Twenty Democratic attorneys general are urging a federal court to order the Trump administration to lift a block on a $3 billion EPA program for environmental and climate justice grants.
In a friend of the court brief filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the coalition argues that EPA’s “untimely and unlawful” decision to scrap the grants is already causing widespread harm across their states.
“Each of our states has experienced the termination of the EPA environmental justice grant programs in unique and harmful ways,” the brief states, noting that in some states grantees have been forced to freeze hiring and reduce staff hours and will need to conduct layoffs if funding is not restored.
“These climate and environmental justice grants are a lifeline for communities that have been historically left behind,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the coalition, along with California and Massachusetts. “From Buffalo to Far Rockaway, New Yorkers were counting on these funds to access clean energy, clean up air pollution and prepare for climate disasters.”
