An almost-year battle in the courts has concluded and will result in millions coming back to communities to mitigate against the impact of natural disasters before they hit.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is reinstating its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program, also known as BRIC. The Trump administration paused grants in spring 2025, though Congress had statutory authority over it. The court ordered FEMA to release the BRIC awards within 14 days of the March 6 enforcement ruling and new applications should open within 21 days.
READ MORE: NC one of 20 states suing FEMA over grant cuts
“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,” Attorney General Jeff Jackson said in a release on Tuesday, March 24. “This is good news — but the money hasn’t arrived yet, so we’re not done.”
Jackson joined 20 attorneys general in a lawsuit last year after the BRIC grants were paused. FEMA rendered all applications from fiscal years 2020-2023 null and void and stated no new allocations would be put forth.
It affected numerous cities in North Carolina to the tune of $200 million in infrastructure protection, with stormwater improvements, wastewater management and riverbank upgrades on the line. In the tri-county region, Leland had more than $1 million owed in BRIC grants at the time of the pause — to cover costs for a sewer lift station to be relocated away from the heavily flooded Sturgeon Creek, with the goal to prevent sewer overflow.
A December court ruling favored the AGs lawsuit and found the Trump administration’s halt on the program was illegal. FEMA essentially ignored the ruling, prompting the AGs to return to court and ask to mandate the funds’ release.
FEMA responded to the courts initial December ruling, explaining it hadn’t acted yet due to delays from “staffing shortages resulting from layoffs and the current budgetary freeze,” not to mention the appointment of a new secretary coming into the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA. The agency surmised “the transition process will necessarily require some time and adjustment.”
Critics of FEMA have accused its funding of being “wasteful” and even “politicized” — chief among them was former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, also named in the AGs’ lawsuit. Fired earlier this month, Noem was vocal about restructuring the agency and implemented a strict policy of personally signing off on all disaster and award grants that were $100,000 or more, in an attempt to cut bloat. This created backlogs of federal recovery funds, both for California’s 2025 wildfires and North Carolina’s 2024 Hurricane Helene.
The March 6 ruling to reinstate BRIC was acknowledged by the federal agency. FEMA wrote it would “fully resume programmatic support” for the awards and applications, and fulfill “pre-award review activities once the lapse in appropriations has ended.”
FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program began in 2018 and was signed into law by Trump. Rather than being reactive, its goal is to remain proactive and help communities ahead of catastrophes by funding projects to prevent damage and reduce hazardous risk.
In the last four years, BRIC has rolled out $4.5 billion for 2,000 projects nationwide. The lawsuit filed last year states BRIC has been known to save $6 for each recovery dollar spent post-storm or disaster. In the last four years, it saved $150 billion for taxpayers.
It’s unclear exactly when money from the grants will arrive, since DHS remains partially inoperative due to the federal shutdown. FEMA has scaled back since mid-February to the bare minimum, conducting life-saving operations only.
A Leland spokesperson told Port City Daily after press it received information from North Carolina Department of Public Safety Division of Emergency Management on Monday, explaining the FEMA BRIC program “reset” to April 3, 2025.
“As a sub-applicant for a project that was in a ‘Selected for Further Review'” status, you will continue to wait for FEMA to complete their review (which can not start until DHS is funded)…” according to guidance from the state.
Sub-applicants will also continue to work with the state emergency management division, answering further requests for information as needed.
“Our towns and cities are waiting for the dollars they were promised to get ready for the next storm, and we won’t stand down until those funds arrive,” Jackson added in the release.
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