The $20 million EPA grant to the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission for resiliency projects around the city of Benton Harbor that was announced last year by the Biden administration and then canceled by the Trump administration last week is now being reinstated.
The commission got word from the EPA on Tuesday evening the termination notice it previously received for the grant was “accidentally sent.” The EPA wrote, “We are taking corrective action to immediately rescind the termination.”
Benton Harbor Mayor Marcus Muhammad tells us he’s been in contact with Congressman Bill Huizenga since the grant was clawed back.
“So if he had something to do with it, I’m grateful,” Muhammad said. “And if he did not, then I’m grateful. But he did say that he was going to continue to have conversations just to quadruple proof that everything is moving forward.”
The Southwest Michigan Planning Commission’s Marcy Hamilton tells us the commission is now resuming its work as before.
“We’re still being cautious because even though we received an email saying that the termination is being rescinded, we still don’t have access to the funds,” Hamilton said. “So we’re still moving ahead with the project, just not making any very large purchases or job hires at this point.”
Hamilton says, “We’ll see what the future holds.” She added this is the first time anything like this has ever happened with a grant she’d been seeking.
Mayor Muhammad says with the $20 million now back on, the Bobo Brazil Community Center, shuttered since 2009, can be born again as the EPA grant includes more than $2 million for its renovation. The EPA money comes on top of $1.5 million in state grants the city’s obtained for the center, but Muhammad said that alone wouldn’t have been enough to get Bobo Brazil back to what the city hopes it will be.
The grant is also intended for clean energy projects and workforce development in Benton Harbor.
