Homes in the Yupik Eskimo Village of Quinhagak on the Yukon Delta in Alaska are threatened by shoreline erosion as climate change makes the planet warmer. More than 22 tribes and nonprofits in the U.S., including Alaska, have had millions of dollars in federal funds for infrastructure projects frozen. Some of those projects were meant to help address the impacts of climate change.
Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
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Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
The Tebughna Foundation threw a big celebration in February after the Environmental Protection Agency awarded the nonprofit $20 million to renovate or replace 20 homes contaminated with asbestos and lead for the Native Village of Tyonek in Alaska. The project, which would also connect the homes to solar panels, aimed to upgrade houses built in the 1960s.
“ We were all just so happy about this grant that’s going to literally change some people’s lives,” says Vide Kroto, the foundation’s executive director.
But within a matter of weeks, the Trump administration froze the funding. When Kroto logged onto the federal payment system on March 7, the status of her grant said “suspended.”
She wasn’t alone.
More than 22 tribes and nonprofits across the country from Alaska to the Midwest, have had around $350 million in federal funding for key infrastructure projects frozen, often without notice. NPR spoke with 11 of them who say some have found out their funds were suspended when they logged onto the federal payment system in early March. Others have had their grants disappear from that system entirely. Tyonek and other villages in Alaska received no notice whatsoever.
Now tribes don’t know if or when they will have funds to address the growing threats of climate change, from thawing permafrost to riverbank erosion to wildfire prevention.
That funding uncertainty, explains Kroto, has thrown projects like renovating homes, “in limbo, but the bills are still coming in.”
The Native Village of Tyonek’s project, along with others across the country, were part of nearly $1.6 billion in community change grants distributed by the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights under the Biden administration. The funds were flowing through the administration’s signature climate policy, the Inflation Reduction Act. But in March, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency would end the “Biden-Harris Administration’s Environmental Justice and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion arms of the agency.” In February, the EPA put nearly 170 employees in the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights on paid administrative leave.
Kroto says she’s been fielding calls from tribal members asking if they are on the list to have their house renovated. “ We have to tell each and every [village member] because of the current administration … all the grants across the board … have been frozen or terminated or suspended,” Kroto says. “We are currently lacking any solutions.” The Biden administration has allocated close to $1.6 billion in Community Change Grants to assist communities in addressing the escalating challenges posed by climate change, ranging from thawing permafrost to riverbank erosion to wildfire prevention.
In Kipnuk, a community where hundreds of people reside, the impact of climate change is becoming increasingly evident. Rayna Paul, the environmental director for the Native Village of Kipnuk, highlights the sinking ground due to thawing permafrost and frequent flooding that inundates the area. This has led to the displacement of fuel tanks, containers, and smaller buildings during floods.
Kipnuk, like many remote villages in Alaska, lacks essential infrastructure such as running water and sewer systems. Residents use honey buckets as toilets, and sewage contamination is a major concern during flooding events, jeopardizing the water supply.
The urgency of addressing these issues in Kipnuk is emphasized by Paul, who stresses the need to complete the riverbank stabilization project within three years to prevent further erosion that threatens homes. The short construction season, limited by the frozen river for half the year, poses logistical challenges in transporting materials to the site.
Efforts are being made by the community, including reaching out to Alaska’s congressional delegation for support. Senator Dan Sullivan’s office is actively advocating for the Kipnuk project, which is currently under review by the EPA.
Former EPA senior official Hoover emphasizes the importance of unlocking funding for projects like the one in Kipnuk to protect vulnerable communities and uphold treaty obligations to native communities. The allocation of Community Change Grants plays a crucial role in safeguarding these communities from environmental threats.
Overall, the grant funding provided by the Biden administration is instrumental in supporting communities like Kipnuk in their efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change and build resilience against future challenges. The sentence is unclear. Can you please provide the sentence you would like me to rewrite?
