News from rural America.

Experts are skeptical a new rural health slush fund will fill Medicaid gaps, Colorado officials protest public land management cuts and tribes and rural communities sue the EPA over cancelled funding for flood and climate mitigation projects.

TRANSCRIPT

For The Daily Yonder and Public News Service, this is news from rural America.

Rural communities are suing the EPA over the ending of almost $3 billion in climate resilience grants.

Rainya Paul is the environmental director for the native village of Kipnuk, Alaska, a federally recognized tribe.

She says they were using their grant to ease worsening problems with erosion.

Everyone that I've spoken to was like, "What are we gonna do now?"

I told them I was very discouraged.

Appalachian communities in Southwest Virginia were using the grants for flood mitigation as climate change makes storms there worse.

Emma Kelly is with Appalachian Voices.

It was a lot of effort to get this initial application in.

There's not a lot of time and energy left to do that again.

The EPA is asking for the suit to be dismissed.

Colorado officials sent a letter to the state's congressional delegation protesting federal public lands management cuts.

That includes ending efforts to track the local impacts of the changing climate.

John Clark, mayor of Ridgeway, said those programs are essential for the region's food producers.

If our farmers and ranchers don't have accurate data about what's happening with the climate, how can they be prepared for each growing season?

Critics also say a provision in the new budget law undermines local decision-making for public land use.

A move Clark said he worries will lead to the loss of good paying jobs in rapidly growing renewable energy industries.

We discourage clean energy on public lands, that's gonna severely impact our alternative energy workforce.

The law prioritizes oil and gas leasing and increases barriers for wind and solar.

Colorado's clean energy workforce has exploded, adding over 3,000 jobs in 2023.

To get votes for the tax and spending law, Congress added a fund to offset impacts of Medicaid cuts on small rural hospitals.

Anya Slepian explains.

KFF health news reporter, Sarah Jane Tribble, says experts are skeptical that the newly created Rural Health Slush Fund will be able to fill the gaps left by massive Medicaid cuts.

One estimate is that Medicaid spending will decline 155 billion over 10 years.

This program's only 50 billion over five years.

And so just the basic math doesn't work.

Nearly one in four rural Americans depend on Medicaid, but there's no guarantee rural communities will be the primary recipients of the new rural health funding.

Michael Cannon with the Cato Institute says federal money doesn't always go where it's supposed to.

When Congress spends money on healthcare, it usually goes to the most powerful political constituencies.

I'm Anya Slepyan.

For The Daily Yonder and Public News Service, I'm Nadia Ramlagan.

For more rural stories, visit dailyyonder.com.