Clawback, recision, impoundment, f***#~!%, call it what you will!

The feds have been clawing back support for environmental justice & community based clean energy projects in so many different ways. This is not a partisan statement, just reporting on a major feature in our landscape this year. Look at the ways they are rescinding and impounding: 

• Rescinding the $7 billion Solar for All grant that is designed to help make solar power accessible to low and moderate-income families as well as terminating $20 billion dollars from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
• EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin attempting to eliminate the popular ENERGY STAR program, even though it costs just $32 million in annual budget while saving Americans more than $40 billion each year!
  • The EPA has quietly walked back this plan after it drew swift backlash from industry groups and Republicans in Congress.
• The Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright has claimed that his termination of over $7.5 billion in funding awards for clean energy projects is “saving taxpayers money.” But these cuts are actually illegal and will raise the rates for electricity that we pay. 

This time it hit home! Community Power has been directly impacted by this (in our opinion) arbitrary, wanton and criminal behavior. 

Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice, right? Well in our mixed metaphor, this has been a real 1-2 punch. Our EPA Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving grant was "terminated" after we'd only executed 21% of the money, AND our Phase Two funding from the DOE Buildings Upgrade Prize, which we won back in 2023 and were owed earlier this year, remains in purgatory to this day.

The EPA funds we were awarded had been authorized by congress, one of many proactive results from the Inflation Reduction Act. Since learning of this funding freeze, beginning in February, then start-stop through May, we have been receiving support from the nonprofit organization Lawyers for Good Government. Their network of pro bono attorneys are trying to win back some of our funding, and the funding of hundreds of other environmental and clean energy organizations like ours. 

Given the situation, this year please dig deep for Give To The Max Day, and help us get a head start on our fundraising for the coming year!

Please, look at this in context. What if we'd received all the funding we were due? We would have had three additional staff on our Good Energy Connections team to bring energy efficiency guidance, lower utility bills and home comfort to a greater number of energy-burdened families in both Minneapolis & Saint Paul. Like we've announced in this space, our program continues, but all the budget re-imagining it's required has stretched things a little thin here at Community Power -- Including our nerves and patience! 

To read the rest of our November 2025 newsletter, please download the PDF here!