The Climate Justice Alliance said Wednesday it will end a planned effort to address pollution disproportionately affecting Indigenous, rural, poor and communities of color because it did not receive promised funding from former President Joe Biden’s administration before he left office.
The alliance, which was the target of criticism by a top Republican lawmaker, said the Biden EPA’s inability to deliver a $50 million grant before President Donald Trump took over killed its UNITE-EJ grant program. That effort relied on funding from the Inflation Reduction Act’s Thriving Communities Grantmaking program.
The alliance spent $2 million of its own $10 million operational budget building out a portal for applications from organizations operating in EPA Regions 8, 9 and 10 in the western United States, Alaska and tribal communities, Executive Director KD Chavez said in an interview.
She said the absence of funding has left cash-strapped groups without technical support to craft and deploy pollution reduction strategies at a time when the Trump administration is rolling back regulations, programs and entire federal offices that will affect those communities more than wealthier ones.
