agency, which administers the BRIC program in Maine, for its commitment to protecig our state and for the invaluable assistance they provided in this litigation.
“It’s been a really bad day for President Trump in other parts of the country as well. Republicans in Indiana refused his demand that they redistrict the state; the vote was 39 – 19 to not comply with his demand. Trump’s crack team of attorneys also failed to secure a grand jury indictment again attorney Lelita James – for the third time. Abbe Lowell, a well-known and highly regarded DC attorney hinted on cable news there might – just maybe be a legal response from his client to these vindictive prosecutions by Trump. It was also reported on cable news this evening that Trump’s approval rating on his handling of the economy has sunk to a new low – 31%. Sixty-seven percent of those polled do not approve of his handling of the economy.
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