Bay Area Environmental Justice Projects in Limbo After Federal Funding Is Canceled

Ezra David Romero – KQED

Bay Area nonprofits, counties and cities with environmental justice projects are searching for new funding after the Trump administration terminated the grants that funded their work in the last two weeks.

At least three nonprofits, Contra Costa County and the city of San José received emails from the administration, primarily from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, stating “the objectives of the award are no longer consistent with EPA funding priorities.” The grant terminations came as the administration has sought to eliminate any focus on environmental justice at the EPA.

The grant recipients had planned to establish a bike-share program in East San José, provide food to low-income families in Vallejo, purchase air purifiers for families with asthmatic children along the peninsula, enable San Rafael residents to prepare their neighborhoods for flooding and create a resilience hub with a 24/7 emergency shelter and plant trees in North Richmond.

Now, staff from each city, county and nonprofit are figuring out how to accomplish their goals without help from the federal government.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has said that environmental justice has been used as an “excuse to fund left-wing activists instead of actually spending those dollars to directly remediate environmental issues for those communities.”

In February, EPA officials said the agency would terminate $20 billion in climate grants issued by the Biden administration. Among the billions of dollars in funding on the chopping block by the agency in recent months were 63 grants representing nearly $260 million for projects and organizations across California, according to a KQED analysis of a list compiled by a group of Democratic senators. Many of the groups received a final termination email in the past two weeks.

‘We’re hoping that our communities will back us up’

Climate Resilient Communities, based in East Palo Alto, planned to buy in-home air purifiers with its $500,000 EPA grant to help families whose children have asthma. The nonprofit also lost a $100,000 National Science Foundation grant meant to complete the final year of a five-year study engaging 320 households to understand how they respond to climate hazards.

Violet Wulf-Saena, the group’s executive director, said the nonprofit has enough funds to keep operating for about three months. She hopes to raise $5 million to fill the gap and fund its next fiscal year, beginning in July, and plans to hold a fundraiser to match a $300,000 gift from a private foundation.

“If we’re able to fundraise, we’re going to distribute air purifiers to families,” Wulf-Saena said. “I’m trying to keep my team together. We’re all vulnerable.”

She is optimistic that private funders or state grants, potentially through a $10 billion climate bond passed by California voters in November, will help keep her nonprofit afloat.

“We’re hoping that our communities will back us up,” Wulf-Saena said of her 15-person organization. “I’m going to find a way to ride through it, and with all the effort that went into building up the work that we do now, it will be reckless of me to give up easily.”

Last week, the EPA also terminated a nearly $500,000 grant for the Canal Alliance, a San Rafael nonprofit that planned to use the money to recruit residents to create a plan for the Canal neighborhood to adapt to the effects of climate change, as well as long-standing issues like a lack of transportation and housing.

“The Canal community is at the front lines of sea level rise,” said Aaron Burnett, director of policy and civic engagement at the Canal Alliance. “It’s the most prone to flooding as a result of sea level rise in any community in the entire Bay Area.”

Burnett said the nonprofit plans to continue the work and is looking for new funding.

“At the end of the day, it presents a very significant and immediate harm to our ability to ensure that we can have a holistic and successful process,” he said. “But in the long term, the Canal Alliance is in a position where we can make it work regardless of the funding. “

However, other EPA grantees are still unsure about the status of their grants. In March, the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project received a termination letter from the EPA for a $500,000 grant to study air quality.

“We have been locked out of the invoicing system since then and have not been paid for outstanding work as a result,” said Jess Sand, the group’s director of content and digital programs. “We have had no communication from the EPA in response to our inquiries.”

The group also has a $90,000 service contract for analyzing local air quality that’s in limbo. Sand said the EPA reduced it “without our consent,” and while the organization’s EPA contract manager said “it is being canceled,” it has not yet received a termination notice.

‘We’re exploring legal options’

San José lost a million-dollar EPA grant to extend its electric bike-share program from the city’s downtown into the community of East San José. The funds would have established up to a dozen bike docking stations in the community.

“We want to be able to provide better transportation options to our community residents, especially those who are car insecure or don’t have a car at all,” said Daniela Castañeda, the city’s clean mobility and community engagement lead. “This forces us to reevaluate how we do that.”

Castañeda said the city will not dip into other funds for the project, and the loss of the grant means “we’re not going to go as deep into East San José as we had originally hoped.”

The administration also defunded two projects in Contra Costa and Solano counties. The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano lost a $150,000 EPA grant for grocery rescue in Vallejo. Caitlin Sly, president and CEO of the food bank, said she initially found out the grant was at risk in the news media, and then last week, the EPA cut the funding.

“We could have a lot of impact, both to reduce food waste and to feed our hungry neighbors,” she said.

Also, Sly said the Federal Emergency Management Agency indefinitely paused a $160,000 grant to fund its schools and senior programs. She said the United States Department of Agriculture also chose not to renew a grant to purchase fresh produce. In addition, 11 truckloads of USDA food were recently canceled “without warning,” which would have provided 250,000 meals.

“There will likely be less food rescued and less food going into the hands of the people that need it most,” she said.

The EPA also dropped a more than $19 million grant for Contra Costa County. The county planned to use the funds to bolster the community of North Richmond by making homes energy efficient, removing asphalt, planting trees, establishing a resiliency center, creating a community farm and other initiatives.

“This is one of those cases where the EPA is robbing the community of a benefit that it deserves,” said county supervisor John Gioia, whose district includes Richmond. “This community, which is adjacent to a chemical plant and oil refinery, is in need of this type of investment.”

While at least one court case ruled that certain EPA grant cancellations violate federal law, the Bay Area groups still lost funding.

“We’re exploring legal options, but in the meantime, we are robbed of the money,” Gioia said. “Unfortunately, all we can do is pursue this in court and hope that if there is a future administration, things will change.”