It’s well known that once President-elect Trump is sworn in, many programs funding the development of clean energy technology will be cut with haste. But it’s still November and President Joe Biden’s administration is making a point to spend as much funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) as possible in the time left.

The White House even created an easy-to-read fact sheet about which IRA funding opportunities are still open and the associated timelines.

Still, come Jan. 20, associated IRA and BIL tax credits, grants, and funding programs are vulnerable. And it seems almost certain that the IRA’s electric vehicle credit is destined to fall as a casualty to cuts, other credits and programs on the chopping block are still up in the air.

“It is difficult to say with 100 percent certainty that anything is safe from the Trump Administration’s chopping block,” said Jillian Blanchard, director of the climate change and environmental justice program at lawyers for good government, “funds that have been announced, but not obligated are most at risk, while funds that have been obligated or are conditionally awarded are slightly less vulnerable.”

Given President-elect Trump’s vow to dismantle the Inflation Reduction Act, some communities are concerned about their applications for climate and environmental justice funding. Jillian Blanchard of Lawyers for Good Government talks with Living on Earth’s Aynsley O’Neill about what’s on the line and why bipartisan support for the IRA may help preserve some federal support.

Jillian Blanchard, who leads the climate change and environmental justice program at Lawyers for Good Government, a nonprofit legal advocacy group, said the group is working to make sure dollars earmarked for clean energy projects under the Inflation Reduction Act can’t be easily clawed back by a new administration.

“We worked with a lot of the federal grantees who either have gotten the money or are announced to receive money,” Blanchard said, describing her group’s efforts to help those clients expedite the payment process and navigate any regulatory compliance issues that arise.

“We intend to continue that work to make sure that that money goes out the door to those intended grantees, whether it’s for climate justice, tackling the climate crisis, environmental justice, transit, etc.,” she added.

Some state legislators and environmental advocates expect the Trump administration to rescind at least some federal funding, particularly for environmental justice programs. 

“I’m sure the Trump administration is going to try and pull those [funds] away,” said Jillian Blanchard, director of the climate change and environmental program at Lawyers for Good Government, a nonprofit advocacy group. “We are tracking a lot of the environmental justice grants that didn’t go to the state, to communities within Maryland and across the country, to make sure and help those grantees get all of those funds obligated before a Trump administration takes over.”

When President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law in 2022, the bill directed $369 billion in spending on climate action and programs over a decade. Tens of billions of that have been distributed, but in the months before the new Trump administration takes office, advocacy groups say they’re going to push to get as much of the remaining funds distributed as they can.

“Between now and the end of the year, it’s important to get all that money, obligated and under contract, disbursed,” said Jillian Blanchard, director of the climate change and environmental justice program at Lawyers for Good Government, a coalition of legal experts that formed after Trump was elected in 2016. “The main concern is that you can’t rely on this administration following the norms.”

Environmental groups are quickly getting in formation to play defense against an incoming Trump administration, recognizing that often they’ll be best situated to effectively push back through the use of the courts.

The range of activities includes reviewing the legal and legislative strategies used in President-elect Donald Trump’s first term in office and scrutinizing the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 playbook—which most environmental groups believe the new White House will hew closely to.

Meanwhile, many states are relying on the new tax credit to support plans such as electrifying state vehicle fleets and installing solar panels on public schools. In Washington state, for instance, the Office of Financial Management is coordinating a governmentwide effort to ensure state agencies use elective pay to bolster their climate work. But climate advocates fear that an Internal Revenue Service led by Trump appointees could stall that work.

“There’s a lot of concern about what [Trump] would do with IRS staffing to limit the ability for them to get the refund checks out,” said Jillian Blanchard, director of the climate change and environmental justice program with Lawyers for Good Government, a nonprofit focused on human rights. Such delays could “chill hundreds of thousands of projects,” she said. “I’m not sure he knows that red states are counting on this money too.”

The last piece: Make sure everything that’s already in place is actually working. “We’re seeing that states and local governments need additional capacity to manage [the IRA] money well,” Jillian Blanchard, the director of Lawyers For Good Government’s climate change program, told me. Harris could help by enacting “more tangible policies like granting federal funding to hire community engagement specialists or liaisons or paying for the time of community leaders to provide local governments with key information on where the communities are that need to be benefited, and what they need.” She also floated the idea of a Community Change Grant extension to help get federal funding to localities more directly.

“The whole point is to level the playing field,” says Jillian Blanchard, director of L4GG’s climate change and environmental justice program. There is no limit to the number of entities that can apply for the credits or the number of projects for which any one applicant could receive them. The IRA authorizes the program through 2032.

The historic dimensions of this federal funding haven’t sunk in for many jurisdictions. “We call this a crisis of opportunity,” Blanchard says. “We want to make sure people don’t miss out.”

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris was obviously supportive of the IRA in her role as vice president, but some think she may push the lever even further for green energy as the head of her own administration.

“She was born and bred in California, where the clean energy revolution, in some ways, has started,” said Jillian Blanchard, director of the Climate Change and Environmental Justice Program for the legal advocacy organization Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG). “I think she sees not only the need to protect our planet, but also the benefits in terms of workforce development [and] job opportunities. I think she’s also dedicated to the cause of environmental justice, which is a big piece of Biden’s platform that I think she will continue and hopefully expand upon.”