EPA official says agency plans to cancel nearly 800 environmental justice grants

A high-ranking official in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week told a court that the Trump administration plans to cancel nearly 800 environmental justice grants, which largely impact low-income and minority communities. 

EPA's Deputy Assistant Administrator for Infrastructure and Extramural Resources Daniel Coogan submitted a declaration on April 23, where he stated that 377 grantees have already been notified that their awards were canceled, and the agency still expects to cancel another 404 grants in the coming weeks, which would bring the total to 781.

The filing is part of a legal challenge against the Trump administration's freezing of federal grants, according to The Hill. The court document was first reported on Tuesday.

The cancellations appear to primarily impact environmental justice programs, such as programs that monitor pollution. But one program seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the production of construction materials.

The filing comes as the Trump administration targets environmental justice issues more broadly, including by firing 280 EPA staffers and reassigning 175 other employees that were assigned to the topic. 

Environmental justice is actually quite controversial. Last year the Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Committee released a staff report that laid out allegations about the grants:

“As part of its radical rush-to-green agenda, the [Biden] administration gave hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to activists who also engage in political activities,” lawmakers behind the report said in a joint statement. “It was empowered to do so by congressional Democrats who jammed through legislation that was designed to rush money out the door as quickly as possible with no guards against waste, fraud, and abuse.”

The administration has elected to continue supporting all Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act grants, which include 2,004 active grants totaling $27.5 billion, Coogan said.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.