As farmers and nonprofits across the country continue to wait for payments that have been frozen across a wide spectrum of conservation, local food, and climate grants, the big question many are asking is: Will the pause be temporary, or are the contracts permanently canceled?
So far, officials at the USDA and the EPA are not providing answers.
Last week, both agencies sent out announcements celebrating the cancellation of multiple contracts but failed to provide any details on those cancellations, including which programs the contracts were related to or the organizations that lost funding.
USDA said it ended 78 contracts totaling more than $132 million and that 1,000 more are still under review for termination. In its announcement, it included a list of 10 select examples—such as “Diversity Dialogue Workshops” and “Neighborhood Electric Vehicle Utility Van”—but the titles, most of which were associated with small amounts of spending, didn’t provide much information on the contracts. The agency did not respond to two requests from Civil Eats for the full list of 78 contracts with specific details on the grantees, funding amounts, and project descriptions.
At the EPA, Administrator Lee Zeldin said the agency canceled nine contracts totaling close to $60 million that were related to “wasteful DEI and environmental justice initiatives.” The EPA did not respond to two requests from Civil Eats for the full list of nine contracts with specific details.
