Funding for several key Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) programs remained on hold on Thursday despite an internal EPA memo issued on Tuesday calling for agency staff to comply with a court ruling to disburse funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act that has been paused since January 20th.
To date, the EPA has not issued information on which of the programs funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have been unfrozen, sparking confusion among award recipients and on Capitol Hill. Tuesday’s memo was issued after nonprofit groups and state agencies said that they still lacked access to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) climate and infrastructure grant awards funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The news that the funding remains blocked comes as U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell with the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island on Thursday said that he stands ready to enforce an order he issued blocking the Trump Administration from freezing federal grants, loans, and other financial assistance, saying states had a “rightful concern” that they were still unable to access money.