Environmental nonprofits, local municipalities, and indigenous groups have banded together to file a first-of-its-kind lawsuit seeking to overturn the cancellation of $3 billion in congressionally mandated environmental grants.

Oral arguments were slated to be heard in early August at the U.S. district court for the District of Columbia, the Guardian reported. 

Originally filed in late June, the suit is novel in that the groups are seeking class-action status in an attempt to have an entire grant program reinstated. Traditionally, such cases would be filed by individual plaintiffs seeking to have only their group's funding restored under contract law. 

Under the old strategy, if individual groups prevailed in court, they might have received the money they were owed, but such a finding would do nothing to reinstate the broader program or help other impacted groups. 

The new strategy seeks to have the entire program reinstated, which would benefit all funding recipients, not just individual plaintiffs. 

At issue is the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant program, which was passed by Congress and signed into law as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. 

The program allocated $3 billion in funding to local communities, nonprofits, and indigenous groups. Congress specifically intended that the funds, which were awarded via a competitive application process, would target historically disadvantaged communities for the purpose of mitigating the risks associated with rising temperatures. 

"Congress knew that individual communities would best know what programs and resources they most urgently needed," the lawsuit explained. "So … Congress designated a set of activities — including community-led air monitoring, climate resilience and adaptation projects, and workforce development projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — that would be eligible for grant funding." 

The EPA received roughly 2,700 applications, out of which 350 groups were selected to receive funding, the Guardian reported.  

"On the ground, hundreds of grantees, including Plaintiffs and proposed class members, got to work to improve their communities," the lawsuit said. "They began to administer the grant programs they had committed to, and they received periodic reimbursement from EPA." 

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However, the disbursement of this funding allegedly came to a grinding halt after a January 20 executive order directed federal agencies to stop disbursing all funds allocated under the Inflation Reduction Act, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs have argued that this move was illegal, as it violated separation of powers principles for the executive branch to unilaterally dismantle a congressionally mandated program.

Further, plaintiffs have claimed that the decision was "arbitrary and capricious," a legal term of art that means the agency failed to meet the minimum legal standards for well-reasoned policymaking.

"The administration terminated the entire program simply because they don't like it, without any reasoned decision making or consideration of the impacts," said Ben Grillot, an attorney representing the Southern Environmental Law Center, per the Guardian. "The decision was both arbitrary and capricious, and unconstitutional, and should be overturned." 

The plaintiffs' lawsuit took the argument further, saying that the program's cancellation "represents textbook arbitrary and capricious agency action by failing to engage in reasoned decision-making, ignoring important aspects of the problem — including the reliance interest of hundreds of entities impacted, ignoring potential alternatives, and relying on considerations Congress did not allow."

The potential implications of the lawsuit reach well beyond the $3 billion grant program. If successful, the strategy of bringing class action lawsuits to reinstate cancelled congressional funding programs likely will be adopted by other plaintiffs seeking to restore withheld funding.

Ultimately, the new strategy could prove to be a potent tool in advocates' legal toolkit for fighting back against cancelled funding and other policy decisions that appear to go against congressional mandates.

If you'd like to get involved, you can find ways to use your voice, take local action, and support political candidates who share your values.

Further, regardless of the policies coming out of Washington, taking steps like installing solar panels on your home or driving an EV are still great ways to save money while also reducing planet-heating pollution.  

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