The remnants of Typhoon Halong ravaged about a dozen villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Western Alaska earlier this month. One woman died, two people are missing, and over a thousand are displaced.
But months before the storm, a federal agency canceled a grant that would have helped Kipnuk, one of the affected communities, to protect its infrastructure from flooding. The Village of Kipnuk is among 23 cities and tribal and environmental organizations across the country that are challenging that decision in court – and looking at how to move forward as the communities grapple with climate change.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant – under the Community Change Grants program – would have brought $20 million to Kipnuk to stabilize the Kugkaktlik River's shore. The Trump administration froze the grant in the winter of 2024 and terminated it in May 2025 in a broader effort to roll back environmental justice funding.
Kipnuk Environmental Director Rayna Paul said the money was a step toward making her village more resilient. Paul's house was one of many that flooded and was swept upriver during the storm. Her freezers, filled with subsistence harvest, were also lost. With most of Kipnuk destroyed in the storm, Paul said the community needs time to heal and rebuild.
"It's my community that this had to happen to. We were so not ready. We were so not prepared," Paul said. "Somehow, I see that our people – they adapt to things. They're very resilient people."
The canceled grant
Western Alaska has seen accelerating permafrost thaw and coastal erosion as the warming climate brings more intense and more frequent storms. Paul said that Kipnuk has been losing more than 10 feet of riverbank each year.
"We're facing erosion. The sea level is rising. The permafrost is melting," Paul said. "All these things that are happening because our climate is changing."
Paul spent months applying for funding through the EPA's Community Change Grants program. The program also funded other projects in Alaska, including asbestos and lead removal in Tyonek, water and sewer services to Huslia, and solar energy projects in Bering Strait villages.
The Community Change Grants program, under the umbrella of the Environmental and Climate Justice Block program, was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
But early this year, it was frozen and then terminated as the EPA was implementing several of President Donald Trump's executive orders. One order, "Unleashing American Energy," instructed agencies to pause payments under the Inflation Reduction Act. Another order, to end diversity and inclusion programs, included environmental justice work.
After the EPA program and grants were canceled, the Village of Kipnuk, as well as 22 other plaintiffs – including cities, tribal and environmental organizations – filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. in June. They argued that eliminating the program was unlawful and raised questions about separation of powers.
In August, the court denied the motion to block the program's termination. The plaintiffs appealed that decision in September and filed their opening brief at the end of October. The court has ordered the government to file their brief 30 days after the shutdown is over.
Benjamin James Grillot of the Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs. He said the devastation in Kipnuk highlights why restoring the federal climate resilience program is crucial.
"The storm shows the importance of investment of this kind in communities like these: to address the ongoing and pressing environmental consequences of climate change," Grillot said.
Appalachian Voices, a nonprofit environmental organization that worked to support projects in several Southwest Virginia communities, is another plaintiff in the lawsuit. Emma Kelly, a program manager with the organization, said the organization was awarded $500,000 through the same EPA program. Kelly said one project was to design a riverbank stabilization, and another would have transformed a historic building into a shelter for weather emergencies
"When the grant was terminated, that was a real blow," Kelly said.
Kelly said spring storms hit the region the same week that the grant was terminated.
"We had a community meeting in one of the flooded communities where we had to go and say, 'Sorry, this wonderful, incredible resource that the community has poured their hearts into that would have directly mitigated the damages that you all just faced a few days ago is now gone,'" Kelly said. "Of course we are going to try and fight to get it back for you, but we can't make any promises."
Paul, with the village of Kipnuk, declined to discuss the lawsuit. But she said the grant would have allowed Kipnuk to build a rock revetment on a portion of the riverbank and protect residential homes, fuel tanks, wind turbines, and boardwalks in that area.
Sheryl Musgrove directs the climate justice program under the Alaska Institute for Justice. The nonprofit partnered with Kipnuk's tribe to secure the EPA grant funding. Musgrove also declined to discuss the lawsuit, but said the grant was the first time there was an attempt to fund real change in the village.
"When I first talked to the tribal council, the first thing they said is, 'We don't want any more assessments. We've had so many assessments. Give us some action,'" Musgrove said. "And this was the first time they've gotten some money to do something."
The remnants of Typhoon Halong brought record-breaking water levels to several Western Alaska communities. In Kipnuk, the water broke its previous record high by 2 feet.
Musgrove said that no single project could have stopped the destruction from a storm that large, but it highlights the chronic lack of investment in Western Alaska villages.
"This was a chance for the federal government to finally show that they cared, and that they were willing to invest in this small community in remote Alaska, and they took it away," Musgrove said.
Response to EPA statement
Kipnuk's canceled EPA grant made national and local headlines in the days after the storm. EPA press secretary Brigit Hirsch said in an email to KNBA that the funding "would not have prevented or safeguarded the community from the mass destruction."
"While partisans on the left would apparently prefer to have seen those precious tax dollars washed away, EPA now has the resources available to ensure the money is spent appropriately and wisely," Hirsch said.
Musgrove pointed out that the first year of the grant was meant for planning, and the construction of the revetment wouldn't have begun by the time of the storm. She added that the help they have received through the grant has been put to work during recovery.
"Nothing would have been wasted," Musgrove said.
The first phase of the grant would have also included hazardous waste removal from the bank, Musgrove said.
"Now that's in the river and the Bering Sea," Musgrove said. "It's heartbreaking, really."
Musgrove said that she hopes the devastation of the storm highlights the needs of villages like Kipnuk and helps them mobilize help for finding long-term solutions, like protecting their infrastructure or relocating to a safer site.
"So many agencies are ready to really help, because of this tragedy," Musgrove said. "It's sad that they can't be around when there's not a tragedy."
Musgrove says that Kipnuk did get some initial funding through the $20 million grant before it was canceled. The community bought a bulldozer, which is now sifting through what's left of the village.
