"But other federal money for state-administered programs may still be at risk, a former environment secretary warns."
"Federal funding to Pennsylvania for climate-related and other programs will be restored, Gov. Josh Shapiro said, reversing a Trump administration freeze after lawsuits by Pennsylvania and almost two dozen other states.
Shapiro sued the Trump administration Feb. 13 in federal court over the funding freeze, arguing that it had illegally halted or subjected to an unspecified review $2.1 billion in federal funds that had been committed to Pennsylvania after being approved by Congress.
The frozen funds included money for remediating Pennsylvania’s many abandoned mines, for helping the state reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and for reducing energy costs for homeowners. The freeze also prompted separate legal action by 22 other states and the District of Columbia, leading a federal judge in Rhode Island to order the administration to lift its spending ban.
Federal money to Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection that had been frozen includes $369.1 million for a program to reduce climate pollution under the Inflation Reduction Act, the flagship climate law passed by Congress and signed by former President Joe Biden. The agency had also been subject to an unspecified restriction in $264 million of funding for a restoration program for abandoned wells whose original owners had gone out of business or could not be found. Other environmental programs had also been subject to the funding freeze."
Jon Hurdle reports for Inside Climate News February 25, 2025.
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