Judge declines to force FEMA to release NGWS funds

A federal judge on Monday declined to force the Federal Emergency Management Agency to release its hold on more than $38 million in Next Generation Warning System funds.

In a federal lawsuit filed Thursday, CPB said FEMA had put an “unlawful” hold on the grants awarded by the Department of Homeland Security through Congress starting in fiscal year 2022. The lawsuit said FEMA never identified a reason for the hold and that stations, who pay out of pocket for projects and are supposed to be reimbursed, are now owed a total of $1.88 million. CPB demanded that it regain access to the money.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who was nominated to the bench by President Trump in 2017, denied CPB’s request for a temporary restraining order, according to the court docket.

Kelly said during the hearing Monday that CPB failed to show it is being irreparably harmed, according to the Associated Press. He also said the corporation hasn’t sufficiently demonstrated that the national Emergency Alert System would stop working if the grant funding wasn’t restored immediately.

“This circuit has set a high standard for irreparable injury,” Kelly said, according to the AP. “I don’t think CPB has satisfied that high standard on the record here.”

Lawyers for FEMA said in a filing Saturday that the agency “has modified its process for the review of payment requests — a process that is consistent with its authority to protect the public fisc and ensure grant programs are free from waste, fraud, and abuse.”

In a response to FEMA’s filing Sunday, CPB said the agency has not presented proof that the NGWS program is wasteful, fraudulent or abusive.

“For close to three years, FEMA has been intimately involved every step of the way in terms of the specific sites receiving new emergency broadcast equipment, creating a FEMA pre-approved equipment list, receiving monthly and quarterly reports on the expenses incurred and the progress of the grant,” CPB’s lawyers said. “Moreover, given the sheer volume of information provided and reviewed by FEMA before and after equipment is purchased by any sub-awardee, the notion that FEMA now must conduct a ‘manual review’ of reimbursement requests is a transparent effort to continue the unlawful freeze on the draw down of appropriated funds by arbitrarily denying reimbursement requests using unidentified criteria.”

“Regardless of its motivations, FEMA’s unilateral and post-hoc attempt to impose new conditions — close to three years after award — on the payments to CPB and its forty-two subawardees for expenses incurred under the NGWS Grant is arbitrary and capricious,” CPB added.

FEMA paused the NGWS funding Feb. 18, and CPB subsequently told stations to stop NGWS-related work as it sought to remedy the situation. President Trump has authorized the Department of Government Efficiency to cut staff at FEMA and other federal agencies.

“FEMA is taking swift action to ensure the alignment of its grant programs with President Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s direction that U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used wisely and for mission critical efforts,” FEMA said in an email statement to Current. “Per Secretary Noem’s Direction on Grants to Non-governmental Organizations memorandum, FEMA and DHS are instituting additional reviews on all grants to non-governmental organizations.” Noem, previously South Dakota’s governor, sought to cut state support for the local network before being appointed by Trump.

Public media stations sometimes serve as their state’s primary Emergency Alert Service hub for severe weather and AMBER alerts. Stations also partner on the Wireless Emergency Alert system and the PBS Warning, Alerts and Response Network.The NGWS program received an additional $56 million in FY23 and $40 million in FY24. The spending bill approved by Congress last week includes an additional $40 million for NGWS in FY25, bringing the total to $176 million.

This article has been updated to include a statement from FEMA.