The Environmental Protection Agency is cutting about $70 million in funding for Louisiana government agencies and nonprofits, as part of a far-reaching plan to cancel hundreds of federal grants nationwide, according to internal documents released by a U.S. Senate committee.

The records show that grants for air quality monitoring, disaster response and environmental education are being terminated.

The move is part of an effort to curb what the Trump administration has said is excessive federal spending, and to cut support for government programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Earlier this month, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency was canceling hundreds of grants as part of a collaborative effort with the Department of Government Efficiency, led by President Donald Trump’s billionaire advisor Elon Musk.

Many of the Louisiana organizations named in a list of roughly 400 grants are decades-old environmental nonprofits, such as the Louisiana Bucket Brigade and The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. But state agencies, such as the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, and commercial entities were also included.

The feds are seeking to trim around $1 million apiece from the state’s chief environmental agency, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and the Port of New Orleans, according to the records. They also want to cancel a $20 million grant to Dillard University and eliminate another $20 million grant in partnership with the city’s Metro Bike Coalition for a “resilience hub” to support New Orleanians during storms.

“It’s devastating to the organization,” said Chuck Morse, the executive director of Thrive New Orleans, which received $1.5 million to promote environmental education for young people and small business development.

The Democrats who published the list, including senators from Rhode Island, Delaware and California, say that the canceled grants are an illegal violation of EPA contracts, congressional acts, and court orders. The group is calling on Zeldin to reinstate the grants and “desist further unlawful terminations.”

Port of New Orleans, state asthma program named in list

Port of New Orleans officials confirmed that the EPA has notified them about terminating an environmental justice program at the Port. That initiative connects governments with nonprofit groups to address public health and environmental conditions in disproportionately burdened areas, according to the EPA. Some of the eligible activities include developing disaster preparedness plans and mitigating pollution.

According to the internal records, the EPA is targeting a $1 million grant awarded last summer to the state coastal agency titled, “Piloting Insurance Solutions to Increase Equitable Disaster Response in Coastal Louisiana.” CPRA declined to comment.

The records also show a $1 million environmental justice grant to the Louisiana Department of Health on the list. The grant funds indoor air quality monitoring and home assessments with asthma specialists to “improve asthma outcomes in vulnerable Louisiana communities,” according to the government’s spending tracker site, and supports a Center for Disease Control respiratory health tracking program. 

One of the two Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality grants appearing on the list was a $1 million award for the state’s air monitoring project. Agency officials said Thursday they had not received notice of any canceled EPA grants, and that they are analyzing the information.

The terminated EPA grants are not the first instance of environmental impacts to Louisiana since Trump began his second term. Cuts to federal workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the country’s weather agency, affected scientists and researchers focused on coastal issues and hurricanes. And an earlier spending freeze put millions at stake for the New Orleans Office of Resilience and Sustainability, as well as local nonprofits. 

But the city thus far has not seen any cuts to its own EPA grants, a representative for the sustainability office said Thursday. 

‘Zero notice’

For many of the community-based organizations targeted by the EPA, the canceled grants are having an abrupt impact on small nonprofits doing local work.

“There was zero notice,” said Morse of Thrive New Orleans.

Organization officials had talked to their grant officer the day before, he said. In the termination notice, the EPA states that the grant is no longer consistent with the agency’s goals or funding priorities. One of these priorities is ensuring that grants do not conflict with “a policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence.”

Thrive New Orleans is a “bullseye” target for the current administration, Morse said, because of its dual emphasis on racial equity and climate resilience. The $1.5 million grant focused on educating high school students in mostly Black and Brown communities about climate change, while also seeking to address “brain drain,” Morse said, by creating infrastructure for young people to enter climate-related professions.

“It’s climate resilience, but also workforce and small business development,” Morse said.

On the other side of the state, another nonprofit focused on environmental education for disadvantaged areas was also targeted by the EPA cuts.

“With this grant, we were able — or we would have been able — to expand the number of informed, educated civically empowered community members,” said Cynthia Robertson, who runs Micah Six Eight Mission in Calcasieu Parish.

Robertson’s organization began in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura and the midst of the Covid pandemic, providing food, health information and clothing to residents in need.

Last summer, the organization received $150,000 from the EPA, and another grant from the Department of Energy, that focused on environmental and civic outreach in an area with high rates of environmental hazards and low rates of education, Robertson said. Both grants to the organization were canceled this week, effective immediately, according to the termination letters shared with The Times-Picayune.

Like Morse, Robertson believes her organization was targeted because of the Trump administration’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion, or policies that seek to ensure diverse workplaces and inclusive and equitable treatment. She said the diversity ban will have impacts on the community she serves, a predominantly low-income White area that supported Trump.

“If you target poor people of color, you also target poor White people because we all live in the same communities and work in the same kind of jobs,” she said.

While the cuts have left some nonprofits reeling, others on the list will likely be much less impacted. The Pontchartrain Conservancy was also included in the feds’ list, even though the nonprofit had already completed an environmental justice program for a student-led green infrastructure project.

As long as the EPA continues to offer grants — and the agency still has a few in the queue — the nonprofit will continue to apply, executive director Kristi Trail said.

“We will continue on this work in the 16-parish region regardless of the title of the grant program,” she said.