Climate groups calling for Gaza ceasefire risk losing federal funding

A coalition of grassroots environmental groups could lose $60 million in federal funding after calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Climate Justice Coalition (CJA) was named one of the Environmental Protection Agency’s “grant providers” more than a year ago, responsible for distributing sub-grants to locally-led environmental projects. But of EPA’s 11 grantmakers, CJA is the only one that has not yet received funding. The group has been attacked for publicly opposing the Israel-Hamas war, and some EPA employees have said the group was excluded as a result.

“We are deeply disappointed to see that the EPA has now withheld $60 million from the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), the only one of the 11 granting organizations that has had the courage to speak out against environmental damage and human rights violations in Palestine.” EPA and Department of Energy officials wrote an open letter in December.

If the money isn’t dispersed before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, it could disappear. President Trump said he would withdraw unused funds from the Inflation Reduction Act set aside for subsidies. And if his second term is anything like his first, he will likely tear down the EPA and roll back environmental protections.

With the national deregulation agenda, local efforts to protect Americans’ air, water, and climate have become more important. It’s these kinds of grassroots initiatives that EPA’s grantmakers should support, and the agency is at risk if it doesn’t spend the money before it’s too late.

“This will further deprive our community of funding they have been counting on,” said CJA Executive Director KD Chavez. “We need resources for people to be able to do cleanup projects and have air quality monitoring, at least at the local level,” Chavez said, citing examples of how the money could be used.

Funding for EPA’s Creating Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grants program came from the Inflation Reduction Act, which included $369 billion for clean energy and climate action. The 11 grantmakers include universities and nonprofit organizations tasked with contributing a total of $600 million to locally-led environmental projects.

This was intended to make it easier for small, grassroots groups, especially the most polluted in the U.S., which are often communities of color, to access funding. CJA includes approximately 100 organizations across the United States, many of which have roots in communities of color, such as the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program and the Native American Environmental Network.

Specifically, CJA was selected to distribute subgrants to EPA Regions 8 through 10, which encompass most of the western United States. It is also a national grant provider responsible for outreach to tribal communities. CJA said it has already spent $1.6 million from its operating budget to put in place the organizational infrastructure needed to enable community groups to apply for grants. It is expected to receive $50 million in grants and an additional $10 million for technical capabilities.

As of Jan. 3, only $461 million in grantmaking program funds had been disbursed, leaving the remaining funds vulnerable to the incoming Trump administration, according to data on the EPA’s website.

“There are questions we have about screening us as an organization. Why were we singled out as anti-American? Is it because we are led by working class, black, indigenous and people of color communities?” Chavez says:

Over the past year, conservative media and some Republican lawmakers have criticized CJA’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war as “radical,” anti-Semitic and “anti-American.” Even before EPA announced its selection of 11 grantees, CJA issued a statement to President Joe Biden and Congress in October 2023 calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

“I was surprised to learn that $50 million was earmarked for the Climate Justice Alliance, a group that explicitly posts a ‘Free Palestine’ section on its website. The website contains dozens of anti-Semitic and warning images.” Rep. Nancy Mays (R-SC) told former EPA Administrator Michael Regan when testifying before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee last July. (Regan resigned from his position in December.)

CJA issued a ceasefire statement on its website. “We urge Biden and the U.S. Congress to support an immediate end to the violence by publicly calling for a ceasefire in the region. “We stand firmly on the side of peace and support the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, decolonization and the right to life,” the statement said.

“CJA has always had an anti-war and pro-government community at its core,” Chavez said. “We are merely collateral damage in the war on regulation,” they add.

The group has also been criticized for its environmental advocacy. Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Buddy Carter (R-GA) sent a letter to Regan last May, writing that the CJA “is creating a partisan and, in some cases, extreme environment,” including “large-scale organizing of climate alarmist protests.” He was accused of supporting the “movement.” ‘, ‘Fossil fuel project litigation’, etc. The letter similarly chastised other grant providers selected by the EPA, but CJA faced more heat as U.S. protests against the war in Gaza gained momentum.

The letter was released last month by EPA and DOE staff (first reported below): intercept) urges agencies to “cease cooperation with Israel until a permanent ceasefire is achieved” and “commit all designated federal funds to the Climate Justice Alliance.” It says funding is needed for indigenous communities and other groups that have historically been “marginalized” from environmental protections.

According to Chavez, EPA told CJA at a meeting last September that the agency’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) was investigating, without explaining why. The organization said the agency’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights had instructed the group to expect funding by Jan. 6. Although grantmakers were initially expected to be able to start making grants in the summer of 2024.

EPA did not confirm CJA’s claims or respond to CJA’s specific questions. The Verge Regarding the investigation into CJA. “EPA continues to review grants to the Climate Justice Alliance,” said EPA spokesman Nick Conger. The Verge. “EPA continues to work through a rigorous process to obligate funds under the Inflation Reduction Act, including through the Thriving Communities Grants Program.” Conger added that the agency plans to disburse more than 90% of the funds by the end of the Biden administration.

when The Verge When the EPA was asked last year how it selected grant providers for the program, Regan said on a call with reporters that each “demonstrated a very strong governance structure that creates accountability” and that the agency “knows they can operate.” “We chose 11 people,” he said. We provide these resources in a way that makes them absolutely accessible to the communities that need them most.”