OKANOGAN – The sweeping executive order signed by President Donald Trump freezing federal grants and loans effective Tue. Jan 28, is being felt in the other Washington and closer to home in Okanogan County.
Among others affected is the Okanogan County Community Action Committee (OCCAC), which learned last month from U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell that it would receive $20 million in EPA climate resiliency funds.
The funds are earmarked to support two microgrid community resilience hubs “to help protect communities in rural Eastern Washington from pollution and severe weather events while expanding climate resiliency programs and education,” according to a Dec. 12 media release from Murray’s office. Per the Murray media release, those hubs are:
Murray (D-WA), serves as Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Cantwell (D-WA) chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The media release said the money is part of nearly $40 million divided between the OCCAC and the Yakama Nation.
When contacted by The Quad City Herald earlier this month, OCCAC Executive Director Rena Shawver said that while the announcement represents the largest single grant her nonprofit has ever received, the actual arrival of funds was still pending—contacted again on Tues. Jan. 28, Shawver said the federal freeze leaves matters in some confusion awaiting further developments.
Later the same day the freeze was to take effect, a D.C. federal judge blocked the President’s order ruling that the courts need more time to consider the fallout of his order. Further actions will undoubtedly be forthcoming in the coming days.
Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media
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