Text has been updated to include a FEMA response.
Two U.S. senators — one from each major political party — are urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency to release grant money that had been promised to public broadcasters to improve their emergency alerting capabilities.
Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, sent a letter to FEMA Acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton to lift a freeze on the grants.
[Read our earlier story: “CPB Says FEMA Is Withholding Emergency Alerting Grant Money”]
They noted that the Next Generation Warning System had been authorized and appropriated by Congress. “CPB administers this competitive grant funding on behalf of FEMA, and in the first round of funding, CPB awarded grants to 42 entities in 23 states for nearly $19 million — including nearly $1.5 million for Alaska stations, over $2 million for Louisiana stations and nearly $1.7 million for Tennessee stations,” the senators wrote.
“These entities then sign grant agreements with CPB, spend money to upgrade their infrastructure in line with those agreements, and seek reimbursement from FEMA through CPB. Since Feb. 19, however, FEMA has shut off access to the payment system that processes those reimbursements, freezing nearly $2 million in grant reimbursements.”
The senators said FEMA “has not provided a reasonable explanation for freezing this money and has refused to turn back on the payment system — even after, in a last-resort measure, CPB sued FEMA.”
Markey and Murkowski asked Hamilton to provide a written response explaining FEMA’s rationale for freezing the NGWS grants and providing a timeline for lifting the freeze.
“Public broadcasters play a vital and often under-recognized role in communicating emergency alerts to the public,” they wrote.
“Many public broadcasters are designated as Primary Entry Point stations by FEMA, meaning they are the first to receive and disseminate national alerts, including messages from the president, through the U.S. Emergency Alert System. These stations then relay messages to other broadcasters and cable systems, initiating a cascading chain of emergency communication. Public broadcasters also participate in the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), which enables the delivery of authenticated alerts from federal, state, and local authorities across multiple platforms.”
Markey and Murkowski told Hamilton that the FEMA action could have serious consequences for the public.
“Public broadcasters — who have already spent money to upgrade their infrastructure — may face financial challenges without promised reimbursements. They may have to delay or cancel projects intended to make their stations more resilient, potentially preventing them from communicating emergency alerts to the public when the next hurricane, wildfire, or winter storm strikes.”
They said the funding freeze is unnecessarily threatening public safety.
A FEMA spokesperson replied to Radio World’s request for comment with a brief email: “At the direction of Secretary [Kristi] Noem, FEMA has implemented additional controls to ensure that all grant program activity is consistent with law and does not promote fraud, waste or abuse, as it has in the past.” We followed up with a question about what that means specifically for this grant program and will report any reply.
[Read past stories about the Next Generation Warning System program.]
