(The Center Square) – The Washington state Department of Ecology is seeing nearly $53 million in federal funding being held up as a result of a recent funding freeze.
Last month, a memo from the White House paused federal grants, loans and other financial assistance-programs, until the new administration can review them.
Casey Sixkiller, director of the Washington state Department of Ecology, announced the impacts of the halted funding stemming from the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] grants during a virtual press conference.
Sixkiller described President Donald Trump administration’s memo as political theater with real consequences.
The Washington state Department of Ecology currently has 22 active grants from the EPA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Grants from the latter have been restored, but 13 EPA grants remain frozen.
“That is money that should be flowing into our communities, creating jobs, protecting public health, and improving the environment,” Sixkiller said during the news conference. “Instead, it is being delayed at the expense of the people who need it most.”
According to Sixkiller, the federal funding supports 20 programs that address water quality, air quality, hazardous waste reduction, shoreline restoration, wildlife preservation, and solid waste management.
Out of the $53 million, $35 million has already been awarded and disbursed, but the federal halt now makes that money inaccessible to the Department of Ecology. The remaining $18 million was awarded, but has yet to be dispersed.
Washington relies on federal funding to address environmental needs within the state. According to Sixkiller, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the bipartisan Infrastructure Law – remnants of the President Joe Biden administration – accounts for nearly $180 million in funding for the state, with over $100 million stemming from the EPA.
After Trump’s spending freeze was anounced, Washington joined more than 20 other states in suing the Trump administration over the Office of Management and Budget’s memo to federal agencies directing them to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.”
Trump then rescinded the memo due to the confusion it caused, but not the federal funding freeze itself.
With the U.S. debt at more than $36 trillion, conservatives and others have praised Trump’s scrutiny of federal spending.