Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher tells NBC Montana that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has abruptly canceled a $20 million grant for a Community Resiliency Hub.

The funds from the Community Change Grant had already been appropriated by Congress via the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act from 2022, and the grant had already been awarded to Butte-Silver Bow, with a press conference celebrating the occasion back on Jan. 10.

However, Butte-Silver Bow had been unable to access grant funds until this past Friday morning, and then they received a notice of termination just a few hours later.

“We’re not going to give up the fight. That’s all I want people to know. This is something we went at and worked at hard. We were fairly awarded this grant, so we think it should still be funded and move forward for our community,” said Gallagher.

The termination letter from the EPA, provided to NBC Montana by Gallagher, cites an inconsistency “with EPA funding priorities.”