Senate environment committee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) says she expects “most” EPA funds that the Trump administration has frozen for review will soon be unfrozen, particularly those under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), though she is warning of “belt tightening” due to the large national debt.

“I’m trying to preach patience here,” she told state environmental commissioners meeting in Arlington, VA. “I think. . . most of this is going to become unfrozen and back to the states,” she said.

Capito added that now that lawmakers have approved a continuing resolution funding the government through the rest of fiscal year 2025, “we’re certainly going to press for that because those are priorities that we put into effect almost a year ago, so we want to move forward with those.”

Capito made her remarks during a March 24 keynote speech at the Environmental Council of States’ (ECOS) Spring meeting, which is centered around the theme “Uniting States & Partners for Environmental Progress.”

Her comments come as states and others continue to battle the Trump administration over actions taken by EPA and other agencies freezing grant funds that Congress had appropriated.

For example, the Trump administration is seeking to reverse a lower court order requiring officials to unfreeze funds that Congress provided in the BIL and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), after Judge John McConnell, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island agreed with New York and other states that the funding freeze “fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government.”

But in a March 21 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit denied a request from the administration to lift the lower court order.

In addition, a federal judge in Washington, DC, last week temporarily blocked EPA’s attempt to three multi-billion-dollar grants under the IRA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GHGRF) program while the court rules on the broader legality of EPA’s push to scuttle the grants, finding that agency officials have not offered sufficient evidence of wrongdoing.

Even as parties sue EPA to unfreeze frozen funds, EPA has launched a broad review of all relevant grant programs, awards and grants that have not yet been awarded to ensure their compliance and consistency with administration policy and priorities, and prevent any possible criminal or other violations.

While Capito, who also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, expects most of those funds to come unfrozen, she also conceded that “we do have a $36 trillion debt -- I don’t think anyone in this room thinks that’s a healthy situation. So, belt tightening, I think is going to happen.”

She noted that while the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is “moving forward clumsily,” it is identifying “inefficiencies” that will need to be addressed. But, she noted, the agency is also “overturning [practices] that aren’t inefficient they’re having to pull back on, so, you know, I just think patience -- if you just kind of ride it out here a little bit and see where it all settles.”

BIL ‘Is Solid’

Capito noted that, in her understanding, money from the BIL “is solid all the way through until September 2026, IRA money not so much,” pointing to current challenges generated by IRA funds.

She said that some of this may be addressed in any kind of reconciliation effort, also identifying areas where lawmakers may be looking for revision.

For example, she offered support for some clean energy tax incentives in the IRA.

“Some people want to get rid of all the tax incentives for renewable and green energy. Personally, I don’t think that’s what we should do. Maybe we should narrow them, shorten them, make them less rich, so to speak, but we’ve had some economic development in our state because of this. And I want whatever is going to create jobs, and if this is the job creator, which I think a lot of these cases are... I want to keep that,” she said.

She also renewed her calls for permitting reform while emphasizing the need to address renewable energy projects in permitting reform as well, appearing to diverge from the Trump administration’s push for primarily fossil and nuclear energy projects.

“Permitting reform is a big issue that we are dealing with at the federal level, but I know it’s a big issue for you all as well. This is not just permitting for energy projects or a pipeline or a . . . small modular nuclear plant in Wyoming or West Virginia,” she said.

“Whatever it is, it can’t just be energy. It’s got to be transportation, it’s got to be energy, it’s got to be broadband--and actually I was just up with my windmill folks, they had to do permitting too. So, all the renewables in the permitting, we don’t have enough transmission. You’re going to hear a lot of talk about it,” she added.

Capito also said says she is “hoping” to win support from her Democratic colleagues for legislation providing Superfund liability relief for so-called passive receivers of PFAS contamination after lawmakers were unable to reach agreement on the issue last year.

“We couldn’t get there last year,” she said, referring to her long-running effort to win support from Democrats. “So we’re going to keep working at that and hoping that we can get some resolution, because that will give you certainty when you're looking at . . . this from a state perspective.”

Capito has long indicated her support for exempting passive receivers, such as water systems and landfills, from Superfund liability for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), though she was unable to reach agreement in the last Congress with Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), the committee’s then-chairman.

But she renewed her case for addressing the issue during the ECOS meeting, noting the need to create exemptions for water systems that passively receive PFAS contamination but did not cause it. “They’re doing the best they can to clean up the mess,” and yet they can be sued over trace levels, she said. -- Sam Hess (shess@iwpnews.com)