FEMA says BRIC program will resume, but North Carolina is still waiting on $200 million
North Carolina officials say FEMA has now agreed to comply with a court order requiring the agency to restore the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, reopening a path for roughly $200 million in North Carolina disaster-mitigation projects that have been tied up in court.
Attorney General Jeff Jackson’s office announced Tuesday that FEMA told the court it will move forward with reinstating the program after months of legal fights over the agency’s decision to cancel it. Jackson said the state won the case in December, returned to court after FEMA did not comply, and then won again earlier this month when a judge ordered the agency to submit a plan for restarting the program.
The money at issue is tied to the federal BRIC program, which helps states and local governments pay for projects designed to reduce damage before disasters strike. FEMA said the program supports work such as utility hardening, relocating critical facilities out of flood-prone areas, securing pump stations and other hazard-mitigation efforts.
For North Carolina, the dispute has centered on about $200 million in pending disaster-prevention projects that state officials say were put at risk when FEMA canceled the program. In its latest filing, FEMA said it will appropriate the remaining BRIC dollars to states in the coming months and will also begin taking applications totaling up to $1 billion for the next year of BRIC funding.
That is a significant shift, but it does not mean North Carolina communities have the money in hand.
“FEMA has finally acknowledged what the court made clear: the agency lost this case, and it needs to pay North Carolina the money it owes,” Jackson said in Tuesday’s release. “This is good news – but the money hasn’t arrived yet, so we’re not done.”
That distinction is likely to be the core political question moving forward. The state has secured court victories and now has a formal response from FEMA, but local governments still do not have a firm public timeline for when stalled mitigation dollars will actually be released. FEMA’s own March 18 advisory said full programmatic support for BRIC awards, subapplications, monitoring, closeouts and pre-award reviews would resume once the lapse in appropriations has ended, while also saying the agency plans to rebuild the program and issue a new funding opportunity in the weeks and months ahead.
The case matters well beyond the courtroom because BRIC funding is aimed at the kind of infrastructure work that can reduce future storm losses, including flood protection, water and sewer upgrades and other resilience projects. In a state that has repeatedly faced major flooding and storm damage, the fight over prevention money carries both policy and political weight, especially as local officials prepare for future hurricane seasons.
For now, the headline is that FEMA has backed off its resistance and says the program will move forward. The unresolved issue is whether that promise quickly turns into actual money for North Carolina communities or whether the state will be forced back into court again to make sure the dollars arrive.
Editor’s note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.
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