Original article from the Frederick News Post, by Gabrielle Lewis published on March 7, 2025More than $5.5 million in federal grants for Frederick County’s Division of Energy and Environment are in limbo because their funding is in jeopardy, putting several planned projects at risk.
Five of those grants, totaling about $4.5 million, were frozen as of Friday, according to Division Director Shannon Moore.
One environmental justice grant of about $997,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been repeatedly frozen and unfrozen.
The division is one of several entities experiencing interruptions in accessing funding in light of a federal freeze — one that two federal judges have blocked, according to The Associated Press.
The division’s page listing its grants indicates six grants totaling $5,529,043 that are “currently in question due to federal freezes, suspensions, and fiscal and judicial reviews.”
Janet Fogle, the division’s grants manager, said most of these grants are reimbursable funds.
That means the county has to pay for project expenses up front and provide proof of the expenses before the federal government gives it money to pay those expenses back.
The county can cover the costs for a couple of projects it was awarded federal funding for — but several others likely won’t proceed if the division doesn’t get the money.
“One of the things that our agency has historically worked really hard to do is find available federal funding and bring it back to put it to work in our community,” said Annmarie Creamer, the division’s communications manager.
“So when we lose funds like this, it really severs that tie, that connection between the federal funds and how we can make a positive impact using them here locally.”
Several initiatives, including efforts to create more green homes for low-income households, have been put on pause due to financial uncertainty.
Moore said the county was using its grant from the EPA to help low-income households get HVAC replacements and put additional air monitors into communities and schools to figure out any air-quality issues.
The county already has an air-quality monitoring program, and this grant allowed the county to expand that into schools. But the monitors from that expansion aren’t being read now.
The grant came through the EPA’s Environmental Justice Government-to-Government Program, which funds government initiatives to improve environmental and public health impacts in areas disproportionately impacted by environmental harms, according to the EPA’s website.
There were also several sub-awardees of the grant, such as the Asian American Center of Frederick and Mobilize Frederick, who were going to help the county with outreach to low-income households for services like home safety repairs.
Moore said one employee’s salary came from the grant, and the person’s role was converted into an open county position. Half of another employee’s salary was funded by the grant, as well.
Moore said the county just doesn’t have the money to continue initiatives paid for by the EPA grant.
“The loss of that grant is pretty sad,” she said.
A grant of $1.2 million that Congress set aside for a microgrid for the Prospect Center on Himes Avenue is also up in the air.
The microgrid would be the first in the state to support 911 call center and emergency operations and would allow the Prospect Center to run independently of the electric grid in the event of a power outage.
Moore said there also was supposed to be a “community resilience hub,” so vulnerable people, such as individuals who rely on medical equipment like oxygen machines, have a safe place to go.
Moore said the county was about to get the funding award, but it hasn’t been given to the county yet. She said no work had been started yet on the microgrid.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with that one,” she said.
Frederick County was supposed to get two different grants of $80,000 and about $2.2 million, respectively, to install electric vehicle chargers.
Moore said the county won’t move forward with those installations without the federal money.
The county has decided to keep proceeding with a stream restoration project in Point of Rocks and its Green Homes Appliance Rebate Program.
The stream restoration would’ve been funded by a U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency grant of $817,200.
In 2015, the county decided to spend about $1.5 million to create a restoration plan for an unnamed stream in Point of Rocks, which has caused flooding on multiple properties due to its instability. The county started work on the project in 2018.
Moore said part of the project includes removing a “high-hazard dam.” If this dam broke, it could be dangerous for people, buildings and infrastructure downstream — including the MARC Brunswick train station.
“That project is in the middle of construction, and so we are continuing with that project at this time, even though the Maryland Department of Emergency Management has told us that FEMA froze this grant,” she said. “… We feel like it’s in the interest of public safety to continue.”
The appliance rebate program would’ve been funded by a grant of $81,250 from the Department of Energy.
The program helps make Energy Star appliance upgrades more affordable for low- to moderate-income households. Rebates can cover up to 65% of the cost of a new appliance.
“The amount [left] was small enough that we could cover it,” Moore said.
The division has had trouble reaching federal employees about funding. Moore said the employees have insinuated to the division that they’re being told to not speak to grantees.
Creamer said these freezes are slowing the county’s progress toward its goals, but the county is still aiming to achieve them.
“We’ve always been tiny but mighty, and now, we’re just tinier and mightier,” Moore said.