By MONICA SAMAYOA/Oregon Public Broadcasting

A nearly $200 million federal grant aimed at boosting climate action throughout Oregon is currently frozen — for now. It’s causing uncertainty throughout state agencies that worked together to help win the competitive award and say they are unsure if and when the federal funds would become accessible.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality said Thursday at least six federal grants awarded to the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and boost current climate action programs are currently frozen.

Among them is Oregon’s biggest award — the $197 million Climate Pollution Reduction Grant the state was awarded last summer.

“What we’re experiencing is that we can’t draw funds from certain accounts for our grants,” DEQ’s Communications Manager Lauren Wirtis said.

Wirtis said there have been three key moments when federal funding awarded to the state through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have been frozen, unfrozen and frozen again. She said the first was the Trump administration’s executive order on Jan. 20 that froze all climate funding from those two laws, which included the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant.

“The second one was the Office of Management and Budget memo that froze funds much more broadly and then that got pulled back,” she said. “And then most recently, the Environmental Protection Agency has frozen grants pending a compliance review. So that’s where we end up with grants that are currently in limbo.”

According to Wirtis, the agency received several memos from the Environmental Protection Agency about pausing different grant programs. The most recent memo DEQ received about federal funds was on Jan. 27.

It stated, “EPA is working diligently to implement President Trump’s Unleashing American Energy Executive Order issued on January 20 in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget. The agency has paused all funding actions related to the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act at this time. EPA is continuing to work with OMB as they review processes, policies, and programs, as required by the Executive Order.”

For now, Wirtis said, any work related to these programs is paused.

“We don’t currently have any information or indication from the federal government about when the freeze would go away or if it will go away,” she said.

The continued confusion from the federal government about whether funding from two of the nation’s billion-dollar climate action laws is available, is causing a lot of uncertainty for state agencies, as well as climate and environmental advocates who also supported these federal grants for Oregon.

As of now, it’s unclear which federal climate programs are frozen either through an executive order — in limbo because of litigation to unfreeze those funds — or frozen through the EPA current compliance review.