ALBANY — A federal grant to support a gas line decommissioning project in Albany is expected to come through after weeks of delays, but councilmembers have agreed to allow city staff to draw from city funds in case more Trump administration stalls occur.
A pilot project years in the making aims to cut gas line service for an entire city block, transitioning the properties on the site to fully electric services. The project is meant to act as a model for ways jurisdictions can cut greenhouse gas emissions but will require buy-in from every property owner that is affected.
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Obtaining that commitment will require extensive community outreach, which is where the federal grant comes in. Albany was awarded a $200,000 grant through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program in 2023 under President Joe Biden.
The terms of the grant were agreed upon by the city and the Department of Energy in September 2024 and that two-year engagement process was set to begin this year.
The future of the project was called into question after President Donald Trump took office in January and issued an executive order freezing federal funding, a pause the administration said was necessary to ensure programs abided by new priorities.
Despite court orders temporarily prohibiting the funding freeze, Albany staff were unable to access the grant dollars or communicate with Department of Energy staff. On Monday, city staff were informed the grant funds should be accessible and a check-in meeting that was cancelled in January had been rescheduled, said Community Development Analyst Michelle Plouse during an Albany City Council meeting Monday.
Staff did attempt to access the funds Monday but were given an error alert, Plouse said. While hopeful the partnership was back on track, Plouse noted that the issue may not be corrected immediately or new problems could arise in the future.
“Of course we’re cautious because we know there’s a possibility there could be further changes. Nothing’s completely solid yet, but it does seem like things are turning in a good direction with all of this,” Plouse said.
To get ahead of potential federal hurdles, staff decided to again request that the council allocate $125,000 from the city’s Climate Action and Adaptation Reserve Fund to ensure the city’s contractor, Environmental Justice Solutions, is paid on time. A total of $143,469 is currently in the fund, which is supported by a city tax on gas and electric utilities, known as Measure DD, passed by voters in 2020.
Councilmember Jennifer Hansen-Romero and Vice Mayor Peggy McQuaid suggested allocating a portion of the funding to cover the project for a period of three to six months, giving staff time to assess whether the federal funding would be coming through or not.
“I feel much better now than I did an hour ago about this project, but as I said last time, I still have real concerns about the overall fiscal health of the city, our citizens, our community and that’s the only thing that kind of holds me back from saying go for it,” McQuaid said.
Alternatively, Councilmember John Anthony Miki argued in favor of committing the full request out of concern the city would be left scrambling to find the rest of the funding if the grant didn’t come through or it would be left with a partially complete project, wasting staff time and city dollars.
Seeing the project through completion is important for both Mayor Robin López and Councilmember Preston Jordan. While Jordan argued the initiative could have huge implications for the state and its goal of greatly reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, López noted city staff has already put in a substantial amount of work into the project and the city has a responsibility to stand up to disruptive measures by the federal government.
“When we’re dealing with tyrants and wannabe dictators in moments like this, at the local level we need to have collective agency as local leaders to stand up against that,” said López, who shared he’s slated to be terminated later this month from the Department of Energy after a decade of service. “These moments come down the pipeline very rapidly and there’s very little we can do, but right now we’re here at the decision-making table where we can actually push back and commit and make sure we’re not just investing in our community, but investing in the morale of our city staff.”
The council ultimately agreed to fund the entire request with the caveat that it be reimbursed as the federal funding becomes accessible.
