FEMA cancels grant program, funding for projects in Tulsa, Stillwater

The Trump Administration has shut down a FEMA grant program and withdrawn funding that had been promised to cities nationwide, including Tulsa and Stillwater.

FEMA announced a $19.5 million grant for Tulsa in February 2024, to help solve chronic flooding of an intersection and businesses around 43rd and Sheridan. The 5-year project to control flooding in the Fulton Creek drainage basin was still under design, and a city spokesperson could not immediately identify if Tulsa had received any of the announced funding so far. The FEMA announcement stated that all funding not already sent out to cities was being redirected. It is not clear what other Oklahoma cities were working on similar grants under the BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) program.

In 2024, Tulsa City officials announced the grant award, with then-Mayor G.T. Bynum praising the Biden Administration for helping cities prevent disasters.

"We know this intersection needs help. This area of our city needs our help, and this grant will help us do that work to keep the designation as one of the best cities in America when it comes to flood protection," said Bynum.

Stillwater Mayor Will Joyce said the program cancellation likely means 100,000 people will pay substantially higher water bills to finance a critical backup water line to Kaw Reservoir. Joyce said the city was two years into the BRIC program, and FEMA officials had visited to assist with planning. Joyce said while Stillwater had not been awarded the full grant request, it had been accepted into the competitive technical assistance phase of the program that leads to funding.

"We were applying based on the true government efficiency of preventing disaster rather than paying to clean it up."

The FEMA announcement stated, “The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters."

FEMA said the cancellation will redirect $882 million of appropriated funding to the U.S. Treasury, and that since Congress approved the funding in 2021, $133 million had been distributed between 450 applicants.

Mayor Joyce said as a backup, the City Council has already approved a year-long increase in water rates, because the project must go forward, with or without federal help. A City of Tulsa spokesperson said the City was in contact with state and federal partners, but had no more information about the Fulton Creek project.