Some state agencies are still receiving promised federal funding for climate initiatives in Maine, although others are not, creating an atmosphere of anxiety and uncertainty about what the future will bring, members of the Maine Climate Council said in a quarterly update meeting Friday.
The Trump administration has put on hold many federal grants awarded to Maine and other states under the Biden administration. That includes millions of dollars promised to improve woodland harvest practices in the state. It also includes staffing cuts and program holds at the Federal Emergency Management Agency that are expected to trickle down to the Maine Emergency Management Agency, risking disaster preparedness in Maine and across the nation, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Maine Climate Council members also expressed concern about tariffs on Canada that could boost energy costs.
“We are in an environment that is less predictable,” said Hannah Pingree, co-chair of the Maine Climate Council. “We are still implementing federal funding programs, and many of the laws passed over the last four to six years remain in effect.”
The Maine Department of Transportation has project agreements to spend four years’ worth of the five-year, $19 million grant from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, said Joyce Taylor, chief engineer in the department. During the first month of the Trump administration, her department did not receive much verbal guidance from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“They are reimbursing us for the few bills that we’ve put in, so I think we will just continue on this path right now, and see what happens,” Taylor said. “I will say that, for those of us in this, one day you might get a memo, and the next day, things change.”
Efficiency Maine Trust was awarded a $10 million federal grant to replace heat pumps in low-income mobile homes, but it has been holding off until it gets confirmation that the funds will be released, said Michael Stoddard, executive director of Efficiency Maine Trust.
However, some $25 million awarded by the Biden administration’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, also known as the “green bank,” has been frozen in Efficiency Maine’s Citibank account. Efficiency Maine plans to use the green bank money to offer loans to homeowners, and later to businesses, to replace their HVAC systems with heat pumps or weatherize their homes, Stoddard said.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zelden has said the EPA would revoke contracts for the still-emerging program, alleging the recipients would use the money in wasteful and fraudulent ways.
With help from the Maine attorney general’s office, Maine has joined three other states in filing complaints with the EPA and asking that the freeze be undone.
“Right now we do have money in that loan program, so we have enough to keep busy for the next year or so, but we won’t be able to go much beyond that if we don’t get this green bank money unfrozen from Citibank,” Stoddard said.
The Maine Emergency Management Agency and its federal counterpart are in a more precarious position, with all of its funded programs on hold now, said Anne Fuchs, director of mitigation, planning and recovery at the state agency.
“We run a lot of different grant programs from preparedness, homeland security, disaster recovery and mitigation,” she said. “All of that is on hold right now. Things are very intense for our FEMA partners, but all that trickles down to the state.”
Fuchs said her agency is tiptoeing in the right direction, but money isn’t flowing into it right now.
“We’re hoping that we’ll see some movement here on all sides, but definitely for disaster recovery applicants,” she said. “And it’s a wait-and-see game. Everything changes every single day, but that’s where we stand right now.”
Lori Valigra reports on the environment for the BDN’s Maine Focus investigative team. Reach her at lvaligra@bangordailynews.com. Support for this reporting is provided by the Unity Foundation, a fund at the Maine Community Foundation and donations by BDN readers.
