A number of universities, nonprofits, philanthropic groups, and professional building organizations have lost substantial amounts of funding, at least for now. The cuts were announced by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin, by directive of Elon Musks Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE). In the slashes to government spending, Zeldin has taken aim at a 2023 decision by the Biden Administration which mandated the EPA allocate $2 billion in grants that would, in turn, support sustainability initiatives, DEI, natural disaster relief, and environmental justice work. Cancelled funding was previously allocated for minority communities that experience high levels of pollution and systemic disinvestment. A $1 million grant that got cancelled was supposed to bolster shoreline resiliency and ensure a just transition in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Red Hook and Sunset Park. Zeldin also pulled funding away from wildfire prevention.Environmental research groups now deprived of federal funding include Vermonts Institute for Sustainable Communities, Louisianas Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Marylands American Center for Life Cycle Assessment, the International Code Council (ICC), Portland Cement Association, American Wood Council, Hemp Building Institute, and others.Impacted higher education institutions include Cornell University, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Washington, Oklahoma State University, University of California at Davis, University of Massachusetts at Lowell, West Virginia University, University of Texas at Austin, and others. Follow the LawCumulatively, Zeldin canceled over 400 grants with the assistance of DOGE, the EPA said, allegedly saving U.S. taxpayers $1.7 billion. (A spreadsheet listing the grants targeted for termination can be accessed here.) This came not long after the Trump administration announced plans to shutter the EPAs Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJ-ECR).Democrats from the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) addressed a letter to Zeldin, dated March 25, expressing opposition, asking how the agency will combat pollution specifically in marginalized communities. The nine Senators who signed the letter include: Sheldon Whitehouse, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley, Ed Markey, Mark Kelly, Alex Padilla, Adam Schiff, and Angela Alsobrooks. The Senate Democrat leaders called Zeldins sweeping cuts illegal.EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin at a recent round table (usepagov/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)The terminations, Democrats said, violate a number of court orders. The Senators accused Zeldin of delivering for the fossil fuel industry. In a joint statement, the nine Democrat Senators said:According to documents obtained exclusively by Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Democratic Staff, including a list produced by your office of roughly 400 grants targeted for termination, you pursued these terminations in knowing violation of the Terms and Conditions clauses of EPAs contracts, which stipulate conditions under which a grant can be terminated. We call on you to follow the law, cease and desist implementation of EO 14151, rescind the grant terminations, and provide information on EPAs decision-making process concerning the grant terminations and wider closure of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. []EPAs grant terminations were made knowing that they violate EPAs own contracts. According to information obtained exclusively by EPW Democratic Staff, termination notices sent by EPA to grantees knowingly and deceptively cited contract language that was not actually in many of the contracts in an effort to shift the burden to grantees to challenge your illegal terminations in the courts.In its letter, the EPW has called upon Zeldinto follow the law, cease and desist implementation of EO 14151, rescind the grant terminations, and provide information on EPAs decision-making process concerning the grant terminations and wider closure of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights.The Democratic Senators likewise demanded that Zeldin respond to their requests for information and documents no later than March 31.