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I heard about this from a relative in the Southern US (NOT a Trump supporter).
Trump funding freeze could leave communities on their own as climate threats grow
By Michael Copley
Published February 12, 2025 at 5:30 AM EST
Excerpts: "The funding freeze is being felt across the U.S.
"A #Missouri school district couldn't pay for almost two dozen electric school buses it ordered to replace a fleet of diesel buses. In #SpringfieldMassachusetts, officials didn't know if the city would get money it was promised to #weatherize homes, remove #LeadPaint and #RepairRoads. #Oklahoma regulators warned $100 million in grant funding to plug abandoned #OilAndGas wells was in jeopardy. A #NorthCarolina official said the state risks losing out on more than $100 million in conservation projects that could protect communities from #floods and #wildfires. And in Kersey, Colo., officials had to hope the government would unfreeze money to remove an old grain elevator covered in #asbestos, a cancer-causing substance that's linked to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans every year.
"'We wouldn't be able to move forward without it,' Susie Thielbert, a grant analyst for Kersey, told Colorado Public Radio about the grain-elevator project. 'We are a very small community.'"
[...]
"Parts of West Virginia 'have been left behind' for decades, Crowe says, but money had started flowing in from the Biden-era laws that Trump's now targeting.
"'Their infrastructure is failing,' Crowe says. 'And without the federal government coming in to help support them, they're not going to be able to come up with that money on their own.'
"Similar concerns are rippling through the region, says Dana Kuhnline, senior program director at ReImagine Appalachia, an advocacy group."
Read more:
https://www.southcarolinapublicradio.org/2025-02-12/trump-funding-freeze-could-leave-communities-on-their-own-as-climate-threats-grow
#USPol #FundingFreeze #ClimateChange #Infrastructure #ClimateThreats
Also from the same story...
"Advocates say federal government has a crucial role funding environmental projects
"One group that's been waiting on funding is #CollaborativeEarth. The organization is helping #NativeAmerican tribes in #Oklahoma develop more #sustainable grazing practices and small #farmers in the southeast reforest waterways to prevent #flooding and store carbon pollution.
"'It's strange that the payment of an invoice could make you wonder about the future of a democracy, but that's exactly what it feels like,' says Aaron Hirsh, organization lead at Collaborative Earth.
"Unless payments restart, Hirsh says his group is weeks away from having to lay people off — and potentially having to shut down entirely.
"'I don't know when we're going to get started again on finding these kinds of solutions that can benefit local communities as well as #ecosystems,' Hirsh says. 'This is the sort of funding that can support that kind of innovation. That's what it was supposed to do. And without it, I don't think we find those solutions.'
"Like a lot of organizations, Collaborative Earth doesn't receive grant funding in big upfront payments. Instead, it's compensated by the government for past expenses, like paying workers and buying equipment. In other cases, organizations can withdraw federal funding to cover about a week's worth of expenses. Unless groups have large cash reserves, even a brief interruption in government funding can cause problems.
"'When these projects get frozen and you let all that staff go, you lose momentum, and you might lose the project permanently, because the people can't afford to sit and wait,' says Campaigne of the #SouthernEnvironmentalLawCenter. 'You're between a rock and a hard place of trying to stay committed to the work that you are dedicated to and feeding your family.' "
https://www.southcarolinapublicradio.org/2025-02-12/trump-funding-freeze-could-leave-communities-on-their-own-as-climate-threats-grow
#USPol #FundingFreeze #ClimateChange #Infrastructure #ClimateThreats #Environment