Contra Costa County's $19-million EPA grant abruptly canceled by Trump administration

RICHMOND, Calif. - The Trump administration has abruptly canceled more than 100 EPA Community Change grants nationwide, including a $19.1 million grant to Contra Costa County for community projects that were already approved by the EPA in January.

What we know:

The grant awarded to Contra Costa County was slated to fund some eight projects as part of the North Richmond Community Resilience Initiative (NRCRI), to transform the area into a model for climate resilience.

Those projects include: adding shade trees and gardening for students at Verde K-8 school, converting abandoned Las Deltas public housing into livable, green affordable homes, energy-efficient home improvements, e-bike lending, Wildcat Creek trail flood prevention, a North Richmond Urban Tilth farm disaster response center, and watershed tree-trimming and flood mitigation.

Construction crews have already started laying the foundation of the new center at the Urban Tilth Farm at 323 Brookside Drive.

Now, however, with the EPA grant funds frozen, there is concern the building might not be completed.

What they're saying:

"The community resiliency enter essentially is designed to provide four days of care and shelter, HVAC system, solar-powered," Adam Boisvert, the Urban Tilth Education Coordinator said, noting the center would help residents who live next to the Chevron refinery and are often subjected to poor air quality during wildfires, hot weather, and proximity to industrial areas.

"They're going to finish the foundation, and we're going to try and figure out what to do next," Boisvert said.

Contra Costa County officials say the EPA website showed the grant was suspended in March, but Contra Costa County received no notice and requests to the EPA for clarification have remained unanswered.

"We were never officially notified by the EPA that the grant was canceled," Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia said." We only found out it was canceled from Congressman John Garamendi's office."

Now Rep. Garamendi and Rep. Mark DeSaulnier have sent a letter to EPA director Lee Zeldin calling for a reinstatement of the grant so the projects can be completed.

Contra Costa County's coalition of non-profit partners include Urban Tilth, Community Housing Development Corporation (CHDC), The Watershed Project, Richmond LAND, and Rich City Rides.

"There is now a court decision which has basically ruled that these grants and there are 100 of them across the country were illegally canceled," Gioia said.

UC Berkeley Environmental Law Professor Dan Farber says canceling the EPA grants is just one of many changes the Trump administration is making, to reverse decades of environmental regulations and policies.

"It has an enormous practical effect, because there are all kinds of projects going that are just getting halted where they are," Farber said.

On Sunday, EPA director Zeldin announced 280 EPA employees will be laid off as of July 31. The layoffs will be in the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights and regional environmental justice divisions.

Zeldin said the layoffs are "necessary to align our workforce with the agency's current and future needs and to ensure the efficient and effective operation of our programs."

Farber noted that the EPA director has suggested there could be up to 30-40% cuts in EPA staff, which Farber says would make it difficult for the agency to function.

The White House put out an Earth Day statement Tuesday, saying it is reforming the EPA, cutting down on wind farms, opening more federal land to oil, natural gas, and mineral extraction, and making other changes.

Farber says changing laws is difficult and slow, requiring passage through Congress, so the administration has been moving to roll back a wide range of regulations by adding expiration clauses or claiming without going through the courts that some regulations are illegal.  

"They've looked at a large range of regulations, not just those EPA regulations relating to pollution," Farber said. "It's an enormous challenge for the environmental movement, because so many things are being changed, you know, all at the same time."

Community groups say they are hoping Congressional representatives can help secure the EPA grant funding, as Contra Costa County considers whether to file a legal challenge.

Jana Katsuyama is a reporter for KTVU. Email Jana at jana.katsuyama@fox.com. Call her at 510-326-5529. Or follow her on Twitter @JanaKTVU and read her other reports on her bio page.