San Francisco says new anti-DEI provision threatens federal energy funds

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — The city of San Francisco claims in a Friday suit that the U.S. Energy Department has attached unlawful conditions to federal funding, a move they say is an attempt by President Donald Trump to impose his anti-DEI policies on the area.

San Francisco writes in its 71-page suit that it’s participated in the department’s clean cities and communities coalition program for over 30 years. Recently, it secured funding through that program.

However, the department has revealed new conditions on all its funding — forcing recipients to comply with an interpretation of antidiscrimination law it calls unsupported and ambiguous.

“By unilaterally imposing a condition that Congress has not authorized and bears no connection to the funding programs Congress established, defendants usurp Congress’ power of the purse and violate numerous other constitutional and statutory protections,” it writes.

The city asks a federal judge to declare that condition unlawful and stop the Energy Department from enforcing it.

San Francisco calls the condition an impermissible move by the executive branch to force it into agreeing to certain policies. It accuses the department of violating the separation-of-powers principle, settled civil rights and antidiscrimination law and the Administrative Procedure Act.

The Energy Department released the new criteria on its website on or before April 12. To receive department funding, awardees must certify they don’t use programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, called DEI, it adds.

The condition is meant to implement an executive order of Trump’s issued the day after his inauguration. It focuses on DEI policies, which Trump in the order said violated the text and spirit of federal civil rights laws and undermined traditional American values, the city writes.

“While the city has routinely certified compliance with federal antidiscrimination laws as a condition of federal funding in the past, defendants have thrown into doubt the well-established meaning of such a certification,” the city writes. “Since his inauguration, President Trump has issued a series of executive orders purporting to target any program that advances diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’) goals.”

The Justice Department has guidance detailing what antidiscrimination law requires, though San Francisco called it an ideological agenda that distorts law and prohibits any program that encourages DEI.

The city says this agenda usurps legislative and judicial action, twisting the discrimination condition into a weapon of the executive branch.

The money tied to the clean cities program encourages the development of refueling facilities on the local level and education for the public about alternative fuel vehicles, among other goals.

The program offers federal funding to its members, which is used to track the use of alternative and renewable fuels, lower emissions and invest in new transportation technologies.

The city says it applied for funding as it has for three decades, receiving a $130,000 award in April. It intends to use the money to connect potential electric vehicle charging site hosts with local manufacturers, get community feedback on curbside charging and perform its data tracking of alternative fuel prices and greenhouse gas emission reductions.

“Clean Cities awards are the only funding mechanism available to San Francisco’s Department of the Environment for direct outreach and engagement with small businesses, residents, and small- and medium-sized fleets that lack the resources to purchase electric vehicles," the city writes.

City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement that climate change is an existential crisis, and that the program funding cuts fossil fuel emissions.

“San Francisco cares about our planet and is committed to taking steps to reverse climate change,” he said. “The administration is again using illegal funding conditions on critical grants to push its anti-equity agenda.”

The Energy Department couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.