California lawmakers this week joined a chorus of outraged Democrats demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency reverse plans to terminate hundreds of grants geared toward clean air and water — a move they are calling illegal.
Internal EPA documents released by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works include a list of about 400 grants targeted for elimination, 62 of which are in California. The grants are aimed at reducing childhood lead poisoning, improving air quality and mitigating health risks from extreme heat and wildfires, among other purposes.
The termination of the grants in question violates a number of court orders and escalates the Trump administration’s attempts to “impound Congressionally-appropriated, legally-obligated funds protecting clean air and clean water and powering domestic investment in low-cost clean energy,” read a March 25 letter signed by the nine Democratic senators on the committee, including Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla of California.
The letter was addressed to Lee Zeldin, President Trump’s EPA administrator who has already taken steps to roll back regulations and gut environmental protections long upheld by the federal agency.
The EPA first announced its plans (in conjunction with Elon Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE) to cancel the grants on March 10, describing them as “unnecessary programs” costing the American people more than $1.7 billion.
According to the internal EPA documents, these grants, which range from about $20,000 to $20 million, include efforts such as reducing childhood asthma by improving air quality in affordable housing units; enhancing wildfire preparedness in farmworker communities; and improving drinking water on tribal lands.
Many of the grants scheduled for cancellation were funded through President Biden’s landmark climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act.
The majority also contain elements of environmental justice, which seeks to rectify inequities such as extreme heat and pollution that disproportionately burden low-income communities and communities of color. That is part and parcel of the broader project of the Trump administration to eliminate programs across all sectors that have anything to do with the diversity, equity and inclusion movement.
In California, the 62 organizations and nonprofit groups that saw cuts include the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, which lost a $155,000 grant for a project to provide food to communities in need in Vallejo, and the Community Water Center, a nonprofit focused on clean drinking water in the San Joaquin Valley, which lost a $20-million grant for an environmental justice program.
Another group on the list, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Trust, lost a $500,000 grant intended to help plan equitable development projects along the L.A. River in northeast L.A., according to Executive Director Tori Kjer. Kjer said some funds were going to be further disbursed to other groups in the area for affordable housing, renters’ rights and parks projects.
Kjer said the EPA did not inform the organization of the cut; the group has reached out multiple times asking for more information but has not gotten a response.
“It just is mind-boggling that this is even happening,” Kjer said. “But this is kind of a new era for everyone. This is all uncharted territory.”
The EPA has justified its cuts through a Trump executive order directing the heads of federal agencies to terminate offices and positions relating to environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion. (The EPA also recently announced plans to close its Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights and to place nearly 170 employees there on leave.)
But the senators’ letter argues that termination of the grant programs is a violation of both contractual obligations and court orders.
The grants were made using funds appropriated by Congress with the explicit requirement that they be distributed to disadvantaged communities — including $3 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act designated for environmental protections in communities facing economic hardship.
During his confirmation hearing in January, Zeldin affirmed his obligation to ensure that the EPA’s funding would be spent following Congress’ intent.
“I, if confirmed as administrator of the EPA, won’t be cutting any funding,” Zeldin said during the hearing. “That’s a decision, as far as funding levels, for Congress to set. Whatever funding level Congress decides on is going to be the number that I am committed to to fulfill my obligation of being a good steward of the tax dollars and spend to Congress’ intent.”
What’s more, the senators said the EPA’s continued implementation of Trump’s executive order violates recent federal court decisions — including a temporary restraining order barring the administration from freezing, blocking or canceling the disbursement of appropriated federal funds.
The committee also unveiled internal emails from EPA officials that appear to acknowledge that the grant cancellations are illegal.
The order to terminate environmental justice grants “was made with the knowledge that some of the grants do not contain the [terms and conditions] about termination for agency priorities,” a member of the EPA’s general counsel wrote in an email obtained by the committee. The terms and conditions are what specify the EPA’s ability to unilaterally terminate a grant based on changes to the agency’s plans and priorities.
The senators are calling on the EPA to halt its implementation of the executive order, rescind its grant terminations and provide additional information about its decision-making process surrounding environmental justice and DEI programs.
“EPA’s unlawful, arbitrary, and capricious terminations of [environmental justice] grant programs eliminate commonsense, nonpartisan federal programs that clean the air and water and protect Americans from natural disasters,” they wrote.
“Beyond obvious issues with conflating ‘DEI’ and ‘environmental justice,’ these EPA grants helped ensure that all people — regardless of immutable traits — enjoy a healthy environment.”
