By Kyla Russell for WISH-TV.
Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the WISH-TV-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service Collaboration

The Environmental Protection Agency is threatening to pull over $20 billion in grant money from clean energy projects, including $117 million in Indiana.

Last year, the Indiana Community Action Association says they were awarded the grant money under the Biden administration. Now, under the Trump administration, they say their unreceived funding is frozen and their account suspended.

“It is really the only funding source that the coalition has,” Program Director at Solar Opportunities Indiana Alison Becker said.

The money was included in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, approved by Congress under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

The fund offered grants to various groups, including the ICAA.

Part of their money was set to be used to fund the Solar for All program, which aims to install lasting solar panels in communities across the state, with a special focus on low income areas and disadvantaged communities.

In Indianapolis, some of the money would have gone to transforming an old landfill on the southeast side into a solar farm, providing an alternative energy source for nearby houses.

“We have a goal to to reach all 92 counties to provide solar opportunities to income qualified individuals, but without the grant money, none of that will be able to proceed,” Becker said.

Putting an end to the funding won’t only put a stop to the work.

Former EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe says the freeze will have several ripple effects, including driving up the price of power.

“We’re going to see businesses think, ‘Hmm. Is it really a good idea for me to invest, and maybe plan to hire more people, when I’m not sure whether the federal government is actually going to deliver on the commitment that it made?’” McCabe said.

Without the funding, several jobs that already exist or would be created would be lost, too.

The new EPA Administrator, Lee Zeldin, says fraud is the reason they plan to pull contracts for the many projects.

But, McCabe said there were multiple safeguards in place to ensure the money was not used in bad faith.

“It would actually be pretty difficult to put in an application that would make it through the multiple levels of expert review, if you weren’t legitimately qualified to do the work that you needed to do,” McCabe said. “This was a true competition.”

McCabe said the changes only disrupt workers and everyday Hoosiers, especially when many of the contracts for projects have already been signed on the dotted line.

“It’s just not good for the country, it’s not good for the people who live in this country,” McCabe said. “It’s not good for businesses in this country. It’s not good for our energy policy.”

“We made a commitment to see it through,” Becker said. “The government made a commitment to us that they were going to fund it. This has the ability to impact, not just the people who received the services, but to transform the market.”

News 8 reached out to the Trump administration’s EPA to ask why the ICAA’s funds specifically have been frozen and what the group could do to unfreeze it.

“EPA worked expeditiously to enable payment accounts for IIJA (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) and IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) grant recipients, so funding is now accessible to all recipients.”


Kyla Russell wrote this article for WISH-TV.


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Indiana now classifies natural gas and propane as clean energy under a new state law.

Gov. Mike Braun signed Senate Bill 178, granting the fuels eligibility for tax credits and other incentives.

Sam Carpenter, executive director of the nonprofit Hoosier Environmental Council, opposed the measure, arguing the fuels significantly contribute to climate pollution.

"Methane is around 38 times more potent as a greenhouse gas," Carpenter pointed out. "What happens is there's a lot of leakage that happens in the drilling, in the extraction, the storage, the transportation, even the burning of methane."

Proponents of the bill argued it supports an "all of the above" approach to reduce energy costs for Hoosiers.

Carpenter cautioned investing in natural gas infrastructure could backfire. He noted the high costs and slow pace of building pipelines and transmission systems. He also emphasized Indiana's energy landscape is already shifting.

"Ninety percent of new generation coming online is renewable," Carpenter stressed. "It's wind, and it's solar, and it's battery storage, and that's really based on price, and it's based on the competitive factor, and it's based on timeliness."

Carpenter suggested the measure will likely have minimal immediate impact unless federal policies change. The bill passed with bipartisan support in the General Assembly.


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Lawmakers in the U.S. House will vote on a bill this week affecting Virginia's ability to create stronger emissions standards for vehicles and trucks.

The bill targets "California emissions standards," policies which call for 100% of cars sold to be electric or emissions-free by 2035. That policy has been partially or fully adopted by Virginia and 16 other states.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to repeal the standards, leading to the legislative effort.

Rob Sargent, program director of Coltura, an energy transition nonprofit, said the federal government should be increasing access to electric vehicles instead of going against policies that promote them.

"EV tax credits and any programs designed to make EVs available to the American people are key," he said, "and can unlock decades of savings for people for what has been a strain on their household finances."

A report by the independent Government Accountability Office stated that Congress does not have the authority to repeal the emissions standards. Supporters of the bill have said banning gas cars is an affront to consumer freedom.

More than a half million Virginians are considered "gas super users," meaning they use significantly more gasoline than the average driver.

Sargent said repealing strong emissions standards would make it harder for states to reduce their carbon footprint.

"If Congress acts to pull the rug out from under those states' ability to take action to make cars cleaner in their state," he said, "then it also will undercut the availability of electric vehicles for consumers that would save them money."

The Senate is considering a similar bill despite opposition from within the Legislature.


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This week, the Trump administration announced what it terms "emergency permitting" for energy projects, streamlining a sometimes yearslong process down to 28 days. Opponents said it will mean time in court.

The U.S. Interior Department plans to alter the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act and National Historic Preservation Act so projects around oil, gas, coal, minerals and more can proceed without the agency approvals the laws require. The department said it's part of President Donald Trump's January "National Energy Emergency" declaration.

Erik Molvar, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project, said there is no such emergency.

"The idea that there's some kind of 'national energy emergency' is a lie that the Trump administration is making up to justify an extralegal approach to approving energy projects and skipping past the environmental safeguards that Congress put in place," Molvar contended.

He argued the move risks historic sites, wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities on Montana's 30 million acres of public land. Molvar added he expects energy projects brought under the new, streamlined permitting will be overturned in court.

The announcement comes just one day after the Interior Department's draft strategic plan for the next four years was leaked. A "big idea" cited in the draft is to, quote, "release federal holdings to allow state and local communities to reduce costs," and in parentheses, "housing." Molvar stressed it would essentially put federal responsibilities in the hands of smaller entities.

"These state and local governments have a distinct tendency -- particularly in conservative parts of the rural West -- to want to maximize industrial development, maximize local communities' abilities to line their own pockets, with really little consideration to the long-term health of the land," Molvar emphasized.

Strategic goals listed in the plan include to "restore American prosperity" and "ensure national security through infrastructure and innovation."


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