Pa. programs in limbo from federal freeze are all environment or energy projects

Most of the federal funds earmarked for Pennsylvania that are now frozen or restricted by President Donald Trump’s administration were set aside for environmental and energy projects. The money remains inaccessible to state officials despite a federal judge’s order that the funding be restored.

Gov. Josh Shapiro sued the Trump administration on Thursday over what he argued was an unconstitutional freeze of more than $2 billion in funds already approved by Congress to go to Pennsylvania for its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cut utility costs for low-income residents, plug abandoned oil and gas wells that are leaking pollutants into Pennsylvania communities, and create well-paying jobs, among other things.

Nearly $1.3 billion of the frozen federal funds were earmarked to programs managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, according to the Democratic governor’s office. The federal government limited access to roughly $900 million more for an undisclosed review period, and most of that money was also set aside for the state’s environmental protection agency, Shapiro’s office said.

Among the projects stopped by the funding freeze is a nearly $400 million grant-backed initiative intended to support industrial facilities in reducing their carbon emissions. Industry is the highest-emitting sector statewide and accounts for 30% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the DEP. The federal grant supporting the program is the second-largest ever received by Pennsylvania.

The state also cannot access $156 million in earmarked funds for a solar accessibility program that helps low-income homeowners and disadvantaged communities lower their electric bills and reduce carbon emissions.

Some of the restricted initiatives — which are not frozen but sitting in a review period for an unknown amount of time — include a $186 million weatherization program for low-income residents to help them make their homes more energy efficient and save on energy costs. The program usually spends approximately $8,000 per household to make health and safety repairs and assess air leakage from the home, according to state officials.

Many of the funds were approved as part of two of former President Joe Biden’s cornerstone achievements: the Inflation Reduction Act, which included a $370 billion investment to combat climate change, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that set aside hundreds of billions of dollars for energy and environmental projects.

Lee Zeldin, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator, has celebrated the ending of several programs and contracts created by the Biden administration. Zeldin met with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has been granted “read-only” access to the EPA’s contracting system, Politico reported.

“A lot of the funds being frozen are from programs that were appropriated with bipartisan support, no matter who the president was, and the fact that they are being withheld right now is unconscionable,” said Katie Blume, the legislative director for environmental group Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania.

Blocking these programs will raise energy costs and harm the state’s environment, Blume added.

It is not yet clear how much money Pennsylvania has not received because of Trump’s spending freeze.