New documents obtained by Senate Democrats on the Environmental and Public Works Committee this week shed more light on the inner workings of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s attempt to shut down hundreds of climate- and environmental justice-related grants.
Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware secured a
list of 477 grants the EPA has “targeted for termination,” along with damning internal emails from the agency that showed its management knew that many of its terminations to date violated contracts with grantees.
Democrats on the committee sent a letter to Zeldin on Tuesday alleging that EPA was breaking the law and demanding that it rescind any grant termination notices it has sent out.
The list of grants appears to align with a press release the EPA published on March 10 stating that Zeldin had canceled more than 400 grants worth more than $1.7 billion in his fourth round of spending cuts. This was in addition to the $20 billion “green bank” program Zeldin has been
attempting to cut. EPA did not say which grants it was canceling or why in any of these rounds of cuts, but last week, the Sierra Club obtained a partial list of what appeared to be the first three rounds through a Freedom of Information Act request.
While nearly half of the grants on the Sierra Club’s list were for research into low-carbon construction materials like steel and cement, all of the funds on the new list were awarded to nonprofits, Tribes, cities, states, and universities for projects in disadvantaged communities.
Many of the grants are from three Inflation Reduction Act programs: the Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program, which funds nonprofit efforts to create new partnerships with companies, local governments, or medical service providers to address environmental or public health issues; the Community Change Grant Program, which supports activities that reduce pollution and increase climate resilience; and the Government-to-Government Program, which subsidizes state and local government pilot projects and other activities that improve the environment and public health.
They include awards of between $20,000 and $20 million for community gardens, solar projects, air quality monitoring, energy efficiency upgrades, wildfire preparedness, clean water initiatives, protection during heatwaves, rural economic development, and job training, among many others.
Just over 130 of the grants are reported as being “financially closed,” or having a $0.00 remaining balance, meaning the EPA’s claim that it canceled more than 400 grants may have been inflated.
There is also overlap with the list the EPA provided to the Sierra Club. Heatmap identified 18 grants that appear on both. For these 18 grants, the Sierra Club list shows that they were canceled on the 21st or 22nd of February. The list obtained by the senators shows that they were “awarded” on those dates, but labels them “financially closed” or having a $0.00 remaining balance.
In their letter to Zeldin, Senate Democrats asserted Congress’ power over the federal purse, noting that the law specifically “directed the EPA to distribute $3 billion to improve environmental protection in communities facing economic hardship.” An internal email from the EPA’s general counsel notes that some of the grants were terminated on the basis that they funded DEI or environmental justice initiatives that “conflict with the Agency’s policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in performing our statutory functions.” The senators’ letter argues quite the opposite — that these grants were meant to ensure a healthy environment for
all Americans.
Secondly, they write that “any attempt to withhold these funds violates the Impoundment Control Act.” That’s a reference to a 1974 law that prohibits the executive branch from holding back congressionally appropriated funds without permission from Congress. The letter also admonishes Zeldin for
violating federal court injunctions on President Trump’s funding freeze.
Lastly, the senators accuse the agency of knowingly violating the terms of its own contracts, citing an
internal email from EPA’s Office of General Counsel which admits as much. The email acknowledges that many of the cancellation letters sent to grantees cited grounds for termination that were not valid under the grant contracts. At this, the Office of General Counsel essentially shrugs, noting that “no decision to retract the terminations is forthcoming,” and that grantees can dispute the decision or sue the agency if they want to.
The letter includes a series of 12 questions for the EPA, including requests for every termination letter sent to grantees and an explanation of what the agency plans to do with “the alleged $2 billion in federal funds ‘saved’ by EPA and DOGE grant terminations.”
In a
statement to the Associated Press, the EPA confirmed that it received the letter, but that it has no plans to stop canceling grants. “As the Trump administration reins in wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars, EPA will continue terminating assistance agreements in line with terms and conditions,” the statement said.
Here is the full list of canceled grants released by the senators, published for the first time in a searchable, sortable format:
