From home weatherization to electric vehicle car-sharing, environmental sustainability has long been a favored catchphrase at St. Paul City Hall, where officials are keeping a keen eye on new White House efforts to roll back federally-funded initiatives of that very grain.
President Donald Trump has called for all federal agencies to at least temporarily pause disbursing funds related to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, as well as the Inflation Reduction Act, and his executive order specifically calls for a 90-day review aimed at “terminating the Green New Deal.”
That includes ending federal funding for electric vehicle charging stations and “the electric vehicle mandate.”
What does it mean for St. Paul?
The long-term impact remains unclear, but officials in St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s office say they’re keeping a close eye on federal funding commitments already signed.
In 2022, the city teamed with Minneapolis, Xcel Energy, HourCar and other partners to launch EV Spot, a network of 70 electric vehicle car-charging stations across the two cities, an effort heavily boosted by federal funding.
A second U.S. Department of Energy grant for $1.67 million, awarded in 2023, is helping St. Paul expand the car-charging network to the city’s East Side with 10 additional stations, installed with guidance from four neighborhood district councils. Five locations went under construction this past summer, and the city plans to unveil five more over the next 18 months or so, with the expectation the federal grant will reimburse St. Paul for key expenses.
Neither of the Department of Energy grants for the EV Spot network stemmed directly from the Inflation Reduction Act or the bipartisan Infrastructure law, which could provide some cover for the initiative.
“We’re continuing to assume the federal government is going to follow through on commitments they’ve made and grants that have already been awarded,” said Russ Stark, the mayor’s chief resilience officer. “We will continue to collect funds and we will continue to expect that they will offer reimbursement, as has been the case for several years now.”
Home weatherization trainings halted
Justin Fay, senior lead for public affairs and advocacy with Fresh Energy, a St. Paul-based nonprofit clean energy research and advocacy organization, noted that the Inflation Reduction Act provided Congressionally-approved funding for municipal initiatives that aim to “create jobs and improve the overall quality of life for residents.”
“Federal tax credits for things like improving home insulation and electric panel upgrades available through the (Inflation Reduction Act) are especially useful for residents, homeowners and businesses in cities and regions — like St. Paul — with older building stock,” said Fay, in a written statement issued Friday. “Infrastructure is a core function of government, and the bottom line is that the federal government is reneging on commitments that people and businesses remain lawfully entitled to.”
Trump also revoked a 1994 directive from the Clinton administration — one that’s survived four administrations since that time — that requires federal agencies to issue extra protections from pollution and health hazards to high minority or low-income areas. The cancellation of the environmental justice directive could have far-reaching consequences for transportation and infrastructure investments like highway planning.
In the Twin Cities, some advocates have called for efforts like a highway lid over several blocks of Interstate 94 to reconnect St. Paul’s historically Black Old Rondo community, which was bisected by highway construction in the 1960s. The ReConnect Rondo initiative was recently awarded $2 million from the federal infrastructure bill for planning studies. Others have argued for filling in the highway trench from downtown Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul and reconnecting the street grid.
‘Energy Futures’
For St. Paul, a more immediate impact may be federal “Energy Futures” funding, which provided a $500,000 planning grant last year to help the city’s low-income residents weatherize their homes and turn toward clean energy. The U.S. Department of Energy had planned training sessions with dozens of municipalities that were awarded dollars, but has put those sessions on hold in light of Trump’s executive orders.
“Until we hear otherwise, we’ll assume that they’ll be back on eventually,” Stark said.
In 2019, as Trump signaled he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accords, Carter joined the leadership committee of the Climate Mayors Network, a coalition of nearly 350 U.S. mayors committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions regardless. The nation rejoined the Paris agreement after the election of U.S. President Joe Biden, but with Trump now back in office, the nation is once again leaving the international compact.
The work of the Climate Mayors Network continues.
“The mayor is still an active signatory,” Stark said. “We didn’t have to think about it as much after the country rejoined the Paris accords. … Climate change doesn’t care about the politics. It’s physics and chemistry. The climate continues to change.”