The EPA ended a $1 million grant that Flagstaff was using to help provide residents with resources and trainings in times of environmental emergencies such as wildfires.
Flagstaff was barely nine months into the three-year grant when the EPA sent a stop work order in late March that terminated the resilience hubs.
The grant was intended to fund programs that organized community groups in Flagstaff neighborhoods, said Flagstaff sustainability director Nicole Antonopoulos.
Antonopoulos said the community hubs worked with residents to sign them up for emergency alerts, teaching people how to set up emergency evacuation kits, and even how to build their own at-home air filters.
"What happened according to the termination notification was that the EPA has changed its goals. And the analysis that was conducted by the EPA led them to terminate our grant because of the lack of alignment with the new goals of the EPA," she said.
The city appealed the EPA’s decision.
"We feel very confident that there is alignment and we hope that the EPA review team does as well," she said.
Antonopoulos said she doesn’t anticipate hearing back from the EPA until November.
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