ICYMI: One Month of Chaos: Trump’s Funding Cuts are Hurting Georgia Families and Raising Costs

Atlanta, GA – Georgia communities are still reeling from the impacts of Donald Trump’s federal funding cuts. Trump’s actions have sowed chaos and confusion that is threatening jobs, raising costs, and threatening our energy grid for Georgians in every corner of the state. 

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Trump’s actions power down some local energy projects in Georgia

Amid the whirlwind of executive actions and lawsuits over federal funding in the weeks since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, some Georgia counties, cities and nonprofits have been unable to access millions of federal dollars they were counting on for energy projects.

[…] The Lucky Shoals Community Association in the Norcross area, founded by Democratic state Rep. Marvin Lim, was awarded a $20 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Community Change grant in December for various environmental projects, including construction of a park and facility that will provide clean energy workforce training.

The nonprofit lost access to the funding two weeks ago, then regained it one weekend and managed to pay some expenses before it froze again on Feb. 10, Lim said. Now, the organization can’t move forward with a land purchase for the main part of the project, he said.

[…] Athens-Clarke County in November also applied to the Community Change program for a $20 million solar array and battery storage facility at the public safety campus. Local officials expected federal approval but have not received confirmation, Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz said.

“The clear chaos underway in this administration in Washington, D.C., has not been healthy for America’s cities,” said Girtz, who holds a nonpartisan office but is progressive.

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer: How Trump’s federal freeze is impacting Georgia’s solar economy, low-income residents

An order last week from President Donald Trump’s administration to pause federal funding has left clean energy grant recipients in suspense of future work, as access to their money is frozen. While the pause was rescinded, thousands of grants, including grants from the Environmental Protection Agency that support environmental justice and clean energy initiatives, are still inaccessible. Experts say withholding of the grants is unconstitutional and lawsuits are challenging the act.

But while those battles are fought in D.C., the workforce and people dependent on those grants are feeling the funding freeze. The ripple effects are starting to bottleneck across Georgia’s solar and environmental justice workforce, impacting tens of thousands of Georgians and hampering efforts for residential solar to take off in the Peach State. One of the climate and clean energy grants is the $7 billion dollar Solar For All EPA grant, designed to bring solar programs to low-income and disadvantaged communities across America.

[…] Around 80 homes and seven organizations have reaped the benefits of the Georgia BRIGHT pilot program since September 2023. One Columbus couple participated in the pilot in March, with rave reviews about how seamless the process was and how much money they will likely save from this program. The pilot had different requirements than the Solar For All grant: homeowners who owned their home, made less than $150,000 a year, and were interested in rooftop solar would be eligible for the low (and in some case 0%) interest solar lease program.

[…] Trinity Episcopal Church in Statesboro was another pilot recipient, and the church completed its installation in July 2024. Rev. Father Charles Todd told Southern Alliance for Clean Energy the project will provide half the church’s energy needs, significantly reduce the carbon footprint and save $62,000 in 25 years.

[…] In addition to lowering bills and creating clean energy for Georgians, the workforce to build out tens of thousands of solar projects will be greatly impacted, one expert believes.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Trump funding freeze puts $1 billion investment in Georgia power grid on ice

At least $1 billion in projects intended to modernize Georgia’s power grid remain in limbo as President Donald Trump seeks to halt congressionally approved funding for infrastructure and climate projects, according to business, state, nonprofit and education officials.

The money, spread across several projects and grants, was to go toward upgrading existing high-voltage transmission lines with modern conductors and other “grid-enhancing technologies”; adding new lines; and building more solar arrays and battery storage to bring more local generation online and help reduce the frequency and impact of power outages.

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