The headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington. (Matt McClain/ The Washington Post) 
 
 The Trump administration has instructed officials at the Environmental Protection Agency to freeze its grants and contracts, a move that could affect everything from state-led climate research to localized efforts to improve air and water quality to environmental justice projects aimed at helping poor communities. 
 
 An email went out to employees in the agency’s Office of Acquisition Management within hours of President Trump’s swearing-in on Friday. 
 
 “New EPA administration has asked that all contract and grant awards be temporarily suspended, effective immediately,” read the email, which was shared with The Washington Post. “Until we receive further clarification, which we hope to have soon, please construe this to include task orders and work assignments.” 
 
 According to its website, each year the EPA awards more than $4 billion in funding for grants and other assistance agreements. For now, it appears, that funding is on hold, casting a cloud of uncertainty over one of the agency’s core functions, as well as over the scientists, state and local officials, universities and Native American tribes that often benefit from the grants. 
 
 President Trump signed an executive order formally withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, an order establishing a federal hiring freeze and a third order reinstating the "Mexico City policy," on Jan. 23 at the White House. (Reuters) 
 
 “EPA staff have been reviewing grants and contracts information with the incoming transition team,” an agency spokesperson said in an email Tuesday. “Pursuant to that review, the agency is continuing to award the environmental program grants and state revolving loan fund grants to the states and tribes; and we are working to quickly address issues related to other categories of grants.” The agency said the goal is to complete the grants and contracts review by the close of business Friday. 
 
 It is unclear whether the move by the incoming administration was related to President Trump’s order Monday that federal agencies halt hiring in all areas on the executive branch except for the military, national security and public safety, which also curbed contracting as a way of compensating for the freeze. “Contracting outside the Government to circumvent the intent of this memorandum shall not be permitted,” the memorandum states. 
 
 [Trump’s regulatory freeze halts four Obama rules aimed at promoting greater energy efficiency] 
 
 Administration officials inserted the language in an apparent attempt to curb the growth in federal contracts that arose during previous freezes imposed under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. But the total halt in contracts and grants for a single agency appeared to go beyond that specific provision, which applied solely to contracting activities in response to the halt in hiring. 
 
 Myron Ebell, who oversaw the EPA transition for the new administration, told ProPublica on Monday that the freezing of grants and contracts was not 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, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an industry-backed group that has long sought to slash the authority of the EPA. 
 
 “This may be a little wider than some previous administrations, but it’s very similar to what others have done,” he told the publication. 
 
 But not in recent history has such a blanket freeze taken place, and one employee told ProPublica he did not recall anything like it in nearly a decade with the agency. 
 
 The move is likely to increase anxieties inside an already tense agency. Ebell and other transition officials have made little secret about their goal of greatly reducing the EPA’s footprint and regulatory reach. Trump has repeatedly criticized the EPA for what he calls a string of onerous, expensive regulations that are hampering businesses. And his nominee to run the agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, has repeatedly sued the EPA over the years, challenging its legal authority to regulate everything from mercury pollution to various wetlands and waterways to carbon emissions from power plants. 
 
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 Read more: 
 
 Trump names Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma attorney general suing EPA on climate change, to head the EPA 
 
 Meet the man Donald Trump is counting on to scale back the EPA 
 
 Trump freezes hiring of many federal workers 
 
 For more, you can sign up for our weekly newsletter here and follow us on Twitter here. ||||| The Trump administration has imposed a freeze on grants and contracts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a move that could affect a significant part of the agency’s budget allocations and even threaten to disrupt core operations ranging from toxic cleanups to water quality testing, according to records and interviews. 
 
 In one email exchange obtained by ProPublica on Monday, an EPA contracting officer concluded a note to a storm water management employee this way: 
 
 “Right now we are in a holding pattern. The new EPA administration has asked that all contract and grant awards be temporarily suspended, effective immediately. Until we receive further clarification, this includes task orders and work assignments.” 
 
 Asked about any possible freeze and its implications, EPA officials did not provide an answer. 
 
 One EPA employee aware of the freeze said he had never seen anything like it in nearly a decade with the agency. Hiring freezes happened, he said, but freezes on grants and contracts seemed extraordinary. The employee said the freeze appeared to be nationwide, and as of Monday night it was not clear for how long it would be in place. 
 
 The substance of the email exchange was confirmed by one senior EPA employee with over 20 years at the agency. An EPA lawyer also said that earlier communications had described such a freeze. 
 
 Monday night, Myron Ebell, who ran the EPA transition for the incoming administration, confirmed the basics of the freeze, but said the actions were not 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, who returned over the weekend to his position directing energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market, industry-aligned group that has long fought the EPA’s growth and influence. 
 
 “This may be a little wider than some previous administrations, but it’s very similar to what others have done,” he said. 
 
 President Trump has nominated Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the EPA. Pruitt has deep ties to the fossil fuel industry, and formed an alliance between the industry and other attorneys general to fight former President Baracks Obama’s climate proposals. He is seen as a hero among conservatives who believe the EPA oversteps its federal authority. 
 
 Pruitt faced tough questioning and even outright skepticism during his initial confirmation hearing last week. The Washington Examiner published a statement Monday by Tom Carper, the Delaware Democrat and ranking member on the Environment and Public Works Committee, saying, "Following the committee hearing on Scott Pruitt's nomination to head the EPA, serious questions remain about the nominee's record and vision for the agency he seeks to lead." 
 
 Much about any freeze at the EPA remains unclear, including whether it affects only new grants and contracts, or may also affect the roughly $6.4 billion worth of federal contracts the EPA already has in place. EPA press offices across the country did not immediately respond to calls and emails requesting comment. 
 
 The EPA routinely contracts out services ranging from hazardous waste handling to drinking water quality testing. More than 600 active contracts with businesses ranging from small minority-owned consulting companies to institutions as big as Colorado State University can be explored here. 
 
 The environmental agency’s grants are used to support private, state and municipal level environmental testing, remediation and innovation projects. Together those programs can total more in spending than an entire year’s budget for the agency. The EPA awarded roughly $1.4 billion worth of contracts and $9.6 billion in grants in 2013, the latest year for which data was available, according to the government spending website InsideGov.com. The agency’s total budget in 2016 was $8.6 billion. 
 
 A freeze on payments would appear consistent with other actions taken on Monday, including President Trump signing an executive order instituting a hiring freeze for new federal workers — a centerpiece of the pledge he made in his “Contract with the American Voter” during the presidential campaign. 
 
 If anyone has more information on recent events at the EPA, please contact us. 
 
 Abrahm Lustgarten contributed reporting to this story. ||||| WASHINGTON ― The Environmental Protection Agency has frozen its grant programs, according to sources there. 
 
 EPA staff has been instructed to freeze all its grants ― an extensive program that includes funding for research, redevelopment of former industrial sites, air quality monitoring and education, among other things ― and told not to discuss this order with anyone outside the agency, according to a Hill source with knowledge of the situation. 
 
 An EPA staffer provided the information to the congressional office anonymously, fearing retaliation. 
 
 It’s unclear whether the freeze is indefinite or temporary as the agency transitions fully to the Trump administration; the Senate has not yet confirmed Trump’s pick for EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt. It’s also not clear the immediate impact the grant freeze would have on programs across the country, since EPA grants are distributed at varying intervals and frequency. 
 
 “I will say it’s pretty unusual for us to get these kinds of anonymous contacts from people at the agency, which makes me think it’s unusual,” said the Hill source. 
 
 A source who works closely with states and territories on EPA grants said they heard from the agency on Tuesday evening that a review of grants would be done by Friday. 
 
 Neither the Trump transition office nor the central press office at the EPA responded to a request for comment Monday. 
 
 The Huffington Post received a message that was reportedly sent to staff Monday that seems to cover the current agency guidance on talking to the press in general, not just about the directive on grants. The memo states that the agency is imposing tight controls on external communication, including press releases, blog posts, social media and content on the agency website. 
 
 I just returned from a briefing for Communication Directors where the following information was provided. These restrictions are effective immediately and will remain in place until further direction is received from the new Administration’s Beach Team. Please review this material and share with all appropriate individuals in your organization. If anyone on your staff receives a press inquiry of any kind, it must be referred to me so I can coordinate with the appropriate individuals in OPA. No press releases will be going out to external audiences. 
 
 No social media will be going out. A Digital Strategist will be coming on board to oversee social media. Existing, individually controlled, social media accounts may become more centrally controlled. 
 
 No blog messages. 
 
 The Beach Team will review the list of upcoming webinars and decide which ones will go forward. 
 
 Please send me a list of any external speaking engagements that are currently scheduled among any of your staff from today through February. 
 
 Incoming media requests will be carefully screened. 
 
 No new content can be placed on any website. Only do clean up where essential. 
 
 List servers will be reviewed. Only send out critical messages, as messages can be shared broadly and end up in the press. I will provide updates to this information as soon as I receive it. 
 
 (”Beach team” refers to staffers for the new administration working at the various agencies while new leadership is put in place; “OPA” most likely refers to the “Office of Public Affairs.”) 
 
 There are clearly major changes underway at the EPA as the Trump team takes the helm. Trump appointed Myron Ebell, the director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the libertarian think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute and a fierce EPA critic, to oversee the transition work at the agency. Axios reported Monday that the Trump team plans to cut $815 million from the agency’s budget, for programs like states and tribal assistance grants, climate programs and other “environment programs and management.” 
 
 Pruitt has a long history of battling the agency over environmental regulations as the attorney general of Oklahoma, describing himself as “a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda.” 
 
 In a report later Monday night, ProPublica confirmed the freeze in an interview and reported it also includes EPA contracts. Ebell told ProPublica the freeze is to “make sure nothing happens they don’t want to have happen.” 
 
 “This may be a little wider than some previous administrations, but it’s very similar to what others have done,” he said. 
 
 But a former Obama administration EPA official tells HuffPost that while “it is completely normal for incoming administrations to come in and take stock of what’s happening across an agency,” the Trump administration’s moves so far are “extreme, and very troubling, especially when it comes to both the grant freeze and the public communications.” 
 
 “When it comes to the grants freeze, this could be especially problematic at the state level. EPA sends a huge amount of its budget to the states, where it is ultimately spent,” said the official. “That’s where you could ultimately see the most negative impacts, especially at times when states are already suffering budget challenges. Time will tell, but this is not a great start when it comes to supporting states or transparency and a commitment to sharing important information with the public.” 
 
 HuffPost also reported Tuesday that staffers at several other federal agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, have also been told to shut down external communication for the time being. 
 
 Do you work in a federal agency? Email us at scoops@huffingtonpost.com and let us know what you’re seeing and hearing.
– The Environmental Protection Agency is stuck in what insiders call a "holding pattern" after a Trump administration order that freezes all EPA grants and contracts. "New EPA administration has asked that all contract and grant awards be temporarily suspended, effective immediately,” an email obtained by the Washington Post states. "Please construe this to include task orders and work assignments," states the email, which was sent on Friday, within hours of Trump's swearing in. The email says the agency hopes to receive more clarification soon on the order, which could affect everything from climate research and education to waste handling and water testing. Trump has nominated longtime EPA critic Scott Pruit to run the agency. Myron Ebell, the prominent climate skeptic who ran the EPA transition for the Trump team, tells ProPublica that the move isn't unusual, though it may be wider than what previous administrations have done. "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," he says. A source tells the Huffington Post that EPA staffers have been ordered not to discuss the freeze with anybody outside the agency. There also has been a freeze on EPA press releases and social media postings, according to a memo obtained by the HuffPo. (On Monday, Trump brought in a federal hiring freeze.)