EPA Environmental Justice Grants in 2026: What Was Terminated, and Where Community Funding Comes From Now

If you are looking for an EPA environmental justice grant in 2026, the short answer is that there is none to apply for. EPA terminated its environmental justice grants in spring 2025, Congress rescinded the unused Inflation Reduction Act money that paid for them in July 2025, and EPA has taken its environmental justice program pages offline. This guide sets out what happened to each program, what the courts have said, what to do if your own award was terminated, and where community environmental work can still find money: the EPA programs that remain open, state programs and private foundations. Everything here was checked on September 24, 2026, including a search of every open EPA opportunity on grants.gov.

What happened to EPA environmental justice grants

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 gave EPA about $3 billion for environmental and climate justice grants, on top of the smaller environmental justice programs EPA had run for decades. Most of that money was awarded in 2024. Then, in order:

• February 2025: EPA said environmental justice was no longer an agency priority and began terminating grants.
• May 2025: EPA terminated all 80 Community Change Grants Track I awards and the Thriving Communities Grantmaking agreements, citing that the awards were "no longer consistent with EPA funding priorities." Earthjustice counts about 350 environmental justice grants cancelled in total.
• June 17, 2025: A federal judge in Maryland ruled that EPA unlawfully terminated $180 million held by three regional Thriving Communities grantmakers.
• July 4, 2025: Public Law 119-21 rescinded all unobligated funds in the IRA environmental and climate justice block grant program.
• August 29, 2025: A federal judge in Washington, D.C. declined to order the grants reinstated, holding that disputes over grant agreements belong in the Court of Federal Claims. The plaintiffs appealed on September 16, 2025.
• March 2026: EPA's Office of Inspector General reported that the Community Change Grants had been awarded through a fair and proper process.

EJ program status, September 2026

Each program EPA ran under the environmental justice banner, with its status as of September 24, 2026. EPA's environmental justice, Community Change Grants and Thriving Communities pages now return "page not found," so the grants.gov listing and the court record are the best current sources.

If your EPA award was terminated

Federal courts have so far treated challenges to terminated grant agreements as contract disputes that belong in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, not in district court. Lawyers for Good Government runs a Court of Federal Claims clinic that says it has connected more than 50 terminated grantees with legal help. Keep the award agreement, every amendment, the termination notice and your cost records, because allowable costs incurred before termination are part of any claim. Talk to a lawyer about deadlines. This is general information, not legal advice.

Where community environmental funding comes from now

On September 24, 2026, EPA had exactly four funding opportunities open or forecast on grants.gov. None is an environmental justice program, but three are useful to community and tribal applicants:

• 2026 Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) National Program (EPA-OAR-OTAQ-26-01): opened September 24, 2026, closes January 22, 2027. Funds diesel emission reductions, which often means cleaner air near ports, freight corridors and school bus routes. Read the notice for eligible applicants. epa.gov/dera
• Clean Water Act Section 319 nonpoint source grants for tribes (EPA-OW-OWOW-26-01): for Indian tribes and intertribal consortia, closes November 9, 2026.
• Innovative Water Infrastructure Workforce Development Grant (EPA-OW-OWM-26-03): closes October 15, 2026.
• Brownfields grants: EPA's contaminated-site program runs its own annual competitions. epa.gov/brownfields

Beyond EPA, the realistic sources are state environmental justice programs (paid for with state money), community and regional foundations, and national foundations that fund environmental health. See our foundation grants guide and nonprofit grants overview. Small businesses looking for clean-energy money are in a different stream; see the climate and clean-energy small-business guide, which covers the credits that ended too.

How the three tracks worked (for reference)

If Congress funds environmental justice grants again, a successor program will likely reuse some of this structure. None of these tracks is open now.

Readiness work that pays off with any funder

The preparation federal environmental justice grants demanded is exactly what state programs and foundations look for, so it is not wasted:

• Document community engagement that already exists: meeting notes, listening sessions and surveys that pre-date any proposal.
• Build burden data you control. The federal CEJST and EJScreen tools went offline in early 2025, so keep your own copies of the indicators you cite, drawn from state mapping tools or local monitoring data.
• Put partnerships in writing: memoranda of understanding with named roles and budget shares, not generic letters of support.
• Keep federal registrations current (SAM.gov, a Unique Entity ID, grants.gov) so you can move quickly on DERA, Brownfields or a future program.

For groups new to federal mechanics, our grants.gov walkthrough covers UEI registration, SAM.gov and the Workspace submission flow. For proposal writing, see how to write a grant proposal.

What to do, by organization type

Community-based nonprofits navigating EJ funding also need disciplined fiscal posture (clean audits, defensible indirect-cost rates, quarterly board financial review) to absorb federal money without compliance trouble. Our friends at CeoCult cover the operator-side fiscal discipline that overlaps with nonprofit financial readiness for federal grants.

Frequently asked questions

Bottom line

EPA's environmental justice grants are gone for now: terminated in 2025, with the unused IRA money rescinded, and the one court win so far limited to three regional Thriving Communities grantmakers. Do not spend months preparing a CCG or EJCPS application. Put the same readiness work toward the funders that are open (EPA Brownfields and DERA, tribal Clean Water Act grants, state environmental justice programs and foundations), and keep your federal registrations current in case Congress funds a successor program. For the broader picture, see our nonprofit grants overview, the named foundation grants guide and the climate and clean-energy grants status guide.

1. grants.gov (open and forecast EPA funding opportunities, searched September 24, 2026).
2. Utility Dive, "EPA properly awarded $1.5B of now-terminated grants, inspector general says" (March 2026) (CCG terminations and the OIG finding).
3. K&L Gates, Environmental Justice Update (December 2025) (Public Law 119-21 rescission; D.D.C. ruling and appeal).
4. NADO, Thriving Communities Grantmaking ruling (June 17, 2025 Maryland decision, three regional grantmakers).
5. Earthjustice, on the cancelled environmental justice grants (scale of the cancellations).
6. EPA Brownfields Grant Funding (Assessment, Cleanup and Multipurpose grants).
7. EPA Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) (2026 National Program).