The Environmental Protection Agency must administer the Biden-era Environmental and Climate Justice Grants it illegally canceled last year, a federal judge ordered Wednesday.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Richard Mark Gergel found that the agency’s DOGE-driven cuts to the $2.8 billion block grant program were “arbitrary and capricious and unlawful” and voided the internal guidance that ordered the terminations.
A coalition of cities and nonprofits brought the lawsuit against the EPA after it axed funding to their programs early last year. Following Gergel’s ruling last month, the coalition argued in court that the order compels the agency to restore said funds.