Trump cuts end Jasper County stormwater grant as development pressure increase
Jasper County Fire Chief Russell “Rusty” Wells would be the first to admit that he doesn’t know much about stormwater. But as development booms between the Savannah River and Port Royal Sound — making Jasper County one of the fastest-growing counties in the country — he knew it was time to learn.
With no stormwater office and increasing flood risk, Wells, who is also the county’s director of emergency services, took it upon himself to secure funding for a countywide study that could finally bring the county a cohesive plan to manage its runoff and waterways. And it worked, until it didn’t.
Last year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded Jasper County a competitive $1.25 million grant for a countywide stormwater study through its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. The money would help create plans that improve stormwater drainage, alleviate flooding and protect local waterways in the face of rapid development. But earlier this year, the Trump administration terminated the BRIC program, calling it “wasteful and ineffective.” Jasper County lost the funding that FEMA promised them, and with no alternative funding streams the project is no longer moving forward.
BRIC grants supported projects that helped communities across the country protect against and better prepare for natural disasters. The grant has supported flood mitigation, wildfire prevention and stormwater scoping studies. The sudden cancellation has left many communities across the county in limbo, pausing projects and limiting counties’ ability to pursue long-term risk reduction efforts, according to the National Association of Counties.
Why it matters
A stormwater study may not excite many outside of city planning and the occasional environmentalist, but the path that rain takes as it flows over the Lowcountry landscape is critical for anyone who fishes and boats on local waterways — or drives on along road that has flooded.
When rain falls onto paved streets, parking lots and rooftops, it’s “sticky,” said Taylor Brewer, Beaufort County’s stormwater manager, who helped Wells with the grant application. It picks up oil that dripped into the road, dog poop left on the sidewalk, fertilizer sprayed on a garden — and it all drains out into that area’s saltmarshes and creeks.
Heavy rainfall can also overpower existing stormwater management systems, leading to flooding that inundates roads and property.
When development booms, so does the amount of hard surfaces, most often called impervious surfaces, that allow that water to flow quicker, pick up more pollutants and deposit them into local waterways. Jasper County had long been a rural enclave. In the face of increasing development pressure, the county instituted a temporary development moratorium in part of the county, allowing staff to re-examine planning efforts, which included stormwater drainage.
An unlikely advocate
Wells’ days are typically filled with responsibilities that involve managing 911 communications, the fire department and emergency services. He’s not a stormwater expert; however, a long career in South Carolina has given him a number of connections at the state emergency management division — the agency that administered the BRIC grant and issued the call for applications.
With no existing stormwater office in Jasper County, Wells took on the grant application and submitted it.
“I lobbed it out there,” Wells said. “And holy smokes, we were notified that they wanted more information.”
Wells did a lot of Google searching, but eventually put out “cold sales calls” to stormwater management staff in Horry and Beaufort County, asking for help as he completed the second part of the application.
Brewer, who works in Beaufort County’s stormwater division, said Jasper County is quickly approaching a point where they’re developed enough that they would be required to acquire a specific stormwater permit from the state.
“It’s easier to get those systems in place before you get a built-out environment,” Brewer said. “So we were hoping with the BRIC grant that all that would fall into place for Jasper County.”
What would the grant have entailed?
The grant would have totaled $1.25 million, with the county contributing $312,000. The project would have tracked how water moves throughout the county, information that’s necessary to develop a comprehensive stormwater plan. The county planned to use that information to:
Create a stormwater division who would review developer’s plans and ensure they were following the regulations.
Identify projects that would alleviate contamination of stormwater and flooding within the county
Determine the areas that are best suited for nature-based management practices.
Jasper County had gone through the work of selecting a firm and a work group to carry out the study. Then, in early March, the rug was pulled out from under them. Trump had cancelled the grant program, and the South Carolina Emergency Management, which administered the grant, sent what Wells calls a “Dear John” letter.
“It wasn’t cold and callous,” Wells said. “We all had heart and soul in this grant.”
What now?
The county council had already set aside funding for the project, and for a while the staff tried to find a meaningful project they could use the money for, County Administrator Andrew Fulghum said. But ultimately, there was no alternative that made sense.
With no funding, the project isn’t moving forward.
“I wish we could have brought it all the way home,” he said.
This story was originally published June 13, 2025 at 11:24 AM.
