The pipeline of Environmental Protection Agency funds to Hawaiʻi has been significantly disrupted.
The Hawaiʻi Green Infrastructure Authority has been locked out of $62 million awarded through the EPA's Solar For All program, which is designed to help low-income households finance rooftop solar.
HGIA was briefly able to access the funds on Friday, but that was short-lived. They confirmed to HPR that their accounts were frozen again as of this week.
Solar For All derives its funding from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion investment made by the Biden administration through the Inflation Reduction Act — a frequent target of the second Trump administration.
On Wednesday, Trump's new EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the agency planned to immediately terminate an agreement with the financial institution Citi, which had been tasked with housing and dispensing $20 billion from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
"EPA needs to re-assume responsibility for all of these funds," Zeldin announced Thursday. "We will review every penny that has gone out the door."
White House ignores federal ruling to release funds
Efforts by the EPA to claw back funds could complicate other state-level efforts, including the work of the State Climate Commission.
The commission shared in a newsletter last Thursday that some of the state's accounts with the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, as well as the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants, were frozen.
The commission said it may have to terminate five positions and is unable to finalize contracting for the statewide climate action plan.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which houses the commission, declined to comment further, as the state is involved in litigation over the federal funding freeze.
In response to a lawsuit brought by the state of Hawaiʻi alongside 21 other states and the District of Columbia, U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to release billions of dollars in federal funds.
But this week, McConnell declared that the White House was not complying with his ruling.
One EPA grant opened days before Trump returned to office. Now it's in limbo.
Another EPA program, the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities grant, opened its application just days before Trump was inaugurated. It's meant to fund projects in communities that have been disproportionately affected by pollutants and environmental degradation.
The Native American-led national organization NDN Collective has been conducting community outreach efforts for the grant. NDN's Climate Justice Initiative Director Davis Price, who is Native Hawaiian and grew up on Oʻahu, said the grant could be a valuable opportunity for Hawaiʻi, particularly for Native Hawaiian organizations engaged in stewardship.
"The folks who come to mind as we develop outreach strategies are ʻāina-based organizations, folks working in forest-reforestation efforts, food system restoration, sacred space restoration, in addition to Native Hawaiian charter schools," Price said.
Hawaiʻi, which is part of the EPA’s Region 9, should be able to vie for a pot of $48 million. But Price said that while applications for the program are technically open, Region 9 administrators can't actually access any of the funds that are intended for grantees.
Price still encourages interested organizations to apply.
"The hope is that the federal government will hold up the end of its deal," he said.
Price said that other regions have had some of their funding thawed, but as of Wednesday, he believed Region 9 administrators were still locked out of their accounts.
