More than $100 million at stake for Wyoming in Trump’s fed grants freeze

Food Bank of Wyoming recently learned it will not receive $535,000 that was promised in a 2023 grant — one of the many casualties of President Donald Trump's elimination and freeze of congressionally approved, Biden-era federal programs.

The elimination of the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement — a grant aimed at feeding the most vulnerable while connecting Wyoming ag producers with local eaters — comes at a time when "the food insecurity need in Wyoming is at its highest level in 10 years," Food Bank of Wyoming Executive Director Jill Stillwagon told Oil City News.

Funding for Wyoming's Home Energy Savings program, which the Wyoming Energy Authority recently established after navigating months of red tape and collecting input from Wyoming residents, is considered "frozen." Administrators have received no indication of whether it will ultimately be axed or allowed to continue, according to state officials. That puts $69 million in hard-fought-for federal funds in limbo when skyrocketing electric bills are an increasing threat to low-income households.

The administration's on-again, off-again whiplash of threats and exceptions to federal programs — further complicated by ongoing court battles and the Elon Musk-led purge of federal employees — throws into question perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars that could go to Wyoming communities and households.

Federal officials have mostly declined to answer questions or provide even basic information, making it hard, if not impossible to know how much money is at stake.

State officials say it's extremely difficult to account for the status of hundreds of grant applications and awards because they are being managed by various state agencies, individual communities and other groups. When WyoFile asked Dru Palmer — manager of Wyoming's State Grants Integration office, which was created to help reel in Biden-era federal dollars — for an accounting or estimate, the inquiry was forwarded to Gov. Mark Gordon's office.

"Right now, a lot is still up in the air in this space," Gordon's Communications Director Michael Pearlman told WyoFile via email. "Our office is getting information program by program, if we receive any updates at all. Each federal agency is issuing its own guidance in terms of what programs can move forward, and which ones are still paused."

'Tip of the iceberg'

The Lander-based Wyoming Outdoor Council has identified more than $100 million that the state, Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes and other entities have applied for under the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that is now either terminated or "frozen," according to the council's Energy and Climate Associate Jonathan Williams. In addition to the Home Energy Savings program, there's a freeze on Solar for All grant money totaling some $30 million, which includes a potential $8 million dedicated to the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Wyoming's Solar for All grant award also dedicated money for workforce training to install solar infrastructure, specifically in low-income and tribal communities.

Some Wyoming ag producers — who are desperate to survive rising electric costs — have invested tens of thousands of dollars in solar installations, Williams added, with expectations to receive rebates via the long-standing Rural Energy for America Program. But those rebates also appear to be in question.

"We think this is the tip of the iceberg," Williams said.

There could be as much as $2 billion at stake in Wyoming, according to a Grist report. But Williams says it's nearly impossible to know for certain.

The council recently hosted a public webinar highlighting its concerns regarding programs "gone dark" as well as the potential benefits if the flow of federal grant dollars is allowed to move forward.

"A lot of these programs would just help residents save money — help communities save money," Williams told dozens of webinar attendees on Thursday, adding that the vast majority of grants are one-time investments. "There's certainly some other co-benefits, as well, worth acknowledging. I'm thinking specifically of human health impacts, the ability of communities and tribes to respond to natural emergencies like wildfire and drought and, certainly, just quality of life."

Though Wyoming's congressional delegation opposed the Biden-era initiatives, they eventually joined state leaders in efforts to train local municipalities and others in grant writing seminars and provided other resources to help Wyoming communities take advantage of the opportunities.

"These aren't abstract government initiatives," the outdoor council's Tribal Engagement Coordinator Big Wind Carpenter said. "They really are helping benefit our communities here on the ground in Wyoming … We're talking about weatherization, energy efficiency upgrades — these are fundamental building blocks to allow residents to access services that they otherwise couldn't afford."

What municipalities are saying

City officials in Cheyenne — where technology and manufacturing have been booming for years, and where city staff is deft at pulling in grant dollars — say there's unanswered questions regarding supposedly settled federal grants as well as those in the pipeline.

"What I'm hearing from our federal partners is, 'Just proceed as you have been until you hear otherwise' and 'Don't do anything that could be used as a reason or an excuse to cancel your grant,'" Cheyenne's Economic Resource Administrator Renee Smith told WyoFile.

In some cases, she said, particularly with grants administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, city and state officials sometimes hear of grant status updates before the regional office is informed. Staff at the U.S. Forest Service, according to Smith, have said they're worried about the ability to process grants due to personnel cuts made by the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.

"We were going to go after a couple of Forest Service grants and, basically, everything just got shut down," Smith said. One of the city's in-the-pipe grants via the U.S. Department of Agriculture Urban and Community Forestry program was paused for a few weeks before federal officials resumed processing it, she said.

The city is still pinning hopes on an EPA grant to conduct a greenhouse-gas inventory which, if one is completed, qualifies Cheyenne and Laramie County to "unlock" many more potential grants for community solar and other renewable energy projects, Smith said. But the Trump administration has indicated a massive budget cut for the agency.

"That's going to have massive, massive repercussions in our state," Smith said, adding that EPA-administered grants help fill a major funding need in Wyoming for municipal water infrastructure.

What worries Smith the most, however, is that federal agencies are not accepting new applications for grant programs.

"I honestly think that we will see the impacts, not this year, but next year," Smith said. "There are no grants for me to apply for right now. There's nothing. So if I'm not writing grants, we're not getting grants next year to do infrastructure projects next year.

"I'm less worried about our existing programs because we have contracts in place," she added.

A contingent of Wyoming community advocates and town officials will sojourn to Washington D.C. this week, according to multiple sources who spoke to WyoFile, to plead for support of federal dollars already promised to Wyoming. Meantime, Gordon and Wyoming's congressional delegation, they say, have been making the case for exceptions under the sweeping cuts.

"They are listening," Smith said.