A United States District Court judge on Thursday ruled that the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was wrong to cancel a program
that has funded infrastructure resiliency efforts in communities across the
country.
The Building Resilient Infrastructure Communities (BRIC) program provided more than $200 million worth of
projects to protect North Carolina’s infrastructure, including nearly $7
million to relocate Hillsborough’s pump station out of a flood plain.
FEMA cancelled the program in April, calling the grants “wasteful
and ineffective.”
In July, North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson sued
FEMA over its decision to cancel.
“We’re asking the court to treat this as an emergency,”
Jackson told WRAL News in an interview at the time.
Nineteen other attorneys general joined Jackson in the
federal lawsuit.
Thursday’s summary judgment order says “the court declares
that the termination of the BRIC program is void and of no force or effect.” It found that plans to divert BRIC funds to other programs was also unlawful.
U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stevens wrote that canceling the program was “unlawful Executive encroachment on the prerogative of Congress to appropriate funds for a specific and compelling purpose.”
While he ordered FEMA to “promptly take all
steps necessary to reverse the termination of the BRIC program,” he did not directly order that funds be released for the infrastructure projects, including the one in Hillsborough.