Sacramento Report: How San Diego Is Coping with Trump’s Slash-and-Burn Strategy for Climate Funding

Last year the Environmental Health Coalition received a $20 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to improve air quality, build green spaces and add electric transit to some of San Diego’s most polluted neighborhoods. 

Organizers were excited to get the award, which supplemented state funds for projects in Barrio Logan, National City and other communities exposed to pollution from truck traffic and industrial pollution. 

Everything went as expected on the start date Jan. 6, but by Jan. 28 the payment system for the grant was frozen after President Donald Trump cancelled climate action funding.  

“We are incurring costs, but we are unable to tap into the funds that are contractually obligated to us,” Amy Castañeda, policy co-director for the coalition, told me. “We continue to spend money with no hope that the funds will be reinstated.” 

Attacks on climate action: San Diego organizations are grappling with Trump’s plans to claw back federal climate funding and attack state greenhouse gas reduction laws, in a blitz that leaves local climate goals in doubt. With San Diego cities already falling behind on their targets, however, it might also provide cover for those shortfalls.  

On Jan. 20, Trump signed an order cancelling federal funding for climate programs and compelling production of oil, gas, coal, nuclear and other energy sources.  

Then he signed another this week that takes aim at state climate programs, including California’s cap and trade, the state’s market for reducing greenhouse gases.  

Legal experts say the attempt to kill state climate laws is an overreach that’s likely to fail. California’s cap-and-trade program creates a market that limits overall greenhouse emissions, but lets companies buy and sell carbon credits. The state uses that money to pay for renewable energy, alternative fuel transportation and other projects. 

Carbon credit auctions have brought in $28.3 billion to the state Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund since the program started in 2012, according to the California Air Resources Board. Nicole Capretz, CEO of Climate Action Campaign, said this is Trump’s second stab at ending the program. 

“He already tried to dismantle California’s cap and trade and he was unsuccessful,” in his first term, she told me. “I think California is feeling pretty secure in their cap-and-trade law. It is a massive revenue generator for the state and funds a whole suite of programs.” 

But reversing funding approved during the Biden administration is trickier. Trump’s day one order calls for “terminating the Green New Deal” by halting grants for electric vehicle charging stations and other infrastructure authorized in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 

It’s been an ordeal for the Environmental Health Coalition, which has struggled to access money, plan projects, manage staffing and even communicate with the EPA. 

For a few weeks in February and early March the funding was restored, Castañeda said. Then it shut off again. The EPA project manager for the grant has cancelled every monthly check-in. 

“We’re doing the work but have zero communication and we’re in limbo now,” Castañeda told me. 

The coalition has contacted local lawmakers and is asking state officials to backfill the missing money with funds from Proposition 4, the $10 billion state climate bond measure that passed in November. If the coalition can’t get grant funding restored, they’ll have to look at staff cuts, Castañeda said. 

“We’re considering layoffs, we’re considering furloughs and staff time reductions, because we cannot sustain that big a hit,” she said. 

Local governments and advocacy groups have challenged Trump’s authority to cancel spending Congress authorized, arguing that only Congress – not the president – has the power of the purse. Those cases are making their way through the courts, but in the meantime, Trump is slashing staff and funding at federal agencies. 

“This is more of a bullying tactic than anything else, meant to silence, to intimidate, to chill any new actions on climate,” Capretz said. 

What does this mean for public climate action programs in San Diego? Those include the city’s Climate Action Plan, the county’s Regional Decarbonization Framework, which lays out countywide choices for transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy, and many other municipal climate action plans. 

I called San Diego County Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer, who has been leading the county’s climate action efforts. Her office said she didn’t have any comment; things are moving too fast and she’s waiting to see how it shakes out. 

Environmental leaders say the cuts could throw a monkey wrench in local efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions, which are already behind schedule. The Climate Action Coalition’s annual report card grades the county’s nine biggest cities on their climate progress. It gave mixed reviews last year. The report card urged cities to set annual benchmarks for greenhouse gas reductions and noted that California needs to triple its rate of greenhouse gas cuts to effectively fight climate change. 

San Diego has done a good job promoting renewable energy through community choice programs that offer a greener portfolio of energy sources than utility companies, Capretz said. But it’s behind the curve on electrifying buildings, switching to electric vehicles and cutting the amount that people drive. 

Could the Trump onslaught offer cover for cities to let their climate plans slide? Maybe, Capretz said. 

“It would be an excuse not to take action because of the threat by the federal government, or it could dampen political will,” she said. 

But she thinks California’s vast size and economic clout give us options. 

“California is going to have to invest more into climate solutions and backfill what the federal government will say it won’t fund,” she said. “We should have more ballot measures and redirect more funding so we don’t slow down progress. If you’re the fifth largest economy in the world you can act independently.” 

How are Education Cuts Landing in San Diego? 

Our education reporter Jackob McWhinney and investigative reporter Will Huntsberry attended a San Diego event with Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who insisted that the elimination of the federal Department of Education means cuts to bureaucracy, not school funding.  

Last week, McWhinney wrote that UCSD could lose hundreds of millions of dollars from Trump cuts to higher education. The administration is slashing research grants for clinical trials on HIV and AIDS, and studies on how domestic violence affects pregnant women. That’s on top of the state’s plans to cut 8 percent across the UC system. All told, UC San Diego could lose half a billion dollars, UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla warned. 

For more on the school front, check out this CalMatters story on California’s lawsuit to reclaim hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic education funds that the Trump administration cancelled.  

The Sacramento Report runs every Friday. Do you have tips, ideas or questions? Send them to me at deborah@voiceofsandiego.org.