{"id":394,"date":"2026-06-12T04:13:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T04:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=394"},"modified":"2026-06-12T04:13:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T04:13:51","slug":"federal-judge-rules-the-epa-unlawfully-ended-justice-block-grants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=394","title":{"rendered":"Federal Judge Rules the EPA Unlawfully Ended Justice Block Grants"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A federal judge on Thursday overturned an Environmental Protection Agency<\/u><\/span> decision under President Donald Trump to shutter a $2.8 billion block grant program.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Threatens D.C. Takeover if Janeese Lewis George Becomes Mayor<\/a><\/p>\n

The EPA\u2019s move to terminate the Biden-era Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program last year was \u201cillegal,\u201d U.S. District Judge Richard Mark Gergel wrote in an .<\/p>\n

In February 2025, the EPA started to unravel<\/u><\/span> the ECJ Program following President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order \u201cUnleashing American Energy\u201d that required agencies to \u201cpause the disbursement\u201d of such funds.<\/p>\n

Not long after, a coalition of nonprofits and cities \u2014 including Baltimore, Nashville and San Diego \u2014 sued the federal government to retain grants they had been awarded under the program.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Gergel, an Obama appointee, sided with the coalition, writing that \u201cthere is no doubt that Defendants\u2019 internal guidance terminating the ECJ Program \u2026 was arbitrary and capricious and unlawful.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

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However, he denied the coalition\u2019s request to compel the EPA to reimplement the ECJ program by taking measures such as rehiring staff, writing, \u201cthe requested relief appears impractical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaintiffs, however, are of course free to pursue their claims for alleged unlawful termination of their grants in the CFC,\u201d Gergel wrote in his ruling, referring to the Court of Federal Claims.<\/p>\n

Republicans\u2019 \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d Act of 2025 ordered the EPA to pull back any remaining money obligated to the program, although most funds had already been awarded.<\/p>\n

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The EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The agency\u2019s decision to stop the $2.8 billion program was \u201carbitrary and capricious and unlawful,\u201d the judge ruled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agencies"],"yoast_head":"\nFederal Judge Rules the EPA Unlawfully Ended Justice Block Grants - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=394\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal Judge Rules the EPA Unlawfully Ended Justice Block Grants - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The agency\u2019s decision to stop the $2.8 billion program was \u201carbitrary and capricious and unlawful,\u201d the judge ruled.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=394\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-12T04:13:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=394#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=394\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Federal Judge Rules the EPA Unlawfully Ended Justice Block Grants\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T04:13:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=394\"},\"wordCount\":284,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=394#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/782b1064135c8781e4d21d9ce67c17f9-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Agencies\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=394#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=394\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=394\",\"name\":\"Federal Judge Rules the EPA Unlawfully Ended Justice Block Grants - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=394#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=394#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/782b1064135c8781e4d21d9ce67c17f9-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T04:13:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=394#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=394\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=394#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/782b1064135c8781e4d21d9ce67c17f9-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/782b1064135c8781e4d21d9ce67c17f9-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"A logo sign outside of the headquarters of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in downtown Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2017. 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