Federal community and forestry grants for city of Pocatello have been canceled. Officials are disputing it
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POCATELLO – Pocatello will formally dispute the termination of two federal grants worth over $17 million.
The city formally received notice that a “Community Change” grant for $16.4 million from the Environmental Protection Agency and an “Urban Community Forestry” grant for $1 million from the U.S. Forest Service was canceled, according to a news release. The city is in the process of formally disputing the termination of both, as allowed under federal grant regulations.
“These grants were key to advancing Pocatello’s infrastructure modernization goals to meet our community’s needs,” Mayor Brian Blad says in the release. “We are pursuing all available avenues to reinstate this funding and move these important projects forward.”
The news release does not state when the city received the termination notices, and it couldn’t reach a city official that could clarify.
An EPA representative responded by email when contacted by EastIdahoNews.com, asking why the Community Change grant was canceled.
“As with any change in Administration, the agency is reviewing each grant program to ensure it is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars and to understand how those programs align with Administration priorities. The agency determined that the application no longer supports Administration priorities and the award has been canceled,” the representative said.
Pocatello isn’t the only city that has had funding from the EPA terminated. According to a March release from the EPA, it has canceled over 400 grants in its fourth round of spending cuts with the assistance of the Department of Government Efficiency.
For City Councilor Hayden Paulsen, it’s clear why the grants were canceled.
“What’s been going on over the last three months? What priorities have changed? I think it’s specifically because of the current administration and DOGE,” Paulsen said. “This grant was specifically for disadvantaged communities. So apparently, that’s woke. God forbid we protect our disadvantaged communities.”
“Unfortunately, (the EPA grant) has been canceled as part of the budget cuts that are going on in Washington, DC.,” city councilor and District 28 representative adds.
Cheatum declined to provide further comment on these budget cuts.
While the city was still waiting on the funds from the EPA to arrive, it had already received funds from the Urban Forestry grant. A November 2023 news release says it was being used for risk mitigation work, including “tree trimming, pruning, removal and replanting.”
The EPA grant, if its cancelation was reversed, would go towards a wide variety of infrastructure improvements along the South 5th Avenue corridor. Cheatum believes that’s “the next area that’s going to boom in Bannock County.”
According to a release from August 2024, announcing when the city received the award, the funding would be used to:
- Install sewer lines in un-sewered neighborhoods along South 5th Avenue
- Install 57 drinking fountains in parks in the area
- Construct sidewalks and a separate trail along three miles of the road
- Construct a six mile trail along the lava cliffs and the highway pond
- Install interpretive signage for area petroglyphs and historical markers
- Build a new parking lot and plant trees, as a part of the Centennial/Rainey Park River Vision projects
- Add stormwater infrastructure and park amenity upgrades at Constitution park
State Senator James Ruchti called the cancelation of the grants “infuriating.”
“It’s infuriating, it’s inexcusable, it’s damaging to our community, and we deserve better than that,” Ruchti said.
Ruchti said that the cuts to the EPA are not regular, business-as-usual cuts.
“I challenge the EPA to show us any time during the history of their organization where they’ve made these sort of indiscriminate cuts of grants to this extent. To just cut a ($16.4 million) grant with no warning, no clear justification,” Ruchti said.
Paulsen asserted that regular people in Pocatello would see their taxes go down due to the federal budget cuts.
“I pay my taxes. You pay your taxes. I would like to see benefits from that, from the federal government that we pay into, cutting that to our cities,” Paulsen said. “You’re still paying into it, but you’re not going to see it.”
Cheatum explained that a project like the South 5th corridor doesn’t fit into the city’s regular budget.
“Those things are not budgeted, and those projects would not happen, at least not suddenly, without that kind of additional funding outside of the property tax. It’s improvements that are needed in that area of our community, and we were really looking forward to doing those things, but we’ll see how this goes,” Cheatum said.