An email obtained by the Washington Post states: “New EPA administration has asked that all contract and grant awards be temporarily suspended, effective immediately. Please construe this to include task orders and work assignments.”
It’s unclear whether the move is related to Trump’s order on Monday that federal agencies halt hiring in all areas with the exception of the military, national security and public safety. The order also curbs agencies from using contracting to get around the freeze. “Contracting outside the Government to circumvent the intent of this memorandum shall not be permitted,” the memorandum states.
It is also unclear if the freeze is temporary or indefinite, making it unclear as to the impact the freeze will have on programs already in place across the country. EPA employees have been told not to discuss the freeze outside the workplace, according to a Hill source with knowledge of the situation, reports the Huffington Post.
The freeze includes the issuance of press releases and EPA social media accounts. On the EPA’s Twitter account, the only tweets to be seen are from other news agencies and individuals, angry over the information freeze imposed by the Trump administration.
On Monday night, Myron Ebell, who ran the EPA transition for Trump’s team confirmed the basics of the freeze, adding that doing so wasn’t unprecedented. “They’re trying to freeze things to make sure nothing happens they don’t want to have happen, so any regulations going forward, contracts, grants, hires, they want to make sure to look at them first,” said Ebell. “This may be a little wider than some previous administrations, but it’s very similar to what others have done,” he said.
Ebell has gone back to his previous job of directing energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The institute is a non-profit Libertarian think tank. This industry-aligned group has long fought the EPA’s growth and influence.
