E.P.A. Canceled $20 Million Flood Protection Grant to Alaska, Parts of Which Just Flooded

Five months before catastrophic floods swept through the Alaska Native village of Kipnuk on Sunday, tearing many houses off their foundations, the Trump administration canceled a $20 million grant intended to protect the community from such extreme flooding.

The grant from the Environmental Protection Agency was designed to help stabilize the riverbank on which Kipnuk is built, protecting it from the twin threats of erosion and flooding.

But in May, the E.P.A. revoked the grant, which was issued at the end of the Biden administration, saying it was “no longer consistent” with the agency’s priorities. Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, boasted on social media that he was eliminating “wasteful DEI and Environmental Justice grants,” referring to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and programs to help communities facing a disproportionate level of environmental threats.

It is unclear whether the work funded by the grant would have prevented the tragedy on Sunday, which left one person dead and two missing in the neighboring village of Kwigillingok. But the disaster laid bare the area’s vulnerability to flooding and the consequences of the Trump administration’s cuts to environmental programs.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said the flooding underscored the need for funding for underserved communities in the state. Earlier this year, Ms. Murkowski called on the Trump administration to ensure that funding for Alaska Native communities did not get swept up in the president’s opposition to D.E.I. initiatives.

“This administration prioritizes lowering costs — but minimizing the impacts of a disaster like this before it occurs is far cheaper than rebuilding afterward, to say nothing of the toll these events take on people’s lives,” Ms. Murkowski said in a statement. “Whether you call it climate change or ‘once-in-a-generation’ extreme weather, no community in the wealthiest country on earth should lack the basic infrastructure needed to keep its people safe.”

Brigit Hirsch, the E.P.A. press secretary, said in an email that the agency was still providing about $140 million to Alaska, much of which would support infrastructure projects in rural communities. She did not respond to questions about the terminated grant for Kipnuk.

Rayna Paul, the environmental director for Kipnuk, could not be reached for comment amid cellphone service outages in the aftermath of the disaster. But in a court filing in litigation over the funding’s cancellation, Ms. Paul said the money was “essential to prevent environmental and cultural catastrophe.”

Kipnuk, a village of about 970 people along the Bering Sea, is built on permafrost, ground that has been frozen in some cases for hundreds or thousands of years. Climate change is heating the Arctic region more rapidly than the rest of the planet and the permafrost has started to thaw. .

“When you have permafrost it’s like you’re dealing with concrete; you could take an ax to it,” said Tom Ravens, a civil engineering professor at the University of Alaska-Anchorage who focuses on the Arctic. “Once that permafrost thaws, it becomes this gooey mess.”

As a result of melting permafrost, Kipnuk’s key infrastructure is at risk of collapsing into the river whenever it floods after a major storm. Ms. Paul said she was especially worried that abandoned fuel tanks and batteries could leak hazardous waste into the river, potentially contaminating the water and surrounding lands. On Monday, officials were investigating possible fuel spills stemming from the stations that supply local boats and airplanes.

Kipnuk has already flooded at least 30 times between 1979 and 2022, mostly after major storms, according to a report last year from Alaska’s Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys.

“In recent years, we’ve seen stronger storms and records being broken more regularly, which is incredibly concerning,” said Nora Nieminski, a coastal hazards program manager who was an author of the report.

Ms. Nieminski declined to discuss the canceled grant, citing an agency policy of not commenting on federal funding decisions. But, she said, “the fact that Kipnuk was applying for this grant is just proof that they are very much in need of support and in need of funds to relocate homes that are threatened by higher waters.”

The remnants of Typhoon Halong unleashed record-breaking storm surge in Kipnuk over the weekend, Ms. Nieminski added. Emergency management officials rescued at least 51 people in Kipnuk and Kwigillingok on Sunday, while more than 1,000 remained in emergency shelters on Monday.

The E.P.A. grant was intended to fund Kipnuk’s river stabilization project for three years. Planning, design and some construction were supposed to happen between June and September, when the river would have thawed enough for barges to bring supplies to the village.

Amanda Coyne, a spokeswoman for Senator Dan Sullivan, Republican of Alaska, said on Tuesday that he had been in touch with Mr. Zeldin this week, asking that he restore the Kipnuk grant.

“The specific grant related to erosion in Kipnuk likely would not have been implemented in time to prevent this disaster,” Ms. Coyne said. “That said, as these storms become more frequent and more intense, Senator Sullivan believes we need to put long-term protections in place for rural Alaska.”

Zealan Hoover, who served as a senior adviser at the E.P.A. during the Biden administration, accused Mr. Zeldin of using “inflammatory rhetoric” about D.E.I. initiatives that misrepresented efforts in places like Kipnuk.

“For decades, E.P.A. has been a partner to local communities,” Mr. Hoover said. “For the first time under this administration, E.P.A. has taken an aggressively adversarial posture toward the very people and communities that it is intended to protect.”

The Biden administration awarded Kipnuk the funding under the Community Change Grants program, which was created under a 2022 climate law and was intended to benefit disadvantaged areas.

In January, Mr. Trump issued an executive order directing agencies to eliminate all D.E.I. policies, programs and offices. The E.P.A. complied by closing its environmental justice offices, which had helped oversee the Community Change Grants program, and firing or reassigning hundreds of their employees.

Without the federal funding, residents and leaders of Kipnuk would probably not have the resources to pursue the riverbank stabilization project on their own. The village has an average annual income of $12,107 and a poverty rate of more than 26 percent. The homes lack running water, and the only buildings with flushable toilets are the school and the laundromat.