‘Never-Before-Seen’ Documents Reveal EPA Canceled 63 Grants Across California

Among the billions of dollars in funding terminated by the U.S. Environmental Protection 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.

The senators, including California’s Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, sent a letter this week to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin demanding that the agency reverse what they called the illegal termination of 400 congressionally authorized grants.

In addition to the letter, the senators released “never-before-seen” internal EPA documents listing the grants targeted for elimination, which would have gone toward projects addressing childhood lead poisoning, air pollution and health risks related to extreme heat and wildfires. Twenty-one of the grants, totaling more than $67 million, were meant for the Bay Area and its organizations, including major cities like San Francisco and San José as well as small climate-based nonprofits in places like East Palo Alto.

The Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works said the EPA has knowingly violated contractual obligations and court orders by terminating the grants.

“They’re trying to overwhelm us because the reality is most families in America are too busy to try to keep up,” Padilla said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The senators want the EPA to reverse all terminations immediately and to stop “making further unlawful terminations.” They would also like the agency to deliver any documents and information related to the “illegal clawbacks” by March 31.

“We call on you to follow the law,” the senators wrote, adding that they want information on the agency’s decision-making process for the grant terminations and closing of its environmental justice offices nationwide, including in San Francisco.

Climate groups across the Bay Area have seen federal grants canceled or frozen over the last few months. Some told KQED they do not know their funding status because agency staffers have been ordered not to communicate with them. Others are blindly billing for their projects with no assurance that they will be reimbursed.

In February, EPA officials terminated $20 billion in climate grants issued by the Biden administration. The money was meant to finance clean energy and environmental projects through a so-called green bank. Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in response.

The $67 million in Bay Area grants targeted by the EPA closely mirrors survey results of Bay Area climate nonprofits, public agencies and tribes by Together Bay Area. The group found that at least $60 million in federal funding for climate projects across the region is at risk, potentially stalling wildfire prevention efforts, trail building and more.

“I really think that’s just the beginning,” said Annie Burke, executive director of Together Bay Area, which represents many affected organizations and agencies. “Every day, I’m getting emails saying there’s another million-dollar project that just got paused, and those million-dollar projects are things like catastrophic wildfire prevention.“

Administration officials have also targeted diversity, equity and inclusion programs, calling them wasteful spending that needs to be cut to align with orders from President Donald Trump. The agency shuttered its environmental justice offices nationwide, including in San Francisco.

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

Zeldin also announced 31 actions meant to assign more authority to the states and relax federal regulations. The administration argued that this would lower the cost of living while supporting the energy and automobile industries.

“We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more,” Zeldin said.

The Environmental Protection Network, made up of over 600 EPA alumni across the country who volunteer their time to protect the integrity of the agency, condemned the rollbacks.

The group analyzed data from the EPA and found that for every million dollars “in favors handed to corporate polluters,” Americans “will suffer” around $6 million in health-related costs. It said the consequences of “these rollbacks will disproportionately harm vulnerable communities, exacerbating existing health inequities and accelerating environmental degradation at a time when climate disasters are becoming more frequent and severe.”

“The EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment, yet these rollbacks do the exact opposite,” said Michelle Roos, executive director of the Environmental Protection Network. “The agency is endangering lives, worsening pollution and undermining decades of progress protecting the air we breathe and the water we drink. Congress, the courts, and the public must stand up to these reckless rollbacks.”