Suing to get frontline communities their $3 billion back in environmental and climate justice grants
When the EPA created the Environmental and Climate Justice Block grant programs in 2022, advocates described it as an “unprecedented” and “long overdue” decision.
Now, $3 billion that was supposed to move community-driven projects into the future, making dreams a reality, have been unlawfully terminated along with billions of other dollars the current administration has pulled the plug on.
In our third major lawsuit against the current Trump administration, SELC, along with Earthjustice and the Public Rights Project, seek to restore these critical funds.
This lawsuit is a class action, which means we’re seeking relief for hundreds of grant recipients who have been harmed by the wholesale termination of their grants. The plaintiffs span every region of the country and include Black, Indigenous, rural, and low-wealth communities — each working on local, community-driven solutions to address serious environmental challenges.
These grants were created to address the real harm in communities forced to grapple with generations of disinvestment and pollution.
Kym Meyer, SELC Litigation Director
“The Trump administration’s EPA has arbitrarily and unlawfully terminated the grant programs with callous disregard for the impact of their actions,” adds Kym Meyer, SELC’s Litigation Director.
What is this funding for?
These federal grants include funding from a wide range of EPA programs, including:
- Community Change grants
- Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program
- Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program
- Government-to-Government Program
Here’s how these EPA grants support community-based initiatives meant to address generations of disinvestment and environmental injustice:
- Improving preparedness for climate-driven extreme weather
- Expanding workforce development opportunities
- Improving and monitoring air quality
- Mitigating stormwater and flood damage
- Combating high energy costs
- Improving community members’ ability to participate in decision-making and permitting processes that impact their health and environment.
Terminating these funds falls in line with the Trump administration’s broader attempts to dismantle climate and environmental justice initiatives, which has also led to the shuttering of climate and environmental justice programs and offices.
Illegal tactics are causing great harm
In a previously filed suit, SELC teamed up with the Public Rights Project on behalf of nonprofit organizations and cities from across the country in federal court to stop the Trump administration’s freeze on federal funding. That unlawful decision threw programs into turmoil, including efforts to build energy efficient affordable housing, install air pollution monitors, improve food access for communities and support local farmers.
In May, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate that funding, issuing a permanent injunction restoring the majority of the grants represented by the lawsuit.
The Trump administration conceded that its decision to cancel grant funding based on executive orders violated the Administrative Procedure Act, the decision is currently stayed, and we are fighting to have it reinstated in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
SELC Litigation Director Kym Meyer called the win a “huge victory” for the organizations.
This class action suit is building on the discovery obtained in our previous case, which revealed EPA’s unlawful termination of the entire grant program, according to Ben Grillot, a Senior Attorney in SELC’s D.C. office.
“Evidence from SELC’s first case confirms the administration terminated these grant programs simply because they disagree with Congress’s intent to fund environmental and climate justice projects,” he said. “These funds should be restored. It’s what’s right under the Constitution, and as a matter of law.”
What’s at stake?
Without this funding, already overburdened communities will be left behind.
These include neighborhoods grappling with the long-term impacts of dirty energy and Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic communities that have been routinely targeted as locations for polluting industries. Time and again, these same communities are denied the investments they need to protect their air, water, and health.
SELC is representing six nonprofits: Appalachian Voices, Southwest Renewal Foundation, Landforce, Park Alliance of Louisville, 2C Mississippi, and the Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities.
The diversity of the projects demonstrates the great loss to communities, here’s a snapshot of two:
- Appalachian Voices planned to use the funding to support projects like a resilience hub and shelter in communities impacted by the decline of the coal industry.
- Landforce was increasing transitional employment opportunities and providing training on reusing urban tree waste with its funding.
These are just two examples of hundreds of transformative, locally driven projects promised to communities.
Opportunities like this have never existed for these communities that have borne decades of neglect and environmental harm.
Irena Como, Senior Attorney
“To see them be taken away for no reason except to intentionally target certain groups of people is unjust and unlawful,” adds Irena Como, a Senior Attorney at SELC’s Chapel Hill office. “With this class action lawsuit, and our previously filed litigation, we are working to make that right.”