A years-in-the-making strategy for how Rhode Island will meet its aggressive decarbonization mandates looked doomed after the release of the infamous White House budget memo in late January.
Like state agencies and nonprofits nationwide, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) was suddenly locked out of $3 million in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant money following the Jan. 27 memo pausing federal aid. That included $600,000 in EPA funding to reimburse the state for a consultant already hired to draft a crucial emissions report mandated by Rhode Island’s 2021 Act on Climate law.
“It was hit or miss whether we could get into the portal,” Elizabeth Stone, an environmental policy analyst for DEM, told members of the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4) Advisory Board during a meeting Wednesday morning. “It was like day to day.”
The temporary funding freeze now appears to be resolved — though it was unclear why access to the portal was restored. Stone confirmed in an interview there were no problems accessing the federal reimbursements for the last week. The hiccup did not affect the state’s ability to pay Energy + Environmental Economics, a national consulting firm with offices in Boston hired to develop the state’s 2025 Climate Action Strategy report.
But the consortium of state agencies tasked with overseeing the implementation of the state’s emissions reduction mandates isn’t taking any chances that the money will remain available.
“Literally, it could change any day,” Stone said, noting that the title of the federal grant program could be a target because it “has the word ‘climate’ in it.”
The climate change council voted earlier this month to set up a contingency plan in case the federal funds again become inaccessible. If needed, the council agreed to repurpose $225,000 of state revenue through a regional carbon cap-and-trade program to keep paying its consultant.
The state funding was originally intended to support separate DEM programs which would have set up a charging system to use zero-emission, battery-operated lawn equipment in state parks and management areas, and to strengthen tracking and reporting of solar, wind and electric vehicle charging infrastructure projects. The council approved the funding to DEM last October as part of its $1.7 million fiscal 2025 budget along with allocations to other state entities for programs that helped to reduce state emissions.
The DEM programs were the logical place from which to repurpose funds — versus those allocated to entities like the Rhode Island Department of Transportation and the University of Rhode Island — because the federal grant reimbursement for the consultant flows through DEM, Stone said. And, unlike some other state agencies, DEM hasn’t started spending its share of funds from the council.
“We didn’t have contracts and vendors, we didn’t have purchase orders out there so it was easy to put those on hold for now,” Stone said, comparing the programs with others where money has already been spent.
Stone acknowledged that $225,000 falls short of the full $600,000 cost for the consultant to complete state and federal reporting requirements. However, a “significant” amount of money has already been received and spent, though she did not know exactly how much.
“It feels like this might be a standing agenda item,” Sheila Dormody, chair of the council’s advisory board, said during the meeting. Dormody also works as chief of policy and resiliency for the city of Providence.
A flurry of federal lawsuits, including several co-filed by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, seek to stop President Donald Trump and his administration from cutting off federal grants and aid. Federal judges in Rhode Island, D.C, and Massachusetts have issued short-term blocks against the Trump administration to ensure federal funding recipients can still access money. However, some state agencies, research institutions and other grant recipients remain unable to tap into critical reimbursement money, including the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources (OER).
OER remains unable to access portions of the $125 million in federal funding awarded for renewable energy and home efficiency rebate programs as of Wednesday, Robert Beadle, an office spokesperson, confirmed in an email.
“OER continues to monitor the situation day-to-day and is working closely with the Governor’s and Attorney General Offices on the ongoing litigation associated with the federal funding freeze,” Beadle said.
A series of virtual and in-person public input sessions seeking feedback on the state’s decarbonization strategy are planned for March and April, though dates have not been set. Under the Act on Climate Law, the climate council has until Dec. 31 to submit the report to Gov. Dan McKee and the General Assembly. The report will be updated every five years until 2050, when the state must achieve zero net emissions.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
