Underserved Communities Again Ask Courts to Restore Justice Grant Funding

"Representatives for the communities filed new litigation over the termination of the $3 billion Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant program."

"Plaintiffs are continuing to press the Trump administration in federal court to restore $3 billion in grant funding for environmental and climate justice programs that would benefit underserved communities, as a Sept. 30 deadline nears.

The plaintiffs in the litigation over the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant program filed a motion late Tuesday asking the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina in Charleston to effectively put on hold the grants’ original expiration date at the end of September. Last week the plaintiffs filed a separate petition in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking the full court to reconsider a previous ruling by a three-judge panel of the court that prevented the disbursement of the funding.

The Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant program, established in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, offered grants for community-driven initiatives such as enhancing natural disaster preparedness, expanding workforce development opportunities, improving air quality, mitigating stormwater and flood damage and combating high energy costs."

Amy Green reports for Inside Climate News September 4, 2026.

Source: Inside Climate News, 09/08/2026