102-year-old lagoon update, other North Dakota projects on hold after FEMA pulls funds

FESSENDEN, N.D. — President Donald Trump’s administration has cut what it called a “wasteful and ineffective program” that was supposed to help pay for infrastructure projects in North Dakota, including replacing a century-old lagoon.

The North Dakota Department of Emergency Services told several communities that more than $20 million in grants called Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC, were canceled, according to a news release issued Tuesday, April 8. The funds would have come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Fargo has no projects impacted by the announcement, a city spokesman said.

In one case, the funds were supposed to help pay for Fessenden’s proposed wastewater lagoon. The city received $1.9 million from BRIC in Fiscal Year 2022 for the project, plus $2 million from the State Water Commission, said Wells County Emergency Manager Tammy Roehrich.

Fessenden is tied with San Antonio for having the country’s oldest city-owned lagoon system, Roehrich said. At 102 years old, the Fessenden lagoon system serves 450 residents about 115 miles northeast of Bismarck.

“Anything that is 102 years old, it needs a facelift,” she said. “The banks have eroded.”

The lagoon is at risk of contaminating the James River if it leaks into a connecting drainage system, she said. The county was slated to open bids for construction on May 1.

“We were shovel-ready and they took our shovel away,” she said.

The Trump Administration has cut funding for several federal agencies as it looks to save taxpayer money. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem oversees FEMA and said she wants to eliminate the entity, according to media reports.

FEMA announced last week it ended the BRIC program and canceled applications for Fiscal Years 2020-23, if those funds hadn’t been distributed to states, tribes and local governments.

At least $1.7 million in BRIC funding is at risk for being cut in Minnesota, according to the state's Management and Budget Office.

“The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program,” FEMA said in a statement. “It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters."

BRIC began in 2018 during Trump’s first term as president. It was expanded under President Joe Biden’s administration.

FEMA forwarded its statement to The Forum when the news agency asked for comment on Wednesday.

The program typically would have covered 75% of the projects that received the FEMA grant, according to state Emergency Services documents. North Dakota would have paid 10%, leaving 15% of the costs to local governments.

Without BRIC funding, a $7.1 million water intake project that would connect Washburn’s water treatment plant to the Garrison Diversion is no longer feasible, City Auditor Chelsey Brandt said.

"It's a huge hit to the city," she said.

The city 40 miles north of Bismarck has a water intake that pulls from the Missouri River, but the waterline drops below the pipe in the winter months, Brandt said. The city decided to connect a 12-mile intake water pipe to the Garrison Diversion, she said.

“With that said, that 12 miles is a substantial burden to the city of Washburn to try and run that pipe,” she said.

Home to roughly 1,300 residents, the city can use its water treatment plant and intake as a backup, Brandt said. The summer months bring higher water levels, so the current intake can be used, she noted.

“We're still able to produce and sell water here,” she said. “Unless there's a major shift in the river, then it could be a big issue.”

Lincoln also received $7.8 million in BRIC funding for a wastewater treatment plant. The suburb of Bismarck that has about 4,400 residents uses a lagoon system, Mayor Keli Berglund said.

The project's cost has doubled since the BRIC funding was awarded to Lincoln in FY2022 , Berglund said. The treatment plant is expected to now cost $18 million, and bidding to construct the project was expected to begin in the fall, she said. Now the city must seek alternative solutions or funding, she said

Due to high rates of growth in recent years, the current sewer system is operating at capacity and is stressed, she said.

"Losing the BRIC funding is devastating for the City Of Lincoln and this is a major setback," Berglund said in an email to The Forum.

A treatment facility would prevent environmental damage and protect public health while complying with state and federal regulations, Berglund said.

Like officials in Washburn and Fessenden, Lincoln has discussed with North Dakota's congressional delegation and state lawmakers ways to complete the project "in a timely manner," Berglund said.

“Our office has been in contact with FEMA to press for answers on the canceled BRIC grants and to determine if any of them should be reinstated," U.S. Sen. John Hoeven's office said in a statement to The Forum. "We are also working with the Senate Appropriations Committee to identify other funding opportunities to assist the impacted projects.”

It’s unclear what other funding could make up the gap left behind by BRIC’s cancellation. North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong has asked state agencies to explore options with communities that received the grants, according to a news release.

“President Trump is fulfilling his promise to cut federal spending, and as a state, we’ll continue to do our part by working to mitigate the impacts of reductions in federal funding,” Armstrong said in a statement to The Forum.

Smaller cities will have a harder time with the cuts, said Darin Hanson, homeland security director for North Dakota Emergency Services.

“These, by all accounts, seem to be good projects,” Hanson told The Forum on Wednesday.

The state believes in mitigation projects because they save significant amounts of money, he said. North Dakota has been recognized as the first state in its region to achieve “enhanced mitigation status,” Emergency Services said.

The state saves $6 in response and recovery costs for every dollar spent on mitigation projects, Hanson said. With $1.9 billion invested in preventative projects, North Dakota estimates it has saved more than $24 billion in disaster-related costs since 1993.

“That’s less pain and suffering for those communities,” Hanson said.

Getting funding for the Fessenden project was like winning the lottery, Roehrich said. She also said BRIC would have funded 75% of the $367,000 needed to upgrade a generator to power St. Aloisius Medical Center in Harvey during outages.

Harvey has 1,600 residents and is about 20 miles northwest of Fessenden.

Both projects are vital to their respective communities, she said, adding that losing that funding is devastating.

“When the memo came out and said the BRIC grants were an example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program, I’d like them to call me and explain to me how this project is ineffective and wasteful,” she said.