Republicans who relentlessly criticized Biden-era spending on climate programs at the same time have been asking EPA to make sure their states and districts get a slice of the pie.
In recent letters to the agency obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News, more than a dozen Republican lawmakers have sought grants for local programs made possible by the landmark climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act.
Such efforts fly in the face of the GOP’s efforts to roll back spending on climate and clean energy. On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order revoking environmental justice initiatives that focused on addressing a legacy of pollution affecting people of color and the poor.
On Capitol Hill, Republicans applauded Trump’s sweeping funding freeze and plotted to take back unspent dollars to help offset tax cuts.
And this week, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin posted “HUGE NEWS” on social media. He said that “EPA located BILLIONS of dollars worth” of “gold bars” the Biden administration “threw off the Titanic,” referring to money being rushed out before Trump took over.
The letters, obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, show Republicans were interested in securing funding for a host of climate-related projects in the Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants Program.
In December, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the current chair of the Senate Budge Committee, wrote to then-EPA Administrator Michael Regan. He said a nonprofit in his home state had submitted a proposal for programs to subsidize the costs of rides and benefit electric vehicle ride shares.
“I ask that you give their proposal full consideration under all appropriate guidelines and regulations,” Graham wrote.
A review of the letters revealed that the GOP lawmakers urged Regan to prioritize specific projects to plant trees and erect shade structures, install air quality monitors near low-income schools, replace water treatment plants, give money to tribes and build other climate resilience projects.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) requested funding for the River City resiliency project in Mason City, Iowa. Sens. Cynthia Lummis and John Barrasso — both of Wyoming — asked for an environmental justice grant on behalf of the North Arapaho Tribe.
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) looked to bolster a project to address Evansville’s “poor air quality” and “lack of clean transportation.”
Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) sent similar letters.
And in the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) and former Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) urged the agency to award $20 million for “climate resilience,” “green villages” and a microtransit program.
All of the funding came from the IRA, which no Republican voted for. It is not uncommon for lawmakers to request federal funds for their districts or show up to ribbon cuttings for projects bankrolled by legislation they opposed.
Records also show Democrats had plenty of asks — like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) who requested $20 million for Friendship House Association of American Indians’ six-story Village SF Wellness Center. But she was a major proponent of the IRA.
‘Continuing to move forward’
The flurry of Republican requests on nuts-and-bolts environmental matters illustrates how difficult it could be for GOP members to get on the same page to repeal climate or infrastructure law funding through party-line reconciliation bill that they are hoping to advance. The bill seems all but certain target Democrats’ climate spending law.
After all, Trump already zeroed in on the IRA and bipartisan infrastructure law. Recipients were told the money was under a 90-day review period. Some are continuing to do their work, fronting the costs, hoping they will eventually get the money back.
One recipient — Michelle Moore, CEO at the nonprofit Groundswell, which partners with cities to advance renewable projects — said she is confident their $20 million contract to build 10 resilience hubs in Georgia and Alabama would ultimately be fulfilled.
Moore said they received payment for their initial January invoice, totaling less than $20,000, in the early part of the Trump administration. More recently, however, they haven’t been able to access the billing system.
“We are continuing to move forward,” she said in a recent interview. “We are fully under contract with the program. We have a whole lot of mayors and commissioners who are excited about what this is going to do for their communities.”
In fact, she thought their work to modernize infrastructure and cut electricity bills was aligned with many of Trump’s campaign promises.
“At the end of the day, the work that this program is accomplishing— and that our particular program will accomplish — investing in rural and small-town America,” she said.
That, though, might not sway new administration officials.
EPA declined to comment on the status of any grant money, citing the litigation that followed Trump’s executive orders. The agency under then-President Joe Biden said in January that it received 1,700 applications just before the November deadline and expected more would be selected in the spring. That now seems unlikely.
‘I’m not worried’
To the extent Republican lawmakers are concerned at all about the Trump holdup, few let on. They said the new administration has the authority to review trillions in grants and loans. Many said their constituents applauded the scrutiny.
“I’m not worried about that — at least from my state’s perspective,” Lummis said in an interview. “My state isn’t going after grants that deal with DEI, with environmental activism, so the stuff we’re going after is truly infrastructure-oriented. And my state is going to say, ‘Well, there’s nothing wrong with taking a look-see at how money is being spent.’”
When asked, Barrasso said Trump is “doing exactly what the American people want him to do” and that he hadn’t heard from either of the tribes in his state.
Sullivan, who was quick to laud Trump for his early Alaska executive order reversing Biden energy policies, suggested he would also be pushing to protect grants that could help with energy needs in Alaska.
“We were the only all-Republican delegation that voted for the infrastructure bill,” he said. “Obviously, no Republican voted for the IRA, but if there are grants that we think help with our energy and Alaska — not just oil and gas, it’s all of the above — we’re reviewing all of those. And we’ll advocate for all of them.”
Similarly, Tillis said broadly Republicans have “got to get very surgical” when it comes to repealing the IRA. “What I’ve really asked industry and people who have interests and various things about the IRA — tell us the business impact. Tell us how it’s going to affect prices for consumers.”
In theory, the letters could suggest some Republicans might support ideas they’ve chided or long been conspicuously silent on. Johnson’s personal views on climate change have been something of black box, even as he requested for the city of Minden — a poverty-stricken community in northern Louisiana — toreceive funding to “build climate resilience” and “sustainability.”
His office chalked up questions about the issue to the “liberal media” coordinating with a “radicalized agency.” His request, his aide said, no way indicated support for a “horrible, disastrous bill that’s caused higher inflation and crushed the American people.”
Indeed, Johnson has pledged on the House floor to repeal the “Green New Deal legislation.” That could be a tall order given his slim majority.
Pollution does not delineate between red or blue states, argued environmental justice advocates, like Mustafa Santiago Ali of the the National Wildlife Federation.
“It is happening in both Republican and Democratic areas,” he said. “We need to be focused on those communities making sure they have the resources necessary to heal.”
He pointed to EPA’s environmental justice office, which is tasked with helping some of the nation’s poorest and most neglected communities. Last week, that office placed 168 staffers on administrative leave.
