President Trump’s federal funding freeze has halted two environmental improvement projects in Los Angeles County worth $28 million, preventing the planting of urban trees, including some that were to be used in burned out Altadena.
Six nonprofit agencies were awarded a joint grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for greening less-affluent, pollution-burdened communities. The $20 million GREEN (Green, Resilient, Energy Efficient Neighborhoods) San Gabriel Valley Collaborative grant was funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, a bipartisan law adopted by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden.
An $8 million Southern California urban forestry grant also was frozen, explained Wes Reutimann, an organizer of the San Gabriel Valley Collaborative grant and deputy director of Active San Gabriel Valley, a nonprofit that supports environmental projects such as bike lanes and drought-resistant gardens.
The USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Inflation Reduction Act Grant was being administered by TreePeople, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that planted hundreds of trees a year before the funding stopped. The grant went to communities with insufficient tree canopies in the San Gabriel Valley, San Fernando Valley, South Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, he said.
It focused on communities with fewer trees and with asphalt-created heat islands, including El Monte, South El Monte, Baldwin Park, La Puente, Lynwood, Paramount, Rialto, San Fernando, Sylmar and Altadena, all eligible for receiving new trees, Reutimann explained.
TreePeople was moving ahead with planting 3,600 public trees and was also planning on giving away 4,100 fruit trees to the public before losing the funding.
Two fruit tree giveaways, one on Feb. 1 and one set for Thursday, Feb. 13, both in El Monte, had to be canceled for lack of funding, he said.
Trump in late January put in place a sweeping freeze on federal funding, affecting pollution reduction programs, childcare education and HIV prevention research, among other programs.
After dozens of states sued, U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell issued an order unfreezing the money on Jan. 31, saying the broad freezing of funds was “likely unconstitutional.” But on Feb. 10, McConnell said the Trump administration was not following the court’s order.
Also on Feb. 10, the staff of Day One — a nonprofit and lead agency of the $20 million GREEN San Gabriel Valley Collaborative grant — could not get into the federal computer system that authorized the release of grant dollars.
“This morning, the staff of Day One tried to access it and it said: ‘The account is currently suspended.’ ” said Reutimann. “The EPA has not communicated with Day One since the inauguration of the new administration,” he added.
The GREEN project began work Jan. 1 on projects that would plant trees in parkways and school yards, add free rooftop solar and battery storage to 30 households, award 300 vouchers worth $2,000 each for people to buy cargo-style e-bikes, and funnel $3 million to complete a green street project with a bikeway in South El Monte.
When the six agencies who were divvying up the grant money submitted their invoices at the end of January, they could not be reimbursed. Reutimann said three Active SGV employees hired for the project were informed they would be furloughed if money was not restored.
“Some left other jobs to take this job,” he said, leaving these employees and the lengthy program in jeopardy.
“I am trying to remain optimistic the project will move forward,” Reutimann said. “We’ve been disappointed and frustrated due to the fact that we have a contract with the federal government and we thought that contract would be honored.”
Both projects are designed to fight the effects of global climate change. In an email to supporters, Active SGV said the GREEN project — five years in the making — was stalled after the two wildfires in January killed 29 and destroyed more than 16,000 structures, fires that may have been set in motion by fossil fuel-induced climate change.
Trees eat up carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, helping reverse the buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere that causes global warming. And by switching to cargo electric bikes, a person could take a child to school and even find room for groceries, instead of driving a gas-fueled car, Reutimann said.
If the money is restored, the GREEN project plans to help low-income communities swap out turf for native, drought-tolerant plants. It plans to build residential rain gardens at 60 households. With more soil and mulch, a rain garden can soak up storm water, which percolates into the ground water basin and later is used for potable water.
“Later this week we may face an extreme rainfall event. Capturing that rainfall and reducing flooding is something this project is designed to do,” Reutimann said.