EPA restores funding to small newspaper focused on environmental programs
A small newspaper that covers environmental issues in the Chesapeake Bay area is expecting its funding back after the Environmental Protection Agency informed the paper the agency has decided to restore grant funding that was previously revoked.
The Chesapeake Bay Journal, which is free and published by a nonprofit organization, reports on environmental issues and events in the Bay and has historically received grant funding as part of a requirement that the agency inform the public about its program to clean up and restore the area around the Chesapeake Bay.
The paper was still expecting $325,000 from a multi-year grant but in August the EPA informed it the funding would be cut immediately "due to a shift in priorities," according to documents posted by a legal group representing the paper. The grant represents a third of the paper's budget.
The paper argues the decision was, in part, politically motivated and that the EPA did not provide an adequate reason to cancel the funding in an appeal filed on behalf of the paper by the group Democracy Forward. The Journal's editor, Karl Blankenship, said it never told him anything about the process leading up to the decision to cut their grant.
On Thursday, an EPA official told the paper in a letter that the agency has changed its priorities again and will continue to provide funding for the Chesapeake Bay Project and restore funding for the paper.
The Chesapeake Bay Journal, which is free and published by a nonprofit organization, reports on environmental issues and events in the Bay and has historically received grant funding as part of a requirement that the agency inform the public about its program to clean up and restore the area around the Chesapeake Bay.
The paper was still expecting $325,000 from a multi-year grant but in August the EPA informed it the funding would be cut immediately "due to a shift in priorities," according to documents posted by a legal group representing the paper. The grant represents a third of the paper's budget.
The paper argues the decision was, in part, politically motivated and that the EPA did not provide an adequate reason to cancel the funding in an appeal filed on behalf of the paper by the group Democracy Forward. The Journal's editor, Karl Blankenship, said it never told him anything about the process leading up to the decision to cut their grant.
On Thursday, an EPA official told the paper in a letter that the agency has changed its priorities again and will continue to provide funding for the Chesapeake Bay Project and restore funding for the paper.
Source: abcnews.go
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