A coalition of grassroots environmental groups could lose $60 million in federal funding after calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
It was the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA). His name One of EPA’s “grantees” for more than a year, making it responsible for distributing subgrants for locally led environmental projects. But of the EPA’s 11 donors, CJA is the only one that has yet to receive any funding. The group faced a barrage of Attacks For their public opposition to the war between Israel and Hamas, and some of them EPA employees He says the group was singled out as a result.
“We were very disappointed to see the current state of the EPA Withholding $60 million to Climate Justice Alliance (CJA)“The only one of the eleven grantees to courageously speak out against environmental losses and human rights violations in Palestine,” a group of anonymous EPA and DOE employees wrote in a letter. Open letter In December.
The money could disappear if it is not distributed before President-elect Donald Trump takes office
The money could disappear if it is not distributed before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump did He said he would cancel Unspent funds from the Inflation Reduction Act that set aside money for grants. If his second term is anything like his first, he will likely withdraw from the EPA Roll back environmental protection measures.
With a deregulatory agenda at the national level, local efforts become even more important to protect Americans’ air, water, and climate. It’s these kinds of grassroots initiatives that EPA donors are supposed to support and what’s at risk if the agency doesn’t disburse the money before it’s too late.
“What this will do is further drain the funds that our communities have been relying on,” says KD Chavez, executive director of the CJA. “We need to provide resources for people so that at least at the local level they can implement clean-up projects and monitor air quality,” Chavez says, citing examples of how the money can be used.
The money for EPA’s Environmental Justice and Thriving Communities grant program came from the Inflation Reduction Act, which included $369 billion For clean energy and climate action. The 11 donors include universities and nonprofit organizations tasked with allocating a total of $600 million to locally led environmental projects.
This was supposed to make it easier for small grassroots groups to access funding, especially those living with the most pollution. Which are often communities of color in the United States. CJA includes about 100 organizations across the United States, many of which are rooted in communities of color such as the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program and the Native Environmental Network.
In particular, CJA chose to distribute subgrants to EPA Regions 8-10, which includes most of the western United States. It is also the national donor responsible for outreach to tribal communities. CJA says it has already spent $1.6 million of its own operating budget to put in place the necessary organizational infrastructure to allow community groups to apply for subgrants. It is supposed to receive $50 million for those subgrants, plus an additional $10 million for technical capacity.
“Why are we labeled anti-American?”
As of Jan. 3, only $461 million in funding from the grant program had been awarded, according to program data. Environmental Protection Agency websiteAnd leave the rest of the money exhibition For the incoming Trump administration.
“There are questions we have about our discrimination as an organization. Why are we labeled as anti-American? Is it because we are led by working class people, Black Indigenous people, people from communities of color?,” says Chavez.
Over the past year, conservative media and some Republican lawmakers have accused the CJA of “Extremists“,” Anti-Semiticand “Anti-AmericanBecause of its position on the war between Israel and Hamas. Even before EPA announced its selection of 11 donors, CJA did so Issue a statement In October 2023, President Joe Biden and Congress called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“I was surprised to learn that $50 million had been allocated to the Climate Justice Coalition, a group that explicitly posts a ‘Free Palestine’ section on its website,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) told former EPA Administrator Michael Reagan when he was on the Website: “There are dozens of anti-Semitic and disturbing images.” He testified before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee In July of last year. (Reagan Step down From his position In December.)
The CJA published its report Ceasefire statement On its website. “We call on Biden and the US Congress to support an immediate cessation of violence by publicly demanding a ceasefire within the region. We stand firmly on the side of peace and support the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, decolonization and life,” the statement read.
“At our core, CJA has always been anti-war and pro-war communities,” Chavez says. “We are just collateral damage in the war against regulation,” they add.
The group has also been criticized for its environmental advocacy. A letter From Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Buddy Carter (R-GA) to Reagan last May accusing the CJA of supporting “partisan, and in some cases extreme, environmental activism,” including “mass organizing of climate warning protests” and “Litigation over Fossil Fuel Projects.” The letter similarly criticizes other donors chosen by the EPA, but the CJA has faced more heat as protests in the United States against the war in Gaza gain momentum.
the letter Posted by EPA and DOE staff last month (first reported in by Objection) urges agencies to “end Cooperation with Israel “Until there is a permanent ceasefire” and “release all federal funds allocated to the Climate Justice Coalition.” She says the funding is needed for indigenous communities and other groups that have historically been “excluded” from environmental protections.
According to Chavez, the EPA informed the criminal justice agency at a meeting in September that it was under investigation by the agency’s office of general counsel without any explanation as to why. The group says the agency’s Office of External Environmental Justice and Civil Rights then told the group to expect funding by Jan. 6 — though it was initially expected that donors would be able to begin distributing subgrants. In the summer of 2024.
EPA has not verified CJA’s claims or answered specific questions Edge About the CJA investigation. “EPA continues to review the grant to the Climate Justice Coalition,” EPA spokesman Nick Conger said in an email to EPA. Edge. “EPA continues to work through its rigorous process for obligating funds under the ADA, including the Thriving Communities Grant Program.” Conger added that the agency is “on track” to award more than 90 percent of the funding by the end of the Biden administration.
when Edge When the EPA asked last year how donors were chosen for the program, Regan said on a call with reporters that each had “demonstrated a very strong governance structure that creates accountability” and that the agency had selected 11 “knowing that they would be able to activate these resources in a way that empowers the communities that She desperately needs these resources and is sure to get them.