A federal grant to help pay for recreation and flood-resilience projects in five communities in Southwest Virginia has been terminated by the Trump administration, the nonprofit Appalachian Voices said.
The news came in a Feb. 21 email from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stating that its grant for $500,000 is “no longer consistent with the goals of the current administration,” according to Emma Kelly, the new economy program coordinator for Appalachian Voices, which is working with the towns of Clinchco, Dungannon, Pennington Gap and Pound and the community of Dante on the projects.
The organization does not believe that the termination was “appropriate or valid” and has filed an administrative appeal to contest the decision.
“We believe the administration’s determination that this grant was inconsistent with its priorities was faulty, ignoring the substance of the project and its goals to advance economic opportunity and prosperity while enhancing the health and safety of these rural communities,” a spokesperson for Appalachian Voices said in an email about the grant termination.
The grant, part of the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving Program, was to be a major source of the funding for a yearslong project called Community Strong, but the effort will continue, and the group will look for other funding sources, Kelly said.
The money, which the group applied for in 2023, was approved in early 2024, she said.
Through Community Strong, Appalachian Voices is working with the partner localities to identify their strengths, as well as the barriers that could be holding them back. The program is designed to help them plan for the future and to find funding for needed projects. Community meetings are also part of the process.
The initiative has “built momentum and hope in rural coal communities that have often felt left behind or ignored despite all the sacrifices they’ve made over decades of helping power America,” according to an email from Appalachian Voices. “The termination of this grant threatens that momentum. Money from the grant was slated to help develop important projects identified as community priorities in each town.”
The planned projects are:
- Clinchco: Develop a flood-mitigation plan for land owned by the town and create some green space.
- Dante: Plan and design improvements to the Dante Depot so it can serve as a hub during emergencies.
- Dungannon: Improve land adjacent to the local community center to expand recreational opportunities.
- Pennington Gap: Cover the cost of demolishing the Cas Walker building, a blighted structure, to create room for flood-mitigating green space.
- Pound: Hire a structural engineer to conduct a wall assessment during removal of a bank building that was damaged in a landslide and an architecture firm to design a planned flood-mitigating riverwalk project.
Only the money allocated to the Pound project was received, Kelly said.
Lou Ann Wallace, a Russell County supervisor who represents Dante, said the news that the grant had been terminated was disappointing, but the former coal camp is resilient — and, if necessary, it will find another way to pay for transforming the old railroad depot building into an emergency hub. The need for such a facility was made clear during the flooding that happened last September, when the remnants of Hurricane Helene blew through the area, she added.
Pennington Gap Town Manager Keith Harless said Thursday that town officials had been in the process of applying for funding through the Community Strong program to assist with the demolition of the vacant building, which is at the main entrance to town. The cleared site was planned as an extension to a new public park currently under development. He added that the town will explore other avenues to move the project forward.