Trump administration's $90 million cut to disaster prevention aid to Mass. towns makes ‘communities less safe,' Healey says
The words of Healey, a Democrat, were echoed by Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, who also criticized the Republican administration in Washington for the cuts.
'As a former Mayor, I know firsthand how cities and towns rely on FEMA funding to recover from disasters and prepare for the next storm,' Driscoll said in the statement. 'We urgently need to be making our communities more resilient, but the Trump Administration is undermining this important work.'
Driscoll said state officials are '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.'
Healey's office said the BRIC program is an annual FEMA grant administered through a partnership with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.
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Among the projects affected by the Trump cuts are $22.8 million for a 'Resilient Moakley Park' in South Boston, officials said.
'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,' said Boston Mayor Michelle Wu 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. We will fight to restore this funding to protect our communities.'
The funding cuts also include a clawback of $49.9 million for the 'Island End River Coastal Flood Resilience Project' in Chelsea and Everett, according to Healey's office.
'Losing the FEMA funding that was initially approved in 2018 under the Trump Administration 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,' said Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria in a statement. 'In addition to crippling our regional economy, this flooding is expected to happen almost weekly within five years and would cause the release of petrochemicals and hazardous materials that had been isolated for public health and safety.'
Chelsea City Manager Fidel Mantez also decried the cuts.
'Chelsea is an environmental justice community that supports a significant share of the region's essential infrastructure and services,' Mantez said. 'The loss of BRIC funding for the Island End River Flood Barrier project puts over $7 billion in annual economic activity—and the safety of more than 5,000 residents living in the floodplain—at risk. We urge the administration to reconsider and restore this critical investment in frontline communities.'
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The Trump administration
'Climate change cannot be ignored. For every dollar we invest in resilience today, we save $13 in avoided damages and economic impacts,' said state Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper in a statement. 'At DCR, we were preparing to upgrade Tenean Beach, elevate Conley Street, and restore the nearby wetlands to provide important flood protection to nearby environmental justice communities and public transit. Each BRIC award represents a neighborhood that needs support. These are real costs our communities will bear with the loss of BRIC funding.'
Travis Andersen can be reached at
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