Sharp Trump administration cuts to Federal Emergency Management Agency spending on climate resiliency are threatening projects meant to protect against flooding from rainfall and coastal storms across all five boroughs.
FEMA on Friday cancelled the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, jeopardizing about $882 million in grant funding for efforts across the country meant to strengthen places facing future climate-driven disasters.
The move threatens nearly $400 million in funds for New York State, including over $300 million for New York City-specific efforts.
FEMA called the program — which the agency kicked off during President Donald Trump’s first term — “wasteful and ineffective.”
The projects in New York City focus on making communities more resistant to coastal storms such as 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, and to extreme rainfall, like during 2021’s Hurricane Ida. They include a resiliency project for the South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan, a shoreline protection project around Staten Island, upgrades for public housing in Brooklyn and Manhattan and the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center in The Bronx, and installations to manage massive amounts of stormwater in flood-prone neighborhoods in Queens.
“These investments safeguard people, jobs, and the infrastructure that keeps our city running,” City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus said in a statement. “These projects will also ultimately save the federal government millions of dollars in response and recovery, as multiple studies have shown that $1 spent in advance saves $6 in response and recovery costs down the line.”
New York City reached out to federal partners and is reviewing legal options, she added.
Climate change threatens to bring more flooding to New York City, with scientists predicting more rainfall and more powerful coastal storms.
Kate Boicourt, director of climate resilient coasts and watersheds at the Environmental Defense Fund, called the cancellation of the grant program “devastating.”
“The things that won’t go forward are the things that will protect some of the most vulnerable people in New York City and also the most underfunded infrastructure where tens of thousands of people live,” she said. “These would’ve been huge investments in reducing risk to people’s wealth and individual solvency and lives.”
Nearly $200 million of the grant cancellations affect four so-called cloudburst projects — three in Queens and one in Manhattan. Cloudburst projects employ a combination of natural and constructed approaches to catch, store and convey millions of gallons of water during heavy rainstorms in order to mitigate flooding.
The city Department of Environmental Protection had been planning for cloudburst projects as far back as 2017, but they took on new urgency after Ida deluged New York City in 2021.
Kissena and Corona, both in Queens, were two of the initial cloudburst locations that were fully funded and in design, with construction slated to begin as early as next year.
During Ida, a family of three died in their basement apartment near Kissena Park — along with 10 other New Yorkers who lost their lives in the storm.
“This is not just a budget line on a spreadsheet, it is a life-or-death issue for our community, which knows the devastating consequences of inadequate infrastructure all too well,” said Councilmember Sandra Ung, who represents the area.
DEP Commissioner and Chief Climate Officer Rit Aggarwala said he intends to work with City Hall to fill the funding gap so those two projects can move forward, but the fate of another pair of cloudburst projects — in Central Harlem and East Elmhurst — remain uncertain.
Gov. Kathy Hochul observes Hurricane Ida damage in Kissena Park, Queens, Sept. 7, 2021. Credit: Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of the Governor
“We must figure out what this will mean for how many cloudbursts we can do,” Aggarwala said.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who toured hard-hit neighborhoods with President Joe Biden after Ida, said this move to rescind promised funding especially stung because the projects gave his neighbors hope.
“Queens has been ground zero when it comes to impacts related to climate. One of the most troubling things about these cuts is that infrastructure isn’t a partisan issue. Floods don’t discriminate or differentiate whether you’re a Democrat or Republican,” Donovan said. “This is life and death.”
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn), who voted for the legislation that enabled the grants, did not respond to a request for comment. She had championed the Tottenville Shoreline Protection project, which got nearly $20 million worth of grant funding that is now at risk. Boasting of “delivering federal funds for resiliency projects and shoreline protection,” Malliotakis had said when announcing the award in 2023: “I’m proud to join my colleagues to deliver real results that will protect our community from heavy rainstorms and extreme weather events.”
Also among the city agencies with grant-funded projects underway include the Department of Parks and Recreation, which has been assessing parks for nature-based flood protections, and the Department of Buildings, which is updating building codes to account for stormwater flooding.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday wrote a letter urging the Trump administration to reverse its decision. Elected officials representing Queens — including Reps. Grace Meng and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, State Sens. John Liu and Jessica Ramos, Assemblymembers Catalina Cruz, Larinda Hooks, Jessica González-Rojas and Nily Rozic, and Councilmembers Francisco Moya and Ung — condemned the cuts in a joint statement.
“We all remember how Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on our borough,” they wrote. “We fought hard for these needed funds and without the money, more lives and property will be put at risk. We should be better prepared against the threat of future flooding and mitigate the effects of severe storms and heavy rainfall which we continue to experience year after year. But slashing this funding will leave us less prepared and susceptible to more devastation.”
The New York City Housing Authority is figuring out how to move forward with its work at three of its housing developments given the grant cancellations. The authority was slated to get $11.5 million to harden East Harlem’s Polo Grounds Houses against storm surge and sea level rise, and NYCHA had begun design work on projects totalling $34.8 million to make the Breukelen Houses and Sheepshead Bay Houses in Brooklyn more resilient to stormwater flooding.
The grant cancellation represents just one of the Trump administration’s moves to freeze or cut funding for local climate and environmental work. Federal funds that cover about two-thirds of New York City Emergency Management’s budget may also be in jeopardy.
“Since Hurricane Sandy, the federal government has supported New York to become resilient to climate change,” Aggarwala said, “but if the federal government is no longer playing a role in resilience, we will either have greater risk and the likelihood of greater damages, or we will have to figure out how to pay our greater share locally.”
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