POCATELLO — The city of Pocatello has responded to the termination of two federal grants totaling over $17 million that would have funded critical sewer infrastructure modernization, new amenities to local parks and significant parts of the Portneuf River Vision project.
City officials provided notice last week of their intentions to formally dispute the termination of both grants and have fully committed to advocating for these projects and the transformative benefits they represent for the community.
“These grants were key to advancing Pocatello’s infrastructure modernization goals to meet our community’s needs,” Mayor Brian Blad said in a news release. “We are pursuing all available avenues to reinstate this funding and move these important projects forward.”
The $16.4 million Environmental Protection Agency Community Change Grant was terminated on May 2 on the grounds that the remaining portion of the federal award will not accomplish the EPA funding priorities, according to the agency.
The city’s portion of the grant was just a small fraction of more than $325 million in funding for 21 selected applications to help disadvantaged communities tackle environmental and climate justice challenges, the city said in an August 2024 news release.
The grant would have provided essential funding to improve drinking water quality and reduce local nitrate contamination.
An aerial view of some of the properties located within Pocatello’s proposed South 5th Avenue Complete Streets and Sewer Project.
The Idaho State Journal last summer reported that Pocatello having the opportunity to apply for grants especially like the EPA Community Change Grant is a major reason the city moved to annex 500 acres of land near Century High School.
Many of the properties that were annexed are connected to private septic tanks and have previously been identified by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality as major contributors of nitrates to the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer, which provides safe drinking water to local residents.
The EPA Community Change grant would have funded the installation of 57 drinking fountains in city parks, the city’s August 2024 news release said.
It also would have improved stormwater infrastructure and provided amenity upgrades in Constitution Park and funded improvements to the Centennial and Rainey parks River Vision projects, including a new parking lot and tree plantings, the city’s August 2024 newsletter said.
All of which would have improved water quality or recreational opportunities in the Portneuf River.
The grant would have funded a transformation of three miles of South Fifth Avenue from South Valley Connector to Fort Hill Mine Road with sidewalks, a new 6-mile Greenway Trail along the lava cliffs to the AMI trailhead by the highway pond and signage for area petroglyphs and historical markers.
The projects would have improved air and water quality and provided students and adults with safe avenues to traverse to schools, parks, state and county buildings, bus stations and to their homes, Hannah Sanger, the city’s science and environment division manager said in a recent newsletter.
The entirety of the $16.4 million grant would have gone to local contractors for the projects to help bolster the local economy, Sanger said.
The Centennial and Rainey Park levee setback, funded by the EPA and Bureau of Reclamation, also had its funding for the parking lot, pavilions and bathroom improvements terminated, Sanger said.
The Bureau of Reclamation funding is still open and the city is planning on working with the Army Corps of Engineers as they complete a review on the 60 percent design along with Harmony Design & Engineering on the 90 percent design. Construction on these projects are planned to begin in 2026, Sanger said.
”We now need to find a lot more money to make this project happen,” Sanger added.
In addition to the termination of the $16.4 million Community Change Grant the $1 million United States Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Programs grant was also nixed.
The city has received $333,000 of those funds and outside of the investment in tree planning, the money would go to local contractors who do service work on city trees. The funds were passed through monies provided through the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, who are actively fighting the termination of the grant.
The termination of these grants follows a trend of recent Trump administration policies that have proposed massive cuts to federal program funding across fixtures such as the United States Department of Education, National Institutes of Health, public broadcasting and medical research along with a recent proposal to lash more than $160 billion from projects that support renewable energy, education and foreign aid.
(6) comments
President Cheeto and his pal Heinrich Himmler are staying true to pre-election promises. Unless you're a billionaire, you don't get squat.
And Joseph Goebbels as well
Clearly, we are unable to afford BOTH:
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--- on one side, - Over $17 million in federal grants to the city of Pocatello;
**** and
--- on the other side, - A $1 trillion new “defense” (aka “war”) budget.
The mayor should call simpson and tell him that if the decision isn't reversed by the end of next week simpson is done in Pocatello!! Then if it's not reversed Pocatello should go ahead with the project raising fee's and services. In a perfect world those increases should occur only for the slum lords there that have held Pocatello back for over 40 years. Now it's time for everyone to recognize how important their vote is.
MAGA squirrels are like the apathetic German anti semite who watched their Jewish neighbors carted off the concentration camps they shrugged their shoulders in helplessness with the shallow and short lived justification "Unless it affects me directly I will do nothing. I am a bona fide god loving Christian. What have I got to fear" And the American lives in the illusion, "It can't happen here!"
Dah--It is happening here.
The fruit of the MAGA tree goes a little sour in the mouth. The working class Trump nuts are beginning to feel the sting of being lied to, conned , and used.
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