North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson joined a coalition of 20 states suing the Trump administration over its decision to shut down a multibillion-dollar grant program aimed at protecting communities from floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters.
The FEMA program, known as Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC), is an all-purpose pre-disaster mitigation program. BRIC was established in 2018 and has since helped communities protect key infrastructure from extreme weather, including raising roads in flood-prone areas and upgrading stormwater management systems.
FEMA has selected about 2,000 projects to receive roughly $4.5 billion in BRIC funding over the past four years, according to the lawsuit. By investing in mitigation efforts similar to BRIC, FEMA has saved taxpayers more than $150 billion since 1996, the plaintiffs said.
The plaintiffs accused FEMA of acting unlawfully and violating “core separation of powers principles” by shutting down BRIC. Specifically, the states identify Cameron Hamilton as responsible for terminating BRIC in April after Trump appointed him as the acting director of FEMA.
“Neither Mr. Hamilton nor his successor, David Richardson, were lawfully appointed to run FEMA, and they therefore lack the authority to shut down the BRIC program,” the complaint reads.
The lawsuit follows flooding in North Carolina and neighboring states from Tropical Storm Chantal, as well as storms that killed more than 130 people in Texas and caused unprecedented flooding across other areas of the country.
Hillsborough, North Carolina — a town that received serious flooding from Chantal — was in line to receive millions of dollars in BRIC funding that would have helped it better withstand such a disaster. All told, 40 North Carolina governments had been owed $121 million in BRIC funding before the cutoff.
Attorney General Jackson called BRIC “a lifeline for our towns and cities trying to make sure every resident has clean and reliable water to drink, a functioning sewage system, and measures in place to prevent the next storm from devastating their communities.”
Jackson continued, “In North Carolina, we know what it takes to rebuild from a disaster. This money helps us better prepare for future storms. FEMA was wrong to break the law and cancel this money, which will save lives. I’m taking it to court to win these funds back for our state.”
