The federal district court for the District of Columbia ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture and several component agencies and officials (together, USDA) to supplement the administrative record in a case challenging the termination of five grants awarded to four plaintiffs involved in agriculture and ecology-related projects. The plaintiffs alleged that their grants were terminated “without individualized review but rather based on vague allegations that the projects were not aligned with the President’s newly stated goals of eliminating funding for [diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)] and climate initiatives—without any effort to determine whether the projects could be brought into line.” The court directed USDA to produce records regarding any instruction received by USDA regarding the implementation of the Trump administration’s DEI and climate-related policies; documentation regarding how spreadsheets cataloguing grants were used to evaluate the grants for termination; termination letters for grants other than the plaintiffs’ grants; and all documents related to the termination of the plaintiffs’ own grants. The court also ordered USDA to produce a privilege log. The court denied the plaintiffs’ request for depositions but required the defendants to respond to certain interrogatories and requests for production. The court found that the plaintiffs were not entitled to an order for adverse inferences that the defendants “terminated DEI and climate-related grants based solely on the presence of DEI and climate-related search terms in grant documents” because the defendants’ alleged conduct did not at this point rise to bad faith.

Action seeking to stop the U.S. Department of Agriculture from terminating hundreds of grants awarded under a variety of programs, including the National Resources Conservation Service’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program.

Urban Sustainability Directors Network v. U.S. Department of Agriculture

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D.C. Federal Court Ordered Department of Agriculture Defendants to Produce Documentation Regarding Grant Terminations

Filed

United States of America

District of Columbia

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

Activities that involve the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock for food, fibre, and other products essential for human life and industry.

Climate change impacts our society by disrupting the natural, economic and social systems we depend on. Physical hazards and underlying vulnerabilities can lead to increased resource competition for food and water, which can heighten the risk of conflict.

D.C. Federal Court Ordered Department of Agriculture Defendants to Produce Documentation Regarding Grant Terminations

Risk

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance