‘Super disappointed’: This Idaho city just lost $17 million in federal grants

In recent months, Pocatello’s mayor and City Council members had kept an eye on the status of a $16 million grant the city had been awarded, concerned about its status amid slashes to the federal budget.

The Environmental Protection Agency awarded the grant in the final months of the Biden administration to help “disadvantaged communities tackle environmental and climate justice challenges” through projects to reduce pollution and increase community climate resilience, according to a July news release.

In Pocatello, that would have meant creating sewer infrastructure for newly annexed parts of the city’s South 5th Avenue corridor near the Foothills, helping to increase drinking-water quality and access to fire hydrants, Pocatello City Council Member Hayden Paulsen told the Idaho Statesman.

But amid the Trump administration’s efforts to cut spending, that project — and the award itself — is “no longer consistent with EPA funding priorities,” the agency told city officials this month. On May 2, the agency canceled the grant. It did not provide additional detail about why the grant failed to align with the administration’s priorities, Paulsen said.

The grant would have helped to address concerns that “are truly material, that just help everybody,” Paulsen said. “And now, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Pocatello is not alone: Its grant is one of nearly 400 nationwide that the agency has cut in recent weeks, all with diversity, equity and inclusion-related goals, reported Inside Climate News, a nonprofit newsroom focused on climate change. The Trump administration has argued such grants constitute “favoritism,” Inside Climate News found.

The administration has sought to purge the government of “woke” programs or initiatives, with agencies flagging terms to avoid, such as “social justice” or “environmental quality,” The New York Times reported in March.

State Sen. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, told the Statesman that he didn’t know why the grant was cut but believed it was part of a broader effort from Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Citing the language of the termination the city received from the agency, he noted, “They’re not really telling you why they’re doing it. They’re just telling you their priorities have changed. That, to me, screams DOGE.”

Grants ‘would have been so great’ for Pocatello, official says

Pocatello’s grant would have also allowed for the installation of a Greenway Trail and the addition of drinking fountains and improved storm infrastructure in city parks, according to a May 5 emailed news release from the city.

“This would have been so great for the city,” Paulsen said. “Not anymore.”

The city also lost a separate grant of $1 million from the U.S. Forest Service for urban and community tree pruning and planning. The city had already received and spent about a third of the funds but will not receive the rest, according to its release.

Maria Weeg, a spokesperson for the city of Boise, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether Boise was a recipient of similar grants or could face cuts.

Pocatello officials are “super disappointed” and working to get the city’s grants reinstated, according to the release. Ruchti argued that cutting off the funds was illegal because they had already been appropriated by Congress.

The city’s next steps remain uncertain, Paulsen said. But residents will feel the effects of the loss of the grants. The funding would have provided work for local contractors, and the projects themselves would have tangibly improved residents’ health and quality of life, Ruchti said.

“At first I was frustrated, but now I’m more angry — because it just feels like an indiscriminate use of cutting off this funding,” Ruchti said. “It just feels like it was a poorly thought-out decision, if there was any thought put into it.”