A federal judge ruled on Dec. 11 that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has unlawfully terminated a pre-disaster mitigation program and ordered the agency to reverse its action.
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns of the District of Massachusetts sided with 20 states and the District of Columbia, which argued the agency lacked the authority to cancel the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, a congressionally funded initiative designed to help communities fortify their infrastructure against natural disasters.
The states filed a lawsuit after FEMA announced in April that it was ending the BRIC program and canceling all applications from 2020 to 2023 because it was “wasteful and ineffective.” The agency said the program put political agendas ahead of assisting natural disaster victims….