WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration has placed holds on U.S. government grants to states and local communities as part of its drive to significantly reduce federal spending.
Here is a look at just a few of the thousands of projects that have been caught up Trump’s executive orders:
ENVIRONMENTAL CLEAN-UP
Around $130 million of funding is currently paused for a group of Ohio projects to replace a coal plant from 1888 with a solar power installation and battery backup system, as well as update brownfields and landfills in Cleveland.
LONG BRIDGE RAIL
A $2.3 billion project adding two railroad tracks to the two that have long been in existence, linking Virginia to Washington, D.C. Passenger and freight trains feed into routes up and down the East Coast and through the state of Virginia.
The bridge carries up to 1.3 million Amtrak passengers and 4.5 million Virginia Railway Express commuters operates at 98% capacity during peak hours.
FARMER CONSERVATION
More than $3 billion was set aside in the Inflation Reduction Act to encourage agricultural producers and forest landowners to increase conservation practices.
Thousands of farmers applied to be a part of this U.S. Agriculture Department program that reimburses pre-approved costs involved in soil maintenance, such as planting cereal rye or clover cover crops or restoring wetlands.
MICROPOROUS IN DANVILLE
A $1.35 billion plant to produce battery separators by the Tennessee firm Microporous could help revitalize Danville, which over the past few decades was hard-hit by tobacco and textile industry losses. More than 2,000 new jobs could eventually be created in the industrial park anchored by Microporous, City Manager Ken Larking said.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan and Bo Erickson; Editing by Alistair Bell)
