Posted inResearch & Developments

NSF Stops New and Existing Grants

The National Science Foundation (NSF), one of the world’s leading funders of basic research, will “stop awarding all funding actions,” including awarding new grants and disbursing funds for existing grants, according to Nature. 

Staff at NSF were told of the policy change in a 30 April email. The email did not give a reason for the funding freeze and did not say whether or when the agency would resume awarding funding.

Posted inResearch & Developments

EPA to Cancel Nearly 800 Environmental Justice Grants

The EPA plans to cancel 781 grants, almost all focused on environmental justice, according to a court document filed last week.

In Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council v. Department of Agriculture, a coalition of nonprofits is challenging the Trump administration’s freezing of funding from the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In the recent court document, Daniel Coogan, an administrator in the Office of Mission Support for the EPA, stated that the agency completed a grant-by-grant review of its awards to ensure that grants aligned with administration priorities. Those that were not aligned were targeted for termination.

Posted inResearch & Developments

U.S. National Climate Assessment Likely Dead After Contract Canceled

The Trump administration has canceled funding used to coordinate the National Climate Assessment, a major, congressionally mandated U.S. climate change report produced through the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).

The National Climate Assessment is published approximately every four years and is the United States’ broadest assessment of current climate change impacts and climate science.

Posted inResearch & Developments

Trump Administration Moves to Weaken PFAS Rules

President Donald Trump’s EPA is considering a rule that would weaken regulations limiting chemicals harmful to human health in consumer goods, The Guardian reports.

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a group of chemicals added to consumer products, oftentimes for their water- and stain-resistant properties. Exposure to PFAS is known to raise the risk of certain cancers, kidney and liver disease, and complications surrounding reproductive health. The chemicals are omnipresent in everyday life and contaminate drinking water across the United States.