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The Trump administration cut a key FEMA grant. What does that mean for Maine projects?

Over a dozen plans to bolster Maine communities against the threats of climate change will have to find new sources of funding after the Trump administration moved to end a popular grant earlier this month.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency program — Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC — has dished out roughly $133 million to fund local resilience projects since it was launched in 2020 under the first Trump administration.

In 2023, FEMA awarded an additional billion dollars through BRIC after the agency received a windfall in congressional funding from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law and saw a surge of applicants.

The program’s most recent applications included $5 million for more than 30 separate resilience projects at the state, tribal and municipal level in Maine that have been awarded BRIC grants or identified for further consideration by FEMA.

According to the agency’s April 4 announcement, any future grants and funds not yet distributed to local grantees will be returned to the U.S. Treasury or the Disaster Relief Fund, a separate FEMA program that reimburses localities after disasters strike.

“The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program,” a FEMA spokesperson said in a statement. “It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”

Some communities in Maine, however, see BRIC as a lifeline for reducing the impacts that climate change-fueled natural disasters like last winter’s inland and coastal flooding wreaked on local infrastructure and homes.

A 2024 study from insurance company Allstate and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that communities save $13 in disaster damages, cleanup costs and economic losses for every $1 spent on climate resilience measures. 

York County coastal resilience projects were among those affected by the BRIC cut. Photo by Emmett Gartner. 

On North Haven, the program’s cancellation temporarily halted the island's waterfront resilience project just as it was picking up steam. 

FEMA awarded North Haven a $150,000 BRIC grant in 2024 for its Thorofare Waterfront Project, an effort to study the impacts of sea level rise on waterfront infrastructure and homes, then design and construct a technical solution to mitigate risks of future flooding. 

After a year of public meetings and consultations a town-contracted engineering firm was set to begin drafting preliminary project designs this spring — that is, until the BRIC funding was withdrawn.

“This has brought our project… to a complete halt,” the town posted on its website earlier this month. “More information will be posted as it is available, including the Select Board's response and next steps.”

The town announced this week, however, that the project is back on track after receiving confirmation from the state that FEMA has already committed funds to the Thorofare Waterfront Project’s BRIC grant that cannot be withdrawn.

Other BRIC grantees in Maine are also moving ahead despite the program’s cancellation. 

On Back River Creek, near Woolwich and the mouth of the Kennebec River, project organizers say plans to restore a freshwater marsh and reduce local flooding are unscathed by FEMA’s announcement.

For the past year, the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust has been working with the Maine Department of Transportation, Bath Water District and Woolwich town government to study how best to restore the depleted marsh and prevent flood waters from spilling out onto U.S. Route 1.

As in North Haven, the Back River Creek project’s BRIC grant has already been obligated by the federal government and is not in the initial acceptance phase like most other Maine projects. 

A total of 18 resilience projects in Maine have had their BRIC applications terminated with the cancellation of the program, according to a spokesperson for the MEMA — the state office that coordinates federal grants.

Of those 18 projects, however, MEMA has been able to find alternative funding for 14 of them, said MEMA spokesperson Vanessa Sperrey, keeping the projects alive despite BRIC’s termination.

The program’s cancellation comes as Maine is gearing up to provide more state assistance to connect tribes and communities with a variety of federal hazard mitigation grants.

On Tuesday, Gov. Janet Mills signed a bipartisan climate resilience bill that will create a new state office focused on supporting climate resilience projects at the local level. The legislation includes funding for a new grant navigator position and millions in state funds to provide the local matching that federal hazard mitigation grants require.

Many community officials in Maine have been overwhelmed by the multiple FEMA disaster assistance applications they’ve had to fill out over the past two years, let alone the additional funding applications for proactive hazard mitigation grants. New state assistance could help town managers and emergency managers across the state unlock funding opportunities like BRIC that are buried under mountains of paperwork and bureaucracy.

Arthur Cleaves, director of the York County Emergency Management Agency, told The Maine Monitor that the county had applied for millions in BRIC money to help with coastal resilience projects from Ogunquit to Old Orchard Beach and that he was shocked when it abruptly ended. 

“It was problematic for us… FEMA just cancelled (BRIC) out of the clear blue,” Cleaves said. 

But that isn’t keeping the county from pursuing other funding avenues. Cleaves is hopeful that other FEMA mitigation grants will continue, and if not, there’s the potential for congressional funding and a $75 million bond measure for Maine resilience projects that was recently proposed by state Sen. Donna Bailey (D-York).

“Yes, there have been some impacts,” Cleaves said. “We don't let anything stop us. We just keep looking for other avenues.”

I’ll be in Phoenix this weekend for the Society of Environmental Journalists’ annual conference, and it’s had me reflecting on the first SEJ conference I attended as an undergraduate seven years ago in Flint.

Hearing how community organizers, local journalists and others grappled with the Flint water crisis as national news outlets and federal officials stepped back was both heartbreaking and inspiring. It gave me faith in the power of local journalism to combat environmental injustices, and it inspired me to become an environmental journalist. 

I'm hoping to return from Phoenix full of ideas and inspiration from environmental journalists across the country — and look forward to sharing what I learn.

While The Maine Monitor does not place its content behind paywalls, some newsrooms we link to in this newsletter may. 

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Have feedback, a correction or know of something we should look into? Send it to our newsroom. If you have feedback or a tip that you want to send to Emmett Gartner directly, email him at: emmett@themainemonitor.org.

The Maine Monitor is a publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, an independent and nonpartisan nonprofit news organization that produces investigative journalism. We believe news is a public good and keep our news free to access. We have no paywall and do not charge for our newsletters. If you value the reporting we do for Maine, please consider making a donation! We cannot do this reporting without your support.

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