Federal funds to build out electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Vermont are still on hold after a Tuesday federal court ruling opened up funds for other states.
In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Tana Lin in Washington partially issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Trump administration to release funds that it withheld this winter. But the judge denied Vermont’s claims, deciding the state didn’t prove it would face “irreparable harm” if funds were left on hold.
Some clean energy advocates in Vermont think the hold is harmful.
“Americans in rural parts of the country — blue, red and purple — are worse off because these funds are not out the door,” said Ben Edgerly Walsh, Climate and Energy Program director for Vermont Public Interest Research Group.
And now the state will have to keep fighting if it wants change.
“The Attorney General is very disappointed with this outcome and will continue to explore legal options to protect Vermont’s interests and funding in this case,” said Amelia Vath, a spokesperson for the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, over email.
In February, the Trump administration, through the Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, withheld billions of dollars allocated by Congress to build out electric vehicle chargers in many states. In response, Vermont filed the lawsuit, along with 15 other states and Washington, D.C., in May against those two offices.
In the suit, the states bit back, claiming that both entities overstepped their authority by trying to interfere with funding that was designated by Congress.
Before funds were put on hold, Vermont was set to receive $16.7 million in federal funding for charging projects across three years, according to court documents.
Based on that award, the state originally planned to pay a total of $9.3 million to different contractors who would build out charging stations around the state. Now, without federal funding, “Vermont cannot fund all of the projects,” it claimed in court.
“It’s absurd that the Trump administration is tying the law into knots in order to keep this money out of Vermont and these other states,” Walsh said.
While Vermont has more charging ports per-capita than most states, it still has a long way to come, Walsh said. When more charging stations are publicly available, it’s more viable for renters and low-income Vermonters to own electric vehicles, he said.
In court, Vermont, Minnesota and Washington, D.C., didn’t submit documents proving federal approval and reapproval of their state plans, according to court documents. The three were the only jurisdictions denied funding in the judge’s ruling.
