March 4, 20254 min readTrump Administration Is Blocking Disaster Aid to StatesCourt documents indicate the administration has begun a campaign to block states from receiving funds for projects that would reduce climate-related damageBy Thomas Frank & E&E News A general view of a flooded street in Williamsburg, New York, amid a coastal storm on September 29, 2023. Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesCLIMATEWIRE | The Trump administration is blocking states from getting millions of dollars in federal disaster aid and flood assistance, according to a new court filing that argues the actions violate a federal judge's order to resume spending.The filing said three states New York, New Jersey and Vermont have been instructed by the administration to stop work on federal flood protection activities related to environmental justice, minority, diversity and other terms targeted by President Donald Trump's executive orders.The administration's spending freeze is preventing other states, including California and Michigan, from accessing grants and loans approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for improving disaster protection. FEMA is not reimbursing Washington state for disaster recovery costs. And New York has hundreds of millions of dollars in FEMA grants that are inaccessible, the filing said.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.The problems are described in court papers filed Friday by a coalition of Democratic-led states that sued in federal court to block Trumps attempted freeze of trillions of dollars in grants and loans.At least 140 FEMA grants have been frozen or otherwise rendered inaccessible in 16 states, some of which cannot submit reimbursement requests because the system blocks them from doing so, the filing said.Part of the blocked FEMA money is from well-established grants that help states address climate change, such as the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. Some of the money is from smaller grant and loan programs that help states prepare for catastrophes, improve mapping of flood zones and undertake general hazard mitigation to reduce disaster damage.Another part of the money is from grants established after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to improve homeland security for states, cities, nonprofits and other groups."These grants comprise millions of dollars in essential health, safety and welfare funds for wildfire prevention response, flood mitigation, and emergency management that are not timely flowing to the States," the legal filing said. The 23-state coalition is asking a federal judge to order FEMA to cease obligated freezing funds.Donald Trump is not a king, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) said in a statement announcing the legal filing. He cannot ignore laws passed by Congress and he cannot ignore court orders.The Trump administration has not responded in court. In emails and memos contained in the states 50-page filing, the administration said the FEMA money is not being held but instead is subject to a new system involving manual review that does not violate any court order.You have not identified any funding that has actually been held or otherwise paused, Justice Department lawyer Daniel Schwei wrote Feb. 18 to Kate Sabatini, head of the Rhode Island attorney generals civil division. The case is being handled in Rhode Island federal district court.In a Feb. 28 email to grant recipients, FEMA said that effective immediately the agency and the Department of Homeland Security are instituting additional reviews on the allowability of costs for all grant payments and obligations.These actions will ensure that funding is obligated and disbursed in line with the Secretarys direction, the email said, referring to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.'INVALID PAYMENT'State officials ran into problems getting FEMA money three weeks after Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island issued a temporary restraining order Jan. 31 to block Trumps attempted spending freeze.On Feb. 21, a New York state employee signed on to FEMAs payment system and asked for $114,461 from a $12 million grant that had been approved in 2021.INVALID PAYMENT AMOUNT REQUESTED! FEMAs Payment and Reporting System replied, according to a screenshot included in the new legal filing. This grant has $0.00 available.The FEMA system also showed Feb. 21 as a hold date and $11,861,146 as a hold amount.Other screenshots show hold amounts of $1,291,147 and $528,053 on grants that FEMA approved several years ago for Arizona.The legal dispute involves whether FEMAs actions constitute an illegal hold or if they are simply a new approval process. Evidence is contradictory.A Feb. 10 internal FEMA email from the agencys director of the Office of Grant Program directs recipients to put financial holds on all of your awards all open awards, all years (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024).But a Feb. 11 internal email from the same director said, These are not holds. We are modifying our programs so that payment requests are now reviewed manually and processed manually.The Feb. 11 email said the word holds implies the agency was following the blocked Jan. 27 White House memo ordering a Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs.Schwei of the Justice Department told Sabatini of Rhode Island that FEMA did not intend to implement a hold in the sense of a pause or withholding of grant funds.Instead, the hold referred to in that [Feb. 10] email was part of implementing the manual review process pursuant to FEMAs own authorities, Schwei wrote in his email to Sabatini.As for the screenshots showing a hold date and hold amount for grants, the wording simply reflects that the remaining balance is on hold, but does not reflect that FEMA is unwilling to pay that balance amount, Schwei wrote.In FEMAs payment system, the agency has included a description for the hold on funds, stating that the hold is for purposes of Additional Manual Review not an unwillingness to make payments.Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. 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