{"id":1228,"date":"2026-07-27T11:40:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T11:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2026-07-27T11:40:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T11:40:54","slug":"epa-ordered-again-to-release-2-8-billion-in-climate-justice-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228","title":{"rendered":"EPA Ordered\u2014Again\u2014to Release $2.8 Billion in Climate Justice Funds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

This story was originally published by\u00a0<\/em>Inside Climate News\u00a0and\u00a0is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0<\/em>Climate Desk\u00a0collaboration.<\/em><\/p>

Read more The US Pause in Iran War Escalation Probably Won\u2019t Last<\/a><\/p>\n

A South Carolina<\/span> federal judge this week\u00a0ordered the Environmental Protection Agency\u00a0to resume distributing funds designed to address environmental and health challenges in underserved communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In June, US District Judge Richard Gergel\u00a0voided the Trump administration\u2019s\u00a0termination of the $2.8 billion Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program. But the court ruling did not explicitly require the Environmental Protection Agency to resume distributing the block grants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although Gergel ruled that the government\u2019s internal actions terminating the grants were \u201cunlawful,\u201d he declined to order the EPA to immediately restart the program, saying such a move would be \u201cimpractical.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last month,\u00a0\u00a0the EPA and the Southern Environmental Law Center, which filed the lawsuit in partnership with the Public Rights Project, showed that government officials believed that no \u201cspecific agency action is required to comply\u201d with Gergel\u2019s ruling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After reviewing additional court filings from both sides, Gergel confirmed this week that the EPA must resume distributing the grant funds. He rejected the\u00a0Trump administration\u2019s argument\u00a0that his decision \u201crequired no further agency action.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his latest order, Gergel wrote that the Trump administration\u2019s interpretation of the initial ruling relied on an interpretation of the facts the court had already \u201cspecifically rejected.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court made it clear that EPA has to follow the law, not keep making the same arguments the court has already rejected,\u201d Toby Merrill, the litigation director for Public Rights Project, said in an email. \u201cWhen federal agencies ignore court orders, communities pay the price.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

Read more The Year Climate Change Came for the Tour de France<\/a><\/p>\n

Gergel ordered that the agency \u201cmust comply with its statutory obligations to administer the [Environmental and Climate Justice] Program\u201d through the end of September, when the grants were originally scheduled to expire under President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Since the latest order was issued, Kym Meyer, the Southern Environmental Law Center\u2019s litigation director, said her organization \u201chasn\u2019t heard\u201d from the EPA.<\/p>\n

The Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program, created under the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, was designed to help communities address problems like air pollution and extreme heat and bolster local infrastructure,\u00a0according to federal budget documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the start of his current term, President Donald Trump issued executive orders that put the disbursement of Inflation Reduction Act funds on hold and directed agencies to eliminate environmental justice offices and positions, to the maximum extent allowed by law. An EPA official told the court that he decided to terminate the program in February 2025 because of \u201cpolicy reasons,\u201d\u00a0court documents show.<\/p>\n

One $500,000 grant was intended to help CleanAIRE NC, a North Carolina-based nonprofit, install air quality monitors throughout Mecklenburg County, which includes Charlotte. Residents there face health impacts from air pollution because of their proximity to major highways and industrial activity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the EPA has tried to evade the court\u2019s order, families in north Mecklenburg were left waiting for basic transparency about the air they breathe,\u201d said Jeffrey Robbins, the executive director of CleanAIRE NC, in an email. \u201cWe are ready to put these critical air monitoring resources to work in north Mecklenburg the moment the agency complies.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to questions from Inside Climate News<\/em>, a spokesperson for the EPA said in an email that the agency \u201cis reviewing the decision and working to comply with the court\u2019s order.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

Read more Trump\u2019s Push to Build Data Centers for the US Military<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration\u2019s interpretation of a recent court ruling was \u201cunlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nEPA Ordered\u2014Again\u2014to Release $2.8 Billion in Climate Justice Funds - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EPA Ordered\u2014Again\u2014to Release $2.8 Billion in Climate Justice Funds - Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Trump administration\u2019s interpretation of a recent court ruling was \u201cunlawful.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-27T11:40:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ab3cc77e000aa36d75456812a8d46f5b-1024x575.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"575\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=1228#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=1228\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2\"},\"headline\":\"EPA Ordered\u2014Again\u2014to Release $2.8 Billion in Climate Justice Funds\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-27T11:40:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=1228\"},\"wordCount\":609,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=1228#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/f5487b7fe3a9409fa44f98f8cd010b43.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=1228#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=1228\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=1228\",\"name\":\"EPA Ordered\u2014Again\u2014to Release $2.8 Billion in Climate Justice Funds - Moving and Mortgage Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=1228#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=1228#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/f5487b7fe3a9409fa44f98f8cd010b43.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-27T11:40:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=1228#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=1228\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=1228#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/f5487b7fe3a9409fa44f98f8cd010b43.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/f5487b7fe3a9409fa44f98f8cd010b43.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=1228#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EPA Ordered\u2014Again\u2014to Release $2.8 Billion in Climate Justice Funds\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving and Mortgage Hub\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"EPA Ordered\u2014Again\u2014to Release $2.8 Billion in Climate Justice Funds - Moving and Mortgage Hub","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"EPA Ordered\u2014Again\u2014to Release $2.8 Billion in Climate Justice Funds - Moving and Mortgage Hub","og_description":"The Trump administration\u2019s interpretation of a recent court ruling was \u201cunlawful.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228","og_site_name":"Moving and Mortgage Hub","article_published_time":"2026-07-27T11:40:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":575,"url":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ab3cc77e000aa36d75456812a8d46f5b-1024x575.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2"},"headline":"EPA Ordered\u2014Again\u2014to Release $2.8 Billion in Climate Justice Funds","datePublished":"2026-07-27T11:40:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228"},"wordCount":609,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f5487b7fe3a9409fa44f98f8cd010b43.webp","articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228","url":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228","name":"EPA Ordered\u2014Again\u2014to Release $2.8 Billion in Climate Justice Funds - Moving and Mortgage Hub","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f5487b7fe3a9409fa44f98f8cd010b43.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-27T11:40:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f5487b7fe3a9409fa44f98f8cd010b43.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f5487b7fe3a9409fa44f98f8cd010b43.webp","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1228#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"EPA Ordered\u2014Again\u2014to Release $2.8 Billion in Climate Justice Funds"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/","name":"Moving and Mortgage Hub","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}