Court orders FEMA to pay for Hillsborough pump station move, other NC projects
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Judge orders Trump administration to restore BRIC funds, reopening billions
- Hillsborough pump station returns after Chantal spill; relocation funding sought.
- Districts and 22 states sued FEMA to restore $4.5B for 2,000 resilience projects.
A Hillsborough pump station is coming back on line five months after Chantal washed 75% of the town’s sewage into the Eno River, and there is hope now for money to relocate the facility.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Stearns ordered the Trump administration on Dec. 11 to restore billions of dollars meant to pay for roads and utility infrastructure, dams and flood walls.
The ruling, in a Massachusetts courtroom, overturned the Department of Government Efficiency’s decision in April to terminate the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. The BRIC program funds infrastructure and economic development projects aimed at disaster preparedness and climate change resiliency.
It’s good news for communities nationwide that sought the money to meet critical needs, Hillsborough Mayor Mark Bell said.
The grants “were duly authorized by Congress, and we are relying on the availability of those funds to be able to continue investing in our current infrastructure and to be able to help Hillsborough be as resilient as possible,” he said.
The District of Columbia and 22 states, including North Carolina, sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Trump administration over the decision in July, asking a judge to restore $4.5 billion that Congress authorized for 2,000 projects.
Roughly 60 N.C. communities were expecting $225 million.
Judge calls decision unconstitutional
Stearns said abruptly ending the BRIC program was unconstitutional and illegal, because it violated congressional authority to spend public money. The ruling prevents FEMA from cutting the BRIC program or rescinding the grants that Congress awarded.
In his ruling, Stearns noted the “inherent public interest in ensuring that the government follows the law.”
“The BRIC program is designed to protect against natural disasters and save lives. It need not be gainsaid that the imminence of disasters is not deterred by bureaucratic obstruction. Any potential hardship to the Government, in contrast, is minimal,” he said.
The ruling further noted court action does not stop FEMA or Homeland Security from asking Congress to change or cancel the BRIC program.
Attorney General Jeff Jackson cheered the decision in a recent news release.
“Keeping water systems working and keeping homes out of floodwater isn’t politics — it’s basic safety. This ruling puts the money back where it was promised, so these communities can be ready for the next storm,” he said.
The administration has not said whether it will appeal the ruling, but has 60 days to make a decision.
Storm created Hillsborough emergency
The River Pump Station is Hillsborough’s largest and oldest facility, built in the 1970s in a 500-year floodplain next to the river at the bottom of Elizabeth Brady Road. The station handles about 75% of the town’s wastewater, according to its website.
It has flooded before, including during Hurricane Fran in 1996 and during a 1998 storm.
The $7 million BRIC grant was going to help relocate the pump station and build a water booster pump station to bring emergency water from the Orange Water and Sewer Authority in southern Orange County. The town paid $1.8 million, plus $870,000 in BRIC funding, on project design and permitting this year. The total cost of the project is roughly $10 million, town staff said.
When Tropical Depression Chantal dropped over 8 inches of rain in a few hours on July 6, the Eno River flooded the pump station and its raw sewage well, sending waste into the river. The electrical power was cut, keeping the station from pumping sewage to a higher elevation where it could flow into the wastewater treatment system.
Jackson held a news conference at the pump station in July to promote the lawsuit and the need for the federal grants. Hillsborough Mayor Mark Bell also spoke at the event, calling the loss of BRIC funding a major blow to the town’s long-term plan to sustain and expand its water and wastewater systems.
The town’s aging infrastructure limits how much residential and commercial growth can be approved now and requires expensive repairs to keep the equipment online, officials have said. Without BRIC funding, the town would have to delay other projects and consider even higher rates for its 6,910 water and sewer customers.
Public utilities cannot use tax revenue to pay for water and sewer expenses, Bell said.
The Eno River station should be switched over from temporary bypass pumps that were rented after the storm to modern pumps, motors, and electrical and control systems by Friday, town staff said.
Bell said the town’s search for alternate funding to relocate the pump station has not turned up anything yet. The delay has pushed back the construction of a new pump station, originally expected to begin this month, by six months to a year, he said.
“It could be the [BRIC] money could flow tomorrow, or it could be later this year or next year. We just don’t know what that means practically to allow us to do that work,” Bell said in an interview this week with Chapelboro.
Other North Carolina BRIC projects
Jackson’s office has a list of BRIC-funded projects online, including:
- Salisbury: The most expensive state project. $22.5 million to relocate a sewage station along the Yadkin River to higher ground. The city invested $3 million in local funds before BRIC was cancelled.
- Raleigh: $112,000 for the Raleigh Midtown Waterfront Park
- Chapel Hill: $215,000 for a zero-emissions fleet and facilities resilience plan
- Siler City: $5 million to relocate the Blood Run Pump Station and replace a sewer line
- Mebane: $2.25 million for sewer rehabilitation projects
