4.15.25 URGENT OPPORTUNITY TO UNFREEZE FUNDS:
A mESSAGE FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION NETWORK 

Hello!

Great News! Yesterday, our allies at Democracy Forward helped to win a powerful preliminary injunction to stop all freezes, halts, or pauses carried out by the following defendant agencies until the case can be evaluated on its merits. This decision should apply to EPA, USDA, DOI, and HUD grants funded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that are currently frozen, but we do not know how long it will last.

Importantly, the decision ORDERS these agencies to take immediate steps to “RESUME the processing, disbursement, and payment of already-awarded funding appropriated under the Inflation Reduction Act or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and to release awarded funds previously withheld or rendered inaccessible.” (Preliminary Injunction, p. 61.)

This current win is potentially HUGE, and we want you to take advantage of it!  

Here’s what you can do RIGHT NOW to leverage this decision to try to reinstate your funding: 

  1. Send this revised email template to your PO and the applicable agency higher-ups tailoring the highlighted sections to your individual circumstances. 

    1. If you need contact information, this document includes email addresses for each of the agencies listed above; you just need to add your specific project officer. 

    2. We recommend that grantees send their email immediately (TODAY if possible) to their project officer as well as to the applicable higher-ups for your agency.  

  2. Continue to be vigilant in tracking harms and add those right now to your email template before sending the note to agency officials.

  3. Be sure to continue checking access to your funding, as the named agencies have to provide a status update to the court by 5 PM EST today. 

  4. Be sure to check in with your attorney (including any pro bono assistance you are receiving through L4GG’s Fund Protection Clinic!) or any in-house counsel if you have any questions or need assistance. If you have not yet applied for L4GG’s pro bono assistance, you can do so here.


If you are already working with an L4GG pro bono attorney on your particular matter, know that we have alerted all of our pro bono attorneys about this case as well. However, we are sharing this update with you NOW given the time-sensitivity of this order. We do not know how long this order will last (could be days or weeks), and we want you to access your funding if at all possible. We will continue to update you if this order changes.

We know that you are being asked to do so much at this moment. We are here to help and want to empower you with the information you need to preserve your rights and to access your legally-obligated funding. Please reach out to FPC@L4GG.org with any questions.

In solidarity,

The EPN and L4GG Teams