EPA must unfreeze $60 million awarded to Minneapolis Foundation, judge rules

The Environmental Protection Agency must restore $180 million in environmental justice funds it awarded to the Minneapolis Foundation and two other nonprofits, a federal judge ruled Tuesday after the groups sued the agency for freezing that money earlier this year.

The Minneapolis Foundation, along with nonprofits in Baltimore and Seattle, were each awarded $60 million from the federal agency in 2023 as part of a larger $3 billion funding program established by Congress for public health and environmental remediation projects across the country.

In May, the EPA informed the three nonprofits that it was terminating those block grants. The groups responded with a lawsuit, accusing the agency of illegally freezing funds appropriated by Congress.

U.S. District Judge Adam B. Abelson, in the District of Maryland, agreed with that argument. In his ruling, the Biden-appointed judge wrote that the EPA’s decision to cancel the funding because environmental justice was no longer an agency priority was arbitrary and exceeded the agency’s authority.

“The President and federal agencies may not ignore statutory mandates or prohibitions merely because of policy disagreement with Congress,” Abelson wrote, citing a previous court decision. “Yet that is precisely what EPA has done here.”

A spokesperson for the EPA said the agency was reviewing the ruling but otherwise declined to comment.

The Inflation Reduction Act dedicated $600 million in block grants under the Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program. Congress created the program to pay for projects that tackle climate and environmental justice issues in neighborhoods historically overburdened by pollution and a lack of financial opportunities.

The Minneapolis Foundation was one of more than a dozen partners around the country chosen by the EPA in 2023 to distribute that funding in the form of community grants across six Midwestern states, including Minnesota, as well as 37 federally recognized tribal nations.

The community grants would pay for projects such as installing air-pollution monitors, conducting asthma screenings and replacing lead pipes in homes, according to past EPA news releases.

Since it began accepting grant applications in December, the Minneapolis Foundation said it has received more than 650 applications from local governments and other community organizations around the Midwest.

Some of the proposed projects include developing new green space in Cincinnati, improving disaster preparedness processes in rural Illinois and cleaning up water contamination in the Great Lakes, the Minneapolis Foundation said. The foundation said it was forced to pause new applications since April, but hopes to resume soon.

“This ruling is a win for local communities that are working to reduce air pollution, protect their drinking water, and address other critical needs, and we look forward to the EPA’s prompt compliance with the court’s order,” R.T. Rybak, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Foundation, said in a statement Wednesday.

The Trump administration has faced multiple lawsuits this year from organizations and state attorneys general over frozen federal funds. Those funds have largely been related to climate and environmental justice grants offered by the EPA.

In March, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a separate lawsuit against the EPA on behalf of the Minnesota Climate Innovation Financial Authority, which had its $25 million federal environmental grant frozen in February. That lawsuit was joined to one filed by the state of Rhode Island.

In April, two federal judges — one from the District of Rhode Island and one from the District of Columbia — ordered the Trump administration to release that money. The EPA appealed those rulings.