Despite continued attempts from the Trump administration to halt federal funding for climate action, Oregon officials say the state expects to receive $26 million, half of what the state was originally awarded, to build out fast electric vehicle chargers later this year.

But that funding may not make its way to Oregon. State officials are operating based on the belief the agency will be reimbursed for those funds that were promised in a signed contract — while some in Washington, D.C., say they are not convinced the Trump administration will pay those bills.

The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program aims to build out a network of public DC fast chargers, which can take an electric vehicle from zero to 80% charged in about 20 minutes, throughout frequently used highway corridors. It was created through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021. But last month, the Trump administration halted all federal funding being dispersed from the law through an executive order.

Even though the state of the program is up in the air, Oregon Department of Transportation staff expect the state will receive $26 million of its original $52 million federal award.

“We worked with the Federal Highway Administration to obligate the $26.1 million, which was all that Federal Highway Administration would allow us to obligate prior to the executive orders,” Brett Howell, ODOT’s transportation electrification coordinator said. When funds are obligated, that means the federal agency has provided approval for work and agreed to reimbursement to start for new and existing projects.

But Howell said the agency received a letter from the U.S Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration on Feb. 6, suspending further approval of the NEVI program.

The letter states, “Therefore, effective immediately, no new obligations may occur under the NEVI Formula Program until the updated final NEVI Formula Program Guidance is issued and new State plans are submitted and approved. … Until new guidance is issued, reimbursement of existing obligations will be allowed in order to not disrupt current financial commitments.”

Of the $26.1 million the state expects to receive, Oregon has already awarded $10.5 million in competitive grants through the program, Howell said.

“We awarded $10.5 million and we’re not waiting to move forward with that,” he said. “We fully intend on honoring the commitments we made to those companies and we’re actually in the process of signing grant agreements with them right now.”

In January, ODOT selected three finalists to build 13 fast charging stations along Interstate 5 south of Eugene, U.S. Highway 97 and Interstate 205, with the first $10.5 million round of funding. Those companies are Electrify America, EV Charging Solutions and EV Gateway.

ODOT does not own, install or operate the charging stations. The agency partners with pre-qualified private companies to complete the work. Selected companies must also provide a minimum of 20% in matching funds.

But the federal funds are under a reimbursement basis, which means Oregon is only repaid after spending funds, Howell said, and because the agency has already obligated each phase of the project, the funds are then made available to the state for reimbursement.

“So for funds that we obligated in Oregon, that $26.1 million, that’s not at risk,” Howell said. “What we’ve been told time and time again is that that funding is there and we can submit reimbursement requests from our expenditures for the project.”

But on Tuesday, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, along with other Democratic members from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, wrote a letter to the recently appointed U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, demanding answers about the halt in payments and an immediate reinstatement of the program.

“We write in strong opposition to your cutoff of funding for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. This action shows blatant disrespect for the law and for constitutional order,” the letter stated. “Established in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the NEVI program provides funding for every state in the nation.”

Despite that letter, Howell said the ODOT still expects to receive the obligated funding and intends to honor the commitments the agency has made. He also said it’s a challenging time for all states.

“We participate in several working groups with other agencies and other states, and what we’re hearing is that several are considering pulling back previously issued funding opportunities because they’re no longer certain that they’ll be reimbursed for them,” he said. “And in some cases, these federal grant awards specifically that have now been frozen or rescinded completely represented 100% of the funding that these agencies had to dedicate to these projects.”

Howell said the agency intended to release more funding through the program to add fast charging stations for at least eight more highway corridors but as the state waits for the Federal Highway Administration to release new guidance for the program, those projects are now in limbo.

“At this point we’re kind of just in a waiting game to see, you know how long this is going to take,” he said.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/02/11/oregon-26-million-ev-electric-vehicle-chargers-trump-federal-funding-freeze/