The Federal Emergency Management Agency is ignoring a court order to disburse $200 million in climate resiliency funds to North Carolina, according to the state’s Attorney General Jeff Jackson.
This week, North Carolina joined 22 other states in filing a motion to enforce a previous order that demanded FEMA release funding for the more than 2,000 Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC, projects left in limbo nationwide.
Mary Roderick, a planner with Land of Sky, a nonprofit based in Buncombe County, told BPR the organization is still waiting on a $200,000 grant for a watershed vulnerability assessment.
“Our project is still on hold until FEMA releases the funds, unfortunately,” she said.
Officials from Hickory, Forest City, Hillsborough, Greenville and Lumberton report they are all still awaiting funds; however WRAL reported that Gastonia and Princeville have received some funding.
BRIC is one of the primary ways that the federal government helps communities prepare against future weather disasters. Last April, FEMA abruptly canceled the program, leaving many projects in North Carolina — such as sewer upgrades, river bank maintenance and wastewater projects — to an uncertain fate. Then in December, after 19 states filed a lawsuit, the federal court ordered FEMA to reinstate the program, ruling that the termination of it was “unlawful.”
“The court was clear when it ruled on this case in December,” Jackson wrote in a press release. “FEMA already broke the law once and lost in court. It cannot be allowed to continue evading the law. Towns and cities are waiting for the money they’re owed so they can be ready for the next storm.”
A spokesperson from FEMA denied these claims and told BPR that the agency is “fully complying with all court orders regarding BRIC funding.”
“FEMA and (the Department of Homeland Security) are fully complying with all court orders regarding BRIC funding. These baseless assertations are simply incorrect,” the agency wrote in an email. “FEMA will continue to follow all legal requirements and court directives as we work to deliver funding and support for disaster resilience.”
