Plaintiffs Ask Court to Freeze $3B Justice Grant Deadline — SkimNews
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- Plaintiffs filed a motion Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina asking the court to toll the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant program's Sept. 30 expiration pending appeal.
- The $3 billion program, created under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, funded community projects for disaster preparedness, workforce development, air quality, stormwater mitigation, and energy costs in underserved areas.
- The Trump administration canceled the program in 2025 as part of a broader dismantling of environmental and equity initiatives, prompting litigation from grant recipients forced to halt urgently needed work.
- A July federal ruling ordered the EPA to resume administering the program through September, but a three-judge 4th Circuit panel (Allison Rushing, Toby Heytens, Paul Niemeyer) voted 2-1 to grant the government a stay pending appeal.
- Plaintiffs also petitioned the full 18-judge 4th Circuit for rehearing en banc, arguing the government 'never meaningfully claimed their program termination was lawful' and that the stay misread the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
- A Florida community lost millions meant to address water pollution and drinking water problems rooted in a legacy of segregation and systemic disinvestment.
- Kym Meyer, litigation director at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said 'it's now clear that what the government did was illegal' and warned the ordeal could discourage future federal grant applicants.
Why it matters: The Sept. 30 deadline creates a 'running out the clock' risk: plaintiffs argue the government could effectively win by letting funding expire even if its termination was already ruled unlawful. Communities have been without $3 billion for segregation-era pollution fixes and disaster preparedness for 18 months and may be discouraged from seeking future federal grants.
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