A Lowcountry nonprofit won its David-versus-Goliath fight against the Trump administration last week when U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel ruled federal officials illegally canceled an $11.4 million Biden-era local grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) .
North Charleston’s Sustainability Institute was the lead plaintiff in a national case involving 12 nonprofits, six cities and a total of 38 grants. The ruling immediately restored funding for the nonprofit plaintiffs and set aside the city grants for later consideration.
At a charged May 19 courthouse hearing in Charleston, Gergel was withering in his assessment of the government’s case. In particular, he noted that Deputy EPA Administrator Travis Voyles had been unable to produce a single document to back up his sworn claim that he’d reviewed each of the grants individually before canceling them, as required by law.
“I was, frankly, embarrassed for the government to read Mr. Voyles’ affidavit,” Gergel said from the bench. “I’ve just never seen anything submitted to me like that. It was, frankly, sort of an insult to the Court.”
What’s more, he seemed to directly question the government’s overall candor.
“You know, y’all can do what you wish,” Gergel said. “I’m used to the government speaking to me straight, to answer my questions honestly. Fifteen years on the bench, I’ve never had an experience where I thought the government did not do that.”
Constitutional test of separation of powers
In a May 20 order, Gergel found that Trump administration officials violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act when they canceled the grants without review.
“They sent me a truckload full of documents,” Gergel noted. “Not one of them showed any individualized concession review of consideration or anything regarding these grants.”
Gergel also ruled that the unilateral cancellations were an unconstitutional usurpation of Congress’s power of the purse.
“It’s the Constitution we’re having to address,” Gergel said. “And it just seems to me that the public interest lies most directly in upholding our form of government.”
Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Kym Meyer, who represented the plaintiffs in the case, said her clients were “excited” to be able to get back to work in their communities.
“We’re delighted with the result,” she told the Charleston City Paper on May 21. “And we’re looking forward to our plaintiffs getting back access to their funds.”
Sustainability Institute Executive Director Bryan Cordell echoed those comments in a statement, stressing the importance of the project.
“Continued … disruptions to our work would be catastrophic and equivalent to the government turning its back on the housing, jobs, and other economic, environmental and social impacts that are set to be delivered,” he said.
As the City Paper reported in March, the Institute will use the grant to build and rehabilitate energy-efficient affordable homes in North Charleston’s Union Heights neighborhood, which was once divided by a now-abandoned 1-26 exit ramp.
North Charleston Mayor Reggie Burgess has called the project “transformative” for the area.
“We’re at a point in time when we’re reconnecting Union Heights,” he said earlier this year. “So, continue to pray hard for this development, because we’re going to make it happen.”
The Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling.
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