Sponsors (9)
Official title: To repeal section 138 of the Clean Air Act, relating to environmental and climate justice block grants.
Introduced February 6, 2025 by Mike Flood · Last progress February 6, 2025
The bill trades immediate federal spending reductions and a leaner EPA grant portfolio for the elimination of substantial environmental justice grant funding, likely harming vulnerable communities, reducing local project capacity, and shifting costs to state and local actors.
Taxpayers: Federal spending is reduced by rescinding unobligated grant funds from the repealed program, lowering near-term federal outlays.
EPA and federal administrators: The agency's grant portfolio and oversight burden are simplified by removing a statutory program, reducing administrative complexity.
Low-income and minority communities: Lose grant funding that supported local environmental and climate justice projects, likely reducing pollution mitigation, resilience, and worsening local environmental and public health outcomes.
State and local governments and nonprofits: Lose access to up to $2.8 billion in federal grants and $200 million for technical assistance, reducing capacity to plan and implement projects.
Local governments and residents/taxpayers: Short-term federal budgetary savings may come at the cost of reduced long-term investments in community resilience, shifting costs and responsibilities to local budgets and residents.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Repeals the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants provision and rescinds any unobligated balances under it on enactment.
Repeals the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants provision of the Clean Air Act and rescinds any unobligated grant funds authorized under that provision as of the day before the bill becomes law. The provision being repealed had authorized several hundred million to billions of dollars for grants, technical assistance, and administration to support environmental and climate justice activities.