science policy
Posted inResearch & Developments

EPA to Cancel Nearly 800 Environmental Justice Grants

by Grace van Deelen

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

by Grace van Deelen

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

Executive Order Seeks to Revive “America’s Beautiful, Clean Coal Industry”

by Emily Dieckman

President Trump signed an executive order to drastically reduce restrictions on domestic coal production on 8 April. It lays out plans to enable coal mining on federal lands, identify and revise existing regulations and policies that seek to transition the country away from coal production, and identify regions where “coal-powered infrastructure” can be used to support artificial intelligence data centers.