Amid nationwide anxiety over President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency grant freeze, NC State EPA research grant recipients will maintain previously awarded funds.
Each year, the EPA distributes more than $4 billion in grant money to independent U.S. researchers. NC State professor Roger von Haefen, the principal investigator in a $799,728 EPA-funded research project on water quality, was awarded his project’s grant in full by former President Barack Obama’s administration in 2016, rather than in annual payments.
“All of that money was delivered to NC State back in September, which struck us as a little bit surprising,” von Haefen said. “Looking back at it, that was really fortunate for us because that meant that the chances of the money being recalled were revoked.”
The EPA declined to comment on the freeze. Myron Ebell, an activist who rejects the mainstream consensus on human-caused climate change, has overseen the EPA transition and has previously sought to undermine the organization’s growth and authority. Ebell said that the freeze occurred to make sure that no projects continued that the new administration did not intentionally approve, according to ProPublica. NC State EPA grant recipients, alongside thousands of related researchers across the United States, were uncertain about previously awarded grant money following Trump’s executive order on Jan. 24.
“It was very much in the air,” von Haefen said. “When I heard about the freeze, I contacted my grant’s administrator at the EPA and asked him about our grant. The only way that the order affected us in the end was that there was this uncertainty whether we were impacted: That did make us reluctant to incur any significant expenses in the short run.”
Von Haefen explained his administrator took four days to personally assure him that he and his colleagues could continue their research and that there were no complications regarding his grant money.
“I don’t know what they wanted to do,” von Haefen said. “The fact that they did an across the board freeze was bold, and it seems to me that they could’ve handled this in a less intrusive and dramatic way.”
Trump’s executive order also brought about an increased dialogue surrounding the government’s role in funding environmental research.
“I think that there’s a line where there should be influence, but there shouldn’t be intimidation tactics,” said Ally Dabar, a freshman majoring in exploratory studies. “I think that if the money is in research, [scientists] should be able to put the money toward whatever they see fit.”
Von Haefen revealed the complex ethical implications behind the decisions of policy makers regarding funding of executive environmental organizations such as the EPA. He explained that corporate interests and citizens’ interests could sometimes coincide.
“I believe that there are benefits of cost to environmental regulations: some of those benefits accrue to citizens and households, and others accrue to firms and corporations,” von Haefen said. “I think from a policy perspective, we want to weigh the benefits of regulatory actions and pursue policies that maximize the net benefits to society.”
Furthermore, Trump’s executive order bolstered public interest in supporting independent scientific research and incorporating objective scientific evidence in public policy.
“To an extent, the government should have regulation in the EPA, but I think also that scientists should have an opportunity to use their grant money toward their own research,” said Anna Marrujo, a freshman studying business. “I think that government and the sciences are two completely different sects; obviously, they each know more about their own subjects. [Public officials] certainly cannot just have vague facts on things and make major decisions because they have such control. They should definitely have more knowledge of the sciences.”
Looking forward, the future of federal funding for environmental research at NC State is yet to be fully explained by the Trump administration.
“I think that it’s going to be a tough environment for researchers to get money out of EPA and federal agencies,” von Haefen said. “I think funding opportunities will be more difficult to obtain in the future. I imagine that this is the first of several actions that the Trump administration will pursue with regard to the EPA and its operations, and I think that what is yet to come could be more dramatic than this freeze.”
