Update: As of Monday evening, state officials say two federal grants for air monitoring awarded to MassDEP have once again been suspended.
Massachusetts gained access to at least some previously frozen federal money Monday after a federal judge ordered the Tump administration to immediately restore all funding.
The sweeping freeze of federal funds is “likely unconstitutional and has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country,” Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. wrote in his order.
But the future of the projects the money will support — many of which protect public health, clean up environmental pollution and tackle climate change — remains unclear as officials grapple with ongoing uncertainty.
The latest move in the on-again, off-again freeze on federal funds came after Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 21 other attorneys general filed a motion in their ongoing lawsuit against the Trump administration last Friday.
For weeks, Massachusetts agencies could not access hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grant money for energy and environmental programs, despite a temporary restraining order issued by McConnell last month.
The freeze created “widespread and significant disruptions of funding and related activities across State agencies,” and “will continue to cause irreparable harm if unabated,” the states argued.
The attorneys general urged the court to enforce last month’s restraining order to get federal funds moving again. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Feb. 21 in Rhode Island.
“The President does not have the authority to override funding allocated by law,” Campbell said in a statement Friday. “We’re fighting to hold him accountable and keep funding available while our case proceeds.”
WBUR has reported that in addition to state agencies, many environmental nonprofits in Massachusetts have been unable to access federal grant money, or are reluctant to begin spending awarded funds due to uncertainty about the future.
According to court documents filed last Friday, two state environmental agencies were unable to access more than $230 million in grant money they were awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This included more than $70 million to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for air pollution monitoring, brownfield cleanup, and upgrades to drinking water systems in small and disadvantaged communities.
In court documents, MassDEP Commissioner Bonnie Heiple said pausing federal funding will harm “public health, public safety and the environment” in the state.
In particular, she flagged communities relying on small public water systems, saying residents will continue to drink polluted water if the state can’t access federal funding for infrastructure upgrades.
Heiple also said her agency has spent some of the money it was awarded and signed contracts with companies to do environmental cleanup work. The projects “cannot continue, and those contracts cannot be paid, without the awarded federal funding,” she wrote in a signed declaration.
The state Department of Energy Resources also said it was unable to access $156 million it won as part of the Biden administration’s Solar For All initiative, and as a result, efforts to roll out the program are stalled. State officials had to pause efforts to hire staff, launch a website and sign contracts with vendors, given the uncertainty around when — and whether — funds will be released, according to court documents.
“This will result in a missed opportunity for energy savings for thousands of homeowners and renters throughout the Commonwealth, who will continue to face high energy burdens without the savings from this program,” DOER Commissioner Elizabeth Mahoney said in a signed declaration.
“Additionally, not moving forward with the implementation of the Massachusetts Solar for All program will delay or prevent the Commonwealth meeting its objectives of delivering good, well paying jobs, including construction, trades, and installation services needed to support the program,” she said.
In January, President Trump signed several sweeping executive actions, including Unleashing American Energy, which paused the rollout of funds for the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. These laws provided more than a trillion dollars in funding, much of it for environmental, climate and energy initiatives.
The Trump administration has said it paused federal grants and other funding awards to ensure they align with the president’s priorities, and to “root out fraud.”
This article was originally published on February 10, 2025.
