FEMA Money
The latest round of federal funding — $29 million — is on its way from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Western North Carolina to reimburse cities, towns and state agencies for Hurricane Helene recovery projects.
The biggest portion of the funds, $7.7 million dollars, is going toward rebuilding the Muni, the municipal golf course in East Asheville.
“I am grateful for Secretary Noem working with me to more regularly approve reimbursements for Helene and past disaster recovery projects,” U.S. Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) said in a statement Friday, referring to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
News of the funding’s release comes one day after Budd and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) released their holds on some of President Trump’s Homeland Security nominees. The senators had blocked the nominations from moving forward until they received assurances from DHS that it would do more to support the region’s recovery from Helene.
“While I have released my holds on DHS nominees, I will continue to engage all relevant federal agencies to make sure Western North Carolina receives the focus and attention it deserves, particularly the final distribution of funds to the municipalities and state agencies in desperate need of financial relief,” Budd said.
Damage to Asheville’s municipal golf course was estimated at about $7 million shortly after the storm, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.
The back nine holes of the course were spared from the worst of Helene’s destruction and reopened shortly after the storm. But the front nine holes were heavily damaged as the nearby Swannanoa River overran its banks and tore through the course.
Since the summer, the damaged area has been repurposed into a temporary disc golf course. The restoration project is currently in the design phase, which is expected to last until late next year.
Another top recipient of the funds is the North Carolina Department of Transportation, which is receiving a total of about $7.4 million. That funding will go toward repairing state roads in Avery, McDowell, Caldwell and Buncombe counties, as well as to supporting alternative procedures for debris removal.
In addition, a large portion of the FEMA funds, about $4 million, will go toward rebuilding Catawba Meadows Park in Morganton. The 230-acre park and its facilities were hard hit by Helene. Although much of the park reopened in the summer, construction is still underway in several sections, and the City of Morganton has been awaiting reimbursement by FEMA.
The full list of recipients of the latest round of FEMA funding is below:
- $7,767,510 to the City of Asheville for repairs to the the Municipal Golf Course
- $4,063,203 to the City of Morganton for repairs to Catawba Meadows Park
- $2,099,655 to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for repairs to Blevins Creek Road in Avery County
- $1,753,824 to Avery County for repairs to the Senior Center Building and its contents
- $1,703,026 to Avery County for repairs to the Administrative Building and its contents
- $1,631,919 to the Town of Beech Mountain for emergency support
- $1,617,511 to the City of Asheville for emergency support
- $1,608,142 to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for repairs to State Road 1407 in McDowell County
- $1,352,862 to the City of Asheville for repairs to the Bee Tree Dam
- $1,319,662 to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for repairs to State Roads 2533, 2546, 2553, 2563, 2573, 2577, 2581, 2582, 2700, 2702, 2705, 2706, 2712, 2713, 2714, 2715, 2717, and 2724 in Buncombe County
- $1,305,204 to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for alternative procedures debris removal
- $1,287,464 to the Town of Spruce Pine for repairs to its water distribution system
- $1,104,317 to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for repairs to State Roads 1362, 1363, 1366, 1367, 1368, and 1369 in Caldwell County
- $1,055,589 to North Carolina Emergency Management for emergency support.
Jobs record
Showcasing some of the state’s recent economic development announcements, Gov. Josh Stein celebrated that North Carolina achieved a record year for new jobs recruited to the state.
Since Jan. 1, North Carolina has secured commitments from companies and businesses to bring more than 33,745 jobs to the state — a record total that Stein said during a news conference on Wednesday was the “most ever” for jobs recruited in a single year.
Stein touted the fact that North Carolina was ranked the nation’s top state for business by CNBC in July, the third time it has won that distinction in the last four years, and is the third fastest-growing state in the country by population.
“Businesses and people across this country see that we’ve got a good thing going here in North Carolina, and they want to be part of it,” Stein said.
Stein’s office has highlighted that recent investments in the state have come in industries “of the future” including biotech, advanced manufacturing, electric vehicles and aerospace.
In November alone, North Carolina saw the start of production at Toyota’s battery manufacturing plant in Liberty and announcements of new investments by Scout Motors in a headquarters in Charlotte, and Vulcan Elements for a rare earth magnet factory in Benson.
Stein noted on Wednesday that the jobs that have been recruited are spread out geographically, but said there’s more work to be done to ensure access to economic opportunities throughout the state. He said North Carolina can’t “rest on our laurels.”
“Other states want what we have,” Stein said. “We’ve got to keep expanding opportunity, we’ve got to spread it to every corner of the state, so that if you work hard, where you come from never limits how far you can go.”
The state has recruited nearly 5,000 new jobs and $12.5 billion in investment to rural parts of the state, Stein said. The economic growth the state hopes will follow will be aided by other investments the state is making, including through the Rural Infrastructure Authority.
The RIA has awarded 51 grants and more than $26 million, which Stein’s office said has gone toward helping local governments develop their infrastructure and “repurpose vacant buildings for new businesses.”
More than a year after the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, economic recovery in the western part of the state is a work in progress. Stein said that 86% of businesses that were impacted by Helene “are still earning at or below the pre-storm levels.”
Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley said the state’s return to the top of CNBC’s ranking of the best states for business this year, after barely missing the top spot last year to Virginia, is a recognition of North Carolina’s “world-class workforce” and “solid economy.”
Lilley said it also shows that “we are attracting more business to the state, which in turn draws interest from other companies and fuels our momentum.”
North Carolina stands out among its peers and competitors because of the robust collaboration between officials at all levels of government in recruiting companies here, Lilley said.
“Companies don’t see this kind of collaboration in every state, and it’s a vital reason for our success,” Lilley said.
At the same time, Stein said, other states North Carolina competes with are increasing their investments in factors that have helped give the Tar Heel State a competitive edge, including K-12 education, teacher salaries and community colleges and universities.
“This is why I continually urge the General Assembly, and every other major player: We’ve got to stay on our toes,” Stein said.
Umstead Quarrying
State regulators improperly altered a mining permit for Wake Stone Corp. that allowed it to quarry rock next to Umstead State Park indefinitely, a Wake County Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday.
The change, made in 2018 without public notice or input, allows the company to expand its quarry operation onto neighboring land owned by Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Judge Sean A. Cole’s order undoing the change could prevent that expansion.
At issue is a clause in the 1981 permit that allowed Wake Stone to open the Triangle Quarry off North Harrison Avenue. Permitting an open pit mine next to the state park was controversial, opposed by then-Gov. Jim Hunt and state Attorney General Rufus Edmisten, among others.
After negotiations between the state and the company, the permit included a “sunset clause” that would effectively end mining by 2031. The permit gave the state the right to acquire the quarry site at no cost “at the end of 50 years from the date quarrying commences or 10 years after quarrying operations have ceased without having been resumed, whichever is sooner.”
Wake Stone did not contest the clause at the time, and it remained in the permit for 37 years, through several renewals and modifications. Then in 2018, Wake Stone asked state mining regulators to change the word “sooner” to “later,” postponing the state’s ability to acquire the property until 10 years after mining is finished.
The company made the request by email, calling the change a minor correction to an error that had simply been overlooked. But in his decision, Cole wrote that Wake Stone was asking for a major change in the permit that allows the company to continue mining indefinitely without filing an application that would be subject to public scrutiny.
“The actions of Wake Stone represent clear, strong, and convincing evidence that the company was attempting to circumvent the correct procedure for requesting changes to their mining permit,” Cole wrote. “To suggest that changing the word ‘sooner’ to ‘later’ in this permit was a minor or ‘ministerial’ change is laughable bordering on fraudulent conduct.”
The Umstead Coalition, a park advocacy group, sued the state in 2022, seeking to have the sunset clause restored.
The case was first heard by Judge Donald van der Vaart at the N.C. Office of Administrative Hearings, who ruled in favor of the state Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources, which handles mining permits. The Umstead Coalition appealed to Wake County Superior Court.
Jean Spooner, who heads the coalition, hailed Cole’s decision Wednesday. “After improper removal of those protections from the permit, and years of Wake Stone’s legal resistance and repeated attempts to block review of these issues, the Umstead Coalition ultimately secured a court decision restoring those long-standing protections for William B. Umstead State Park,” Spooner wrote. “Justice has been done.”
Wake Stone, which is now owned by Vulcan Materials, has not responded to a request for comment.
Edgecombe Data Center:
Energy Storage Solutions plans to break ground on a $19.2 billion, 900-megawatt data center in Kingsboro. Community organizer Janice Bulluck worries the developers are extolling the community benefits, while downplaying the cost. Data centers like xAI’s facility in Memphis, Tennessee, have raised concerns among Edgecombe County residents about air and noise pollution. Tech billionaire Elon Musk, owner of xAI, deployed 35 unpermitted natural-gas turbines on-site to provide power behind-the-meter, news outlets report. Bulluck and other community members spoke up during Monday’s county commission meeting. Their concerns varied and included doubts about the availability of natural gas to power the site, air pollution and water usage. Bulluck also questioned the economic benefits the center would bring. The developers haven’t released the prospective tenants' names for the data center. The number of permanent jobs will depend on those tenants. Energy Storage Solutions President Dan Shaffer anticipates the project paying a large amount of taxes, especially in a county with an $82 million budget. “Once we build out our $19.2 billion project, the campus as a whole, the number is going to be about $75 million annually,” Shaffer said, referring to the taxes generated by the project during the first seven years.