SALEM, Ohio — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Feb. 13 for a nationwide freeze on federal funding, stating it “jeopardizes at least $5.5 billion that has been committed to Pennsylvania.”
The lawsuit, filed in Philadelphia’s federal court, comes after two federal judges ordered the administration to unfreeze the funding that President Donald Trump put on pause with an executive order the day he entered office.
Shapiro’s administration also sued the U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Management and Budget as well as the leaders of the agencies.
Shapiro said the agencies are illegally holding federal aid, including $2.5 billion in grant funds, and called the move unconstitutional. The majority of these grants on pause fall under the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
This includes funding for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to repair abandoned mine lands and waterways impacted by mine lands over the next 15 years. Pennsylvania has at least 5,000 abandoned mines in the state, according to DEP data.
According to Shapiro’s lawsuit, “abandoned mine lands can cause land to cave, which can be — and in recent months has been — fatal.” In December, 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard died after being swallowed by a sinkhole in Westmoreland County while looking for her cat. The sinkhole was the result of a roof collapse from an abandoned mine.
Also frozen is $76 million that was awarded to the DEP to plug abandoned orphan oil and gas wells. The agency has identified 27,000 abandoned orphan wells but estimates there could be as many as 350,000 in the state.
Other investments halted include clean water infrastructure, the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and programs to support reliable electricity in rural areas.
According to Trump administration officials, the freeze aims to reprioritize federal funding nationwide to comply with Trump’s executive orders, which include increasing fossil fuel production.
The pause has brought on lawsuits by several states, including Pennsylvania. On Feb. 10, a federal judge ordered the administration to unfreeze the federal funds stating it was “likely unconstitutional” and was hurting the country. The Trump administration rescinded the decision but was denied by a court of appeals on Feb. 11.
Shapiro filed his lawsuit after federal agencies continued to withhold funding despite its release being court-ordered.
His lawsuit states that the administration suspended funding “without supplying a plausible explanation,” and that no statute gives federal agencies the power to refuse to spend congressionally-appropriated funds already committed to Pennsylvania “merely because the agency (or even the President) has policy disagreements with” Congress.
On Feb. 24, the Trump administration unfroze $2 billion in federal funding for Pennsylvania.
“Our continued pressure on and engagement with the Trump administration, in which we demanded the administration comply with the legal injunctions currently in place and made clear that we were ready to seek immediate relief from the courts — every dollar we identified at the filing of our lawsuit is currently unfrozen and once again accessible to Pennsylvania state agencies,” said Shapiro at a news conference on Feb. 24.
Correction: Updated information was added to this story on Feb. 25 at 3:08 p.m. to reflect new information.
(Liz Partsch can be reached at epartsch@farmanddairy.com or 330-337-3419.)
