‘A shame’: More EPA grant terminations hit Philly region

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Since last spring, Bartram’s Garden has hired high school students to plant trees and install raised garden beds in Southwest Philadelphia. The program prepares the teens to go into environmental careers while providing the neighborhood with places to grow food and expanding its tree canopy, said Bartram’s Garden Executive Director Maitreyi Roy.

“Southwest Philadelphia is one of the parts of the city that has very little tree cover, so it becomes really hot in the summer,” Roy said. “Cooling down the community with shade trees on neighborhood blocks was part of the intent of this program.”

But on Wednesday, the nonprofit received a letter from the Environmental Protection Agency terminating the grant that paid for the program, Roy said. The organization is now seeking other funding to continue as much of the work as possible. Roy said the nonprofit plans to continue the internships, but may need to scale back the tree plantings and raised bed installations.

“It’s a shame that that work is not going to happen,” she said.

The grant to Bartram’s Garden, awarded during former President Joe Biden’s administration under the EPA’s Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving Program, is among a handful of grants to the Philadelphia region that have already been canceled amid a purge of environmental justice efforts at the EPA under President Donald Trump. A list obtained by Senate Democrats of grants they say are “targeted” for termination indicates more cancellations could be coming.

On Wednesday, a $1 million EPA grant to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to “build long-lasting relationships” and proactively engage communities about environmental issues in advance of a crisis, including by working with community-based organizations to address illegal dumping, was terminated, said Andrew Kreider, an EPA employee in Philly and member of AFGE Local 3631. WHYY News obtained a copy of the termination letter. A DEP spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

Earlier this month, a nearly $500,000 grant to the Clean Air Council to launch a community air monitoring network around the Delaware City Refinery was terminated. The City of Philadelphia lost a $1 million grant for work including developing a flood resilience strategy in Eastwick with residents, creating an environmental justice map and building new community partnerships for planning resilience to extreme heat.

In February, Hunting Park-based nonprofit Esperanza learned that the EPA had canceled its $500,000 grant to distribute cooling kits and A/C units and train neighborhood residents to deal with the impacts of extreme heat. A multi-year $700,000 grant to the Overbrook Environmental Education Center to help smaller organizations navigate the federal grantmaking process was also deactivated last month. 

More Pennsylvania and New Jersey grants are ‘targeted,’ according to Senators’ list

Several terminated grants appeared on the “targeted” grants list released by Senate Democrats Tuesday. Other local awards on the list include:

• Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants, Community Change Grants
  • Energy Coordinating Agency of Philadelphia: $20 million to create a Grays Ferry Community Resilience Hub in South Philadelphia that would serve as a workforce development center, disaster response center and education space, as well as provide home repairs, energy efficiency improvements and electrification to 189 homes in the neighborhood.
  • Pittsburgh Conservation Corps and PowerCorpsPHL: $15.3 million to create infrastructure for turning fallen trees into products like lumber and biochar, while providing paid workforce development training in disadvantaged neighborhoods of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia for careers in land stewardship and wood products.
• Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants: Government-to-Government (EJG2G) Grants
  • New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection: $1 million to partner with community groups to identify overburdened communities that experience extreme heat, monitor temperatures and air quality and develop heat mitigation strategies.

The more than $15 million grant to the Pittsburgh Conservation Corps and PowerCorpsPHL has been frozen for several weeks, said Ilyssa Manspeizer, executive director of Landforce, also known as the Pittsburgh Conservation Corps. In Philly, PowerCorpsPHL is holding off hiring the 19 positions the grant will support over the course of three years, said Executive Director Julia Hillengas.

“Our region is not developing the talent that we’re going to need now, two years from now, five years from now, around wood waste manufacturing, around wood reuse,” Hillengas said.

According to a letter from Philadelphia’s Budget Director Sabrina Maynard to City Council President Kenyatta Johnson in response to budget questions obtained by WHYY News, the city lost access to funds from two other EPA grants starting in February, but has since regained access.

‘Going back on our word’

The EPA declined to answer questions about whether the list of “targeted” grants obtained by the Senate Democrats is authentic, which grants have been terminated in the Philly region and which grants are slated for termination.

“As with any change in Administration, the agency is reviewing its grant funding to ensure it is appropriate use of taxpayer dollars and to understand how those programs align with Administration priorities,” said EPA Associate Administrator for Public Affairs Molly Vaseliou in a written statement.

But Kreider said the EPA already vets grant recipients and checks to ensure they use grant funds for approved activities. Kreider has worked for the EPA for more than 25 years, and said throughout that time he has managed grants for brownfield cleanups, air pollution reduction, education and environmental justice. He said grant recipients must submit documentation including a budget, a work plan and demonstration of work completed and grant funds are distributed as reimbursements.

“They have to demonstrate continued compliance,” Kreider said. “It’s a very involved process.”

Kreider said the EPA’s recent termination of grant agreements is “completely abnormal” for the changes in administration he’s witnessed in his time at the agency.

“No previous administration has gone through and looked at grants that we have already awarded, where the money has already been set aside for these recipients who have been vetted, in most cases through a competitive process, to be able to qualify for those grants,” Kreider said. “We are now going back on our word.”

Correction/clarification: This story has been updated to reflect the current grant award amount for the Pittsburgh Conservation Corps and PowerCorpsPHL.