Energy justice, consumer, and environmental groups have sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for allegedly withholding public records and failing to outline plans to use renewable energy to rebuild communities affected by climate change.
The groups also formally petitioned the agencies to craft new regulations to redirect taxpayer dollars these agencies are spending to prop up fossil fuels toward distributed renewable energy recovery and mitigation projects.
“The public has the right to know whether federal agencies are meaningfully addressing the climate emergency or pouring gasoline on the fire by rebuilding communities with fossil fuels,” said Howard Crystal, legal director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s energy justice program. “It’s reckless to keep spending billions in disaster funding on fossil fuel projects that make the climate emergency worse. FEMA and HUD can be engines of change by funding and building thriving, resilient communities free from the destructive fossil-fuel economy.”
The lawsuit against HUD says the agency violated the Freedom of Information Act by withholding public records detailing its spending on energy-related projects and assistance to help communities rebuild after disasters. The plaintiffs argue records should show how much HUD spends on fossil-fuel-related projects compared to renewable energy alternatives.
Additionally, the lawsuit against FEMA says the agency has ignored a 2018 congressional requirement to define the term “resiliency,” which could determine how much environmental justice communities receive in federal disaster funding. The plaintiffs say FEMA’s definition of resiliency would show whether the disaster agency is focused on ensuring communities plan and rebuild to withstand and address the climate emergency.
“Insular areas like Puerto Rico are frequently hit by storms, hurricanes, floods, and other climate-induced events that impact or tear down centralized electric transmission and distribution lines, poles, towers, and substations and cut power supply for many communities and sometimes the entire archipelago,” said Ruth Santiago, attorney for Comite Dialogo Ambiental, a community environmental group based in Salinas, Puerto Rico. “It is imperative that FEMA and HUD direct public funds to resilient energy alternatives such as rooftop or onsite solar and storage that can provide energy security, justice, and equity and promote community empowerment.”
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“FEMA and HUD are stuck in the fossil fuel past and failing communities battered by climate disasters,” said Roishetta Ozane, director of the Vessel Project of Louisiana. “Hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, you name it, communities across the Gulf Coast are overwhelmed by the climate emergency. Instead of tackling the problem head-on, FEMA and HUD spend billions to entrench a fragile, fossil-fueled power system, putting lives at risk when disaster strikes. These families deserve a safe and resilient future; it’s time for FEMA and HUD to center energy justice and build a renewable future.”
The groups also submitted separate petitions to FEMA and HUD seeking rules to drive the agencies toward renewable energy and away from fossil fuels. They argue FEMA focuses almost exclusively on restoring centralized fossil fuel-based energy systems as it spends billions each year rebuilding communities after disasters. HUD also spends billions annually on utilities in public and assisted housing, and the groups say HUD has not shown “significant” effort to encourage the use of renewable energy.
The proposed rules would redirect these funds, requiring that whenever the agencies provide energy funding, they prioritize efficiency and other demand reductions, zero-carbon technologies like rooftop solar and storage, and electric options for home heating and cooking rather than fossil gas.
