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RALEIGH – Today, Attorney General Jeff Jackson asked a court to enforce its earlier order requiring FEMA to reinstate the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) disaster mitigation program. Attorney General Jackson won the case in December after the court ruled in North Carolina’s favor and determined that FEMA broke the law by canceling over $200 million in disaster prevention projects across North Carolina.
“The court was clear when it ruled on this case in December,” said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “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.”
In its December order, the court required FEMA to “promptly take all steps necessary to reverse the termination of the BRIC program.” Despite this directive, FEMA has failed to restart the BRIC program, fund critical projects already in the pipeline, or take applications for new BRIC projects. Not only is FEMA flouting the court, but it is continuing to disregard Congress’s directive to fund disaster mitigation. As a result, time-sensitive community safety projects have been stalled despite local governments doing everything they were supposed to do.
In the motion to enforce the court order, Jackson and his fellow attorneys general outline FEMA’s failure to move existing BRIC projects forward or award new projects. When asked why BRIC projects have been frozen despite the December court order, FEMA representatives refuse to provide real answers. The attorneys general stress that FEMA cannot be allowed to defy the court’s order.
More on Attorney General Jackson’s efforts to reclaim BRIC funding for North Carolina projects:
Attorney General Jackson is joined in filing this brief by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington, and the governors of the Commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
A copy of the motion to enforce is available here and the memorandum here.
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