The federal government plans to cut off promised funding for a project to ease flooding in a historic Hampton neighborhood.
Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded $20 million to the city of Hampton and local nonprofit Wetlands Watch for a three-year effort to boost resilience in Aberdeen Gardens.
The money came through Community Change Grants launched through former President Joe Biden’s signature climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act.
Aberdeen Gardens’ grant is among about 400 listed for termination by President Donald Trump’s administration and Elon Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, according to an EPA spreadsheet recently released through a U.S. Senate committee.
“This is not good news,” Wetlands Watch director Mary-Carson Stiff said in an email Tuesday. “We are therefore expecting a termination of the grant.”
According to Stiff, on April 1, the city realized it could not withdraw funds from its account and asked the EPA about the problem.
EPA officials responded in an email that the agency was reviewing its awarded grants to ensure they are “an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars and to understand how those programs align with Administration priorities.”
Grants for several projects across Virginia are also on the chopping block, including improving water quality on the Eastern Shore.
Aberdeen Gardens was built in the 1930s as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s sweeping New Deal legislation to help lift the country out of the Great Depression. It was the first planned community built by and for Black residents, with help from what’s now Hampton University.
The area now faces existential threats from flooding because of outdated stormwater infrastructure paired with the impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels and heavy rainfall.
The city and Wetlands Watch partnership drafted 51 projects that could help, including planting trees and widening century-old pipes to carry more water.
The group relies heavily on the involvement of community members, who shared additional priorities, including restoring Aberdeen Creek.
Margaret Wilson, one of the neighborhood’s first residents, said earlier this year that when she heard the federal grant could be affected, she immediately thought about how some in the community might react to another broken government promise.
“I could hear them say, ‘There it goes again. Every time something is really good, getting ready to happen. We start off doing something good, and something takes it out of the way,’” she said. “My prayer is that it will continue.”
Scott Smith, Hampton’s coastal resilience engineer, previously told WHRO that if the grant were canceled, officials would start pursuing state or other resources to continue the work.
A city spokesperson said in an email Wednesday that the city won't make any decisions until the EPA completes its review of the grants.
"The work to reduce flood risk and build community resilience in Aberdeen Gardens is not over," said Stiff with Wetlands Watch. "We are committed to see these important infrastructure improvements completed and will seek funding from other sources."
Meanwhile, at the national level, Democratic lawmakers say the move to end promised grants would be illegal.
In a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, top Senate Democrats said the terminations violate several court orders and “escalate your attempts to impound Congressionally-appropriated, legally-obligated funds protecting clean air and clean water.”
