The US EPA cancels all the environmental justice grants!

The cancellation of nearly 800 environmental justice and DEI (diversity equity and inclusion) has been announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which is amounting over $1.5 billion in funding. These grants were focused on helping the marginalized communities who deal with pollution, climate change, and health disparities.

“EPA is in the process of sending out the formal termination/cancellation notices to all of the impacted grantees. EPA has already sent out formal notices to approximately 377 grantees. For the remaining approximately 404 grantees, EPA plans to issue notices within the next two weeks” – Daniel Coogan, EPA Career Official

This decision has been made and revealed through a court filing, when the legal challenges began to mount. A Rhode Island federal judge has mentioned the move of EPA as “arbitrary and capricious” and the former EPA officials, community leaders have raised the alarms about the long-term damage to equity efforts.

Several programs and communities are directly affected by the cancellations, which includes the rescinding of solar power backup and pollution monitoring, the Heartland Environmental Justice paused the activities (due to the cut in funding), a $500,000 grant has been lost by the Common Ground High School which presents the employment and education on environment to the locals.