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Senators press nominee on recent EPA grant terminations and pauses; internal legal error cited
Summary
Committee members pressed EPA general counsel nominee Sean Donahue about recent grant terminations and whether grants wrongly cited contractual language that did not apply to many recipients; nominees said they lacked full information and that the agency would follow up.
Senators questioned EPA general counsel nominee Sean Donahue about recent, widely reported terminations and pauses of EPA grants and whether agency staff had relied on an inapplicable contractual clause to end awards.
Members cited an internal agency memo and press reporting saying terminations relied on a clause that applied only to grants issued between Aug. 13, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2024, while nearly half the canceled grants were finalized outside that period. "Have the grants impacted by this significant legal error been restored to the recipients?" asked a senator. Donahue said he had seen media accounts and committee letters but that he had not been on the internal email and was working to obtain an answer.
Jessica Kramer, the Office of Water nominee, told senators that when she returned to a senior advisor role she found state revolving fund and related funding back in implementation, though she learned during the hearing that at least one state had not been receiving money for lead service line replacement and the Office of Water acted promptly when notified. Kramer said she would continue to prioritize getting funds to states and providing technical assistance to small and rural communities.
Senators expressed alarm that some cancellations appeared to have been assembled quickly and asked whether an algorithm or keyword search could have produced an overnight list of candidate terminations. Donahue said he had not seen evidence of that and repeated that if confirmed he would ensure the agency received appropriate legal advice and would review the matter.
