Nevada Current
The Environmental Protection Agency has terminated a $20 million grant that would have funded the construction of critical water and energy infrastructure on the Walker River Paiute Tribe reservation in Northern Nevada.
Nevada’s Clean Energy Fund was notified May 1 the EPA terminated a $20 million Community Change Grant awarded to the nonprofit to advance major infrastructure projects that would help the Walker River Paiute Tribe adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The grant is one of more than 780 environmental justice grants terminated by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, according to court documents filed as part of an ongoing lawsuit against the Trump administration.
In the termination notice, the EPA said the objectives of Nevada’s Community Change Grant “are no longer consistent with EPA funding priorities.”
The funds have been frozen since March 7 when the Nevada Clean Energy Fund, which administers the funds, lost access to the EPA’s online grant management portal.
Part of the grant funding was earmarked for the construction of the Tribe’s Water Looping Project, which would have supplied drinking water to more than 100 homes and businesses that currently rely on declining well water.
Between aging pipes, pollutants and regional drought, the Tribe’s existing water infrastructure has been stretched to its limits — compromising both public health and economic development.
If completed, the water infrastructure project would have also allowed the Tribe to build more homes and businesses on the reservation, creating economic development and job opportunities for the rural community.
The Water Looping Project has secured additional grants from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. But without the EPA grant, construction for the project can’t start, putting the project’s other funding sources at risk.
“They’re at a critical juncture where they need to keep moving that forward if they want to meet their construction and operational deadlines that are related to other funds that they’ve secured for that project,” said Kirsten Stasio, the CEO of the Nevada Clean Energy Fund.
Over the past four years, the Walker River Paiute Tribe has already invested nearly $2 million in planning, engineering, and permitting for the water infrastructure project. Before Trump took office, the Tribe had an ambitious plan to complete the project by May 2027.
The EPA grant would have also funded the construction of a planned Nutritional Wellness Building on the Walker River Paiute Tribe reservation, which would have served as a community resilience hub during power outages and natural disasters.
The Walker River Paiute Tribe also planned to use the remaining EPA grant funds to help Tribal members transition away from propane and wood heating by providing home energy retrofits for 150 homes on the reservation.
Nevada’s $20 million Community Change Grant was awarded under the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program, a $2.8 billion financial assistance program created by the Inflation Reduction Act.
The grant was one of hundreds terminated by the agency as part of a widespread effort by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut back on spending and dramatically reshape the federal government.
According to court documents, the EPA plans to terminate a total of 781 grants issued under President Joe Biden, including all grants awarded under the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program.
Most of the programs and grants listed for termination are focused on environmental justice and include projects to help some of the most underinvested communities adapt to the effects of climate change.
Stasio, the CEO of the Nevada Clean Energy Fund, said she fears Nevada’s $20 million Community Change Grant has been caught up in a sweep of anti-DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — efforts at the federal level, despite the grant’s focus on funding critical water and energy infrastructure.
The termination notice sent to the Nevada Clean Energy Fund suggests the grant was canceled after EPA Administrator Zeldin determined the grant conflicted with the agency’s “policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence” under constitutional and statutory law.
The termination of hundreds of EPA grants also comes after the agency announced plans to fire nearly 300 employees working on diversity, equity, and inclusion and environmental justice issues last month.
Stasio said the Nevada Clean Energy Fund is now focused on convincing the federal government Nevada’s EPA Community Change Grant does align with the current federal administration’s priorities of energy independence, job growth, and critical infrastructure development for rural communities.
“We are working with EPA and urging them to reinstate this grant. The grant would support important economic development and energy resilience projects in rural communities in Northern Nevada,” said Stasio.
Democratic lawmakers have condemned the administration’s grant cancellations while lawsuits are ongoing over whether the EPA violated its legal obligations when clawing back funds through freezes and shutouts.
A day after the EPA sent out hundreds of termination letters to grant recipients, Democratic Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts — a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee — condemned the EPA’s plan to cancel nearly 800 congressionally obligated environmental justice grants, adding that Community Change Grants provide “long-overdue resources” to “underinvested frontline and fenceline communities.”
“The administration’s funding freezes have wreaked havoc on communities that are counting on federal investments to weather storms more safely, breathe cleaner air, drink cleaner water, live closer to green space, and save on utility bills,” Markey said.
