DOGE cuts Pittsburgh-area EPA grants
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has scrapped a grant that would have delivered at least $2 million to environmental justice initiatives in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Why it matters: Abrupt cuts to programs like Thriving Communities, launched under President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, could stall community-led air and water quality monitoring, job training and food security programs in areas overburdened by pollution and poverty.
The latest: The EPA notified grantees, including Aliquippa-based RiverWise, of the cuts this month, citing a review of all grants to align with the Trump administration's priorities.
- "Maybe the Biden-Harris Administration shouldn't have forced their radical agenda of wasteful DEI programs and 'environmental justice' preferencing on the EPA's core mission of protecting human health and the environment," the EPA's press office told RiverWise in an email confirmed by Axios.
- The EPA did not respond to Axios' request for comment.
By the numbers: Over a dozen Pittsburgh-area recipients, including New Sun Rising, 412 Food Rescue and Three Rivers Waterkeeper, had a combined $2 million in approved Thriving Communities money.
- Three Rivers Waterkeeper lost a $125,000 grant that would have funded 200 at-home water test kits and glass filter pitchers for residents; the nonprofit will also scale back water quality monitoring along the region's rivers.
- RiverWise lost $113,000 in confirmed funding and had another $100,000 under review.
What they're saying: "This was going to allow us to support things like a regional food hub that trained entrepreneurs, bike and trail planning and implementation, youth education and food security," Daniel Rossi-Keen, executive director of RiverWise, tells Axios.
- "You can call this environmental work, and in one sense it is, but it's really basic economic and cultural community development — the kind that has undeniable benefits to local well-being."
Between the lines: The canceled grants underscore President Trump's sharp break from Biden-era environmental justice efforts. The administration's 2026 budget proposal would cut the EPA's funding by over half, slashing support for research, clean water programs and hazardous waste cleanups.
Case in point: A recent court filing revealed the EPA plans to cancel 781 environmental justice grants, per the Washington Post, and reassign or lay off over 450 EPA staffers working on environmental justice.
- The EPA scrapped its Community Change Grants this year, including a $20 million proposal from RiverWise and New Sun Rising to boost sustainable development with 15 partners, RiverWise's Dani Brown wrote in an article this week.
Friction point: Some Senate Democrats say the EPA is illegally revoking congressionally appropriated environmental justice funding, while the Trump administration calls the programs a waste of taxpayer dollars.
The bottom line: Nonprofit leaders like Rossi-Keen warn that deep federal cuts across arts, education and public programs, led by the Department of Government Efficiency, will have lasting, generational impacts.
- "It's using a chainsaw to do the work of a scalpel," Rossi-Keen said.