Groups appeal to D.C. Circuit in class-action case challenging EPA grant cancellation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 16, 2025

CONTACT
Dan Radmacher, Media Specialist, (276) 289-1018, dan@appvoices.org 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today Appalachian Voices, joined by other nonprofit groups, tribes and local governments, appealed a judge’s decision to dismiss a class-action lawsuit challenging the termination of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant programs. The appeal brings the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. 

The plaintiffs contend that the decision by the administration to cancel an entire program enacted and funded by Congress raises important questions under separation of powers and the Administrative Procedures Act that belong in federal court. The Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program was created by the Inflation Reduction Act under Clean Air Act Section 138 to award $3 billion in grants to hundreds of community-based nonprofits, tribes, local governments and higher education institutions to tackle the climate crisis and environmental harms at the local level.

Grants under the program support natural disaster preparedness, expand workforce development opportunities, improve and monitor air quality, mitigate stormwater and flood damage, combat high energy costs, and improve community members’ ability to participate in decision-making and permitting processes that impact their health and environment.

“This case is not only about the need to continue the critically important work that was supported by these grants across the nation,” said Appalachian Voices Executive Director Tom Cormons. “It is about defending basic tenets of the rule of law and our Constitution that are necessary for a healthy democracy to function.” 

In June, the Southern Environmental Law Center, Earthjustice, Public Rights Project and Lawyers for Good Government filed the challenge, Appalachian Voices et al v. Environmental Protection Agency, on behalf of Environmental and Climate Justice Block recipients nationwide.

The suit seeks to restore $3 billion under the Inflation Reduction Act in grants to hundreds of community-based nonprofits, tribes, local governments and higher education institutions to tackle the climate crisis and environmental harms at the local level.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon granted the government’s motion to dismiss the case, ruling the case should be treated like a contract dispute and should be heard by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. 

Appalachian Voices received an Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving Grant in 2023 to partner with five localities in rural Southwest Virginia to develop plans for sustainable infrastructure supporting environmental and community health and well-being, extreme weather resilience, and local economies. 

The grant kicked off and provided key support for the Community Strong initiative, during which nearly 300 local residents helped create and prioritize local project plans across 15 community meetings. Appalachian Voices and these five communities are striving to continue this work without the awarded funds, but the EPA’s termination of the grant in February is a significant setback.

For example, in Clinchco, Virginia, the funding was to be used for  planning and designing the development of frequently flooded town land into a stormwater-mitigating recreational area. Clinchco community members, the local government and Appalachian Voices were developing plans to transform a vacant plot of land into a stormwater-retaining parcel that serves as a centralized community recreational space when the weather is good. Days after the EPA terminated Appalachian Voices’ grant, Clinchco flooded again.