The Trump administration has frozen the Environmental Protection Agency’s grants and contracts, according to multiple reports.
The Washington Post reported that incoming EPA administration officials sent an email Friday to employees of the Office of Acquisition Management to temporarily suspend “all contract and grant awards.”
EPA staff has been told not to discuss the order, the Huffington Post reported.
Myron Ebell, who oversaw the EPA transition for the Trump administration, said the move is not unlike what other administrations have done.
“They’re trying to freeze things to make sure nothing happens they don’t want to have happen, so any regulations going forward, contracts, grants, hires, they want to make sure to look at them first,” Ebell told ProPublica on Monday. “This may be a little wider than some previous administrations, but it’s very similar to what others have done.”
An EPA contracting officer wrote in a message to a storm water management employee saying that the agency is in a “holding pattern,” according to emails obtained by ProPublica.
“Right now we are in a holding pattern. The new EPA administration has asked that all contract and grant awards be temporarily suspended, effective immediately. Until we receive further clarification, this includes task orders and work assignments,” the email said.
The EPA awards $4 billion in funding to government grants and contracts per year, Fox News reported.