EAST PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) — There are concerns from environmental groups and others about expanding cuts by the Environmental Protection Agency, and what they could mean across San Francisco Bay. This could directly impact the work that keeps our ecosystems climate ready.

As director of the nonprofit Climate Resilient Communities, Violet Saena works to protect East Palo Alto and other shoreline communities in the crosshairs of climate change. But now, she and her colleagues are finding themselves targeted, as the Trump EPA takes aim at millions of dollars in grants for Climate Justice programs, including an air pollution project the group had recently begun organizing for vulnerable members of the community.

“We started planning for this project last year, and in February, when we received the notice that the program has been cut, we immediately went into dark. I didn’t know what is going on and what’s happening,” Saena said.

Program Director Cade Cannedy read us the email that arrived the same day we met.

“The federal award will not accomplish the EPA funding priorities. The objectives of the award are no longer consistent with EPA priorities,” he said.

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It’s a message confirming the nonprofits on a list that originally included 377 organizations who’s funding is now being revoked. In the case of Climate Resilient Communities, that is $500,000.

“You know, they’re not efforts to bring about a coherent political agenda. They’re efforts to punish the perceived enemies of the administration. And, you know, I think that’s a really worrying trend in a lot of respects,” Cannedy said.

Whatever the motivation, the trend could be accelerating. In court papers filed as part of a lawsuit challenging the funding cuts, EPA lawyers revealed plans to cut roughly 400 more grants in the upcoming weeks, nearly doubling the reported total to nearly 800.

“It’s Armageddon for any of us who care deeply about this term ‘environmental justice.’ What it really means is poor people shouldn’t have to live under toxic air or toxic water,” said former congressmember and now San Mateo County Supervisor Jackie Speier.

Speier sponsored a landmark funding bill for San Francisco Bay restoration before she retired from Congress in 2023, providing roughly $50 million a year for five years. That money is spent through the EPA’s San Francisco Bay Program, funding priority projects like restoring wetlands, monitoring pollution and managing nutrients that create issues like algae blooms. But now, some environmental groups are concerned the Trump EPA could attempt to shift those priorities, moving away from strategies that Speier argues are already having a visible impact on the quality of the bay.

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“And the president is attempting to do all this by executive order, which he doesn’t have the ability to do until Congress passes a budget, and that’s what they’re in the process of doing right now. So, it’s important for every American who feels that this is the wrong way to move forward in this country to stand up and be heard,” Speier said.

For Saena, the horizon feels uncertain as other nonprofits wait for word of more potential cuts to EPA grant funding, or perhaps relief, from ongoing lawsuits filed in their behalf. In the meantime, they’re relying on the temporary restraining orders that could be lifted at any moment.

“Just trying to, you know, figure a way forward,” said Saena. “And there are also some other agencies here in the Bay Area that are stepping up to lead the way. So the work continues.”

Environmental groups are also watching the federal budget process closely. Hoping to get a clearer picture when the full budget proposal is released.