EPA unfreezes $200M for clean energy projects in Arkansas — for now
Nearly $200 million worth of green energy funding for Arkansas has been unfrozen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after the Trump administration put a halt on the money as part of an ongoing overhaul of federal government spending.
The funding, including $100 million for Central Arkansas economic planning agency Metroplan, and over $93 million for Hope Enterprise Corporation to implement the Solar for All program, was halted by the Trump funding freezes. The two clean energy programs were awarded last year and would build out clean infrastructure across large portions of the state.
The Biden administration’s signature legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, created dozens of programs intended on investing in green energy and reducing carbon emissions.
Both Metroplan and Hope Enterprise Corporation applied for competitive grants and received them while Biden was president. Metroplan’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant will fund green infrastructure in Central Arkansas, Northwest Arkansas and Fort Smith. The Solar for All program intends to provide grants and loans for low-income families and communities to install solar panels to lower their energy costs and reduce carbon emissions.
President Trump ordered the funding freeze after issuing a series of executive orders ensuring federal review of all funding for climate programs. But two federal judges, one in Rhode Island and another in Washington D.C., ordered the EPA to allow the money to go to recipients.
For now, the EPA is complying with the federal ruling.
Representatives of both Metroplan and Hope Enterprise Corporation confirmed to the Arkansas Times that access to the funding is once again available. Casey Covington, the executive director of Metroplan, told the Arkansas Times that he estimated that their account had been open since Feb. 19.
A representative of Hope Enterprise Corporation also confirmed they had access to their funding, though Trump’s new EPA Chief, Lee Zeldin, vowed to rescind the funding for Solar for All in a public relations stunt last week.
The EPA confirmed to Floodlight News that the agency has unfrozen all grant funding from both the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.