Federal judge orders FEMA not to spend BRIC grant money as lawsuit plays out

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - A federal judge has ordered that BRIC money can’t be spent on anything else, until he rules on whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) can legally eliminate the grant.

The order came in the form of a preliminary injunction, issued in a lawsuit filed by 20 states, though not the State of Georgia, against FEMA. The lawsuit claims FEMA’s attempted elimination of the grant is illegal, saying “refusing to spend funds Congress directed toward BRIC or trying to spend them on other programs” violated the Constitution.

The grant was intended to help communities mitigate the risk of natural disasters, including the City of Savannah. The City was set to receive $30 million to help improve drainage and flooding issues in the Carver Village and Cloverdale neighborhoods, before FEMA pulled the grant in April. A now-deleted press release by the agency called the grant “wasteful” and “politicized.”

READ: FEMA cuts $30 million grant earmarked to improve flooding, drainage issues in Savannah

The lawsuit also claims the elimination of the grant has been “devastating” as it’s prevents communities to “delay, scale back, or cancel” projects dependent on the funding.

Savannah Alderman Nick Palumbo says the attempted cancellation of the grant had a whiplash effect on cities.

“It feels like if you’re driving on the street and then you pull the emergency brake when you’re traveling 30 miles an hour on Habersham Street. It was, it’s this, it felt like a kneejerk reaction because we were already through engineering and getting ready to make this shovel ready,” says Palumbo, who represents District 4.

When FEMA cancelled the grant, the agency said it would reallocate the funds meant for BRIC to the Disaster Relief Fund or the U.S. Treasury.

In court, FEMA claimed Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem “had not made a final decision” to end the program, and that no grants have been cancelled. Judge Richard Stearns wrote in the preliminary injunction that FEMA’s claims did not convince him that “the termination of BRIC is merely a theoretical possibility rather than a preordained outcome.”

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson called the preliminary injunction an “encouraging” step towards making sure the grant is dispersed without political interference.

“We just want our money. That’s it. And our hope remains that the program will be fully reinstated, and that Savannah’s application will received the consideration and the funding that it deserves,” says Johnson.

There’s no timeline right now on when the lawsuit might be resolved.