It's the Brian Lear Show on WNYC.

I'm producer Amina Serna filling in for Brian today.

Welcome back, everyone.

The climate crisis is hitting home in more ways than one. New York City,

still recovering from the deadly floods of Hurricane Ida and the rising tides left by Superstorm

Sandy, was counting on hundreds of millions in federal grants to shore up its most flood-prone neighborhoods.

But those plans just took a gut punch. The Trump administration

has put the brakes on FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program,

jeopardizing over 300 million in climate resilience funding for New York City. These are the kinds of

projects that build flood barriers, upgrade storm water systems, and protect public housing from extreme weather.

City officials call the move devastating.

At the same time, Trump has signed a new executive order instructing the Department of Justice to stop enforcing state-level climate laws, including New York's New Climate Superfund Act,

which aims to make fossil fuel companies pay for the damage their emissions have caused.

So what happens when Washington pulls out of climate planning just as the waters are rising?

And what power does do states like New York have left to fight back?

Joining us now is Samantha Maldonado, senior reporter at the nonprofit newsroom, the city,

who's been following and reporting on aspects of both of these stories. Samantha, welcome

back to WMYC. Hi, thanks so much for having me. Let's start with the FEMA cuts.

This grant program was meant to fund local infrastructure that could withstand climate-driven disasters.

What was the scope of it and why was New York City depending on it?

Sure.

So this was a federal program.

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