30-01-2025
Trump executive orders hurt Jackson water, sewer? 'You can never be certain,' Henifin says
Interim Third-Party Water Manager Ted Henifin does not believe President Donald Trump's recent executive order halting all pending environmental litigation and ongoing consent decrees will have an impact on the ongoing repairs to Jackson's water and sewer systems "but you can never be certain."
For years, Jackson has been in federal court with both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency over the city's beleaguered water and sewer systems, both of which have fallen out of federal compliance. In 2022, Henifin was appointed by U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate to oversee repairs to the water system as part of a stipulated order; in 2023, he was also appointed to repair the sewers, which have had a federal consent decree for over a decade.
Henifin, through the company he created, JXN Water, is repairing the water system by utilizing $600 million in federal funds allocated to the city by the U.S. Congress in 2023 under former President Joe Biden's administration. The funds are part of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriation Act.
Another Trump executive order — the "Unleashing American Energy" order — froze federal funds allocated through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. A federal judge blocked the order on Tuesday. The White House then rescinded the order on Wednesday.
Henifin said he doesn't believe the $600 million will be impacted, but he admitted that he doesn't know what the future has in store.
"As things stand, we believe our funding is not at risk from the Unleashing American Energy Executive Orderbut who knows what is next," Henifin said.
Water stipulated order:The public is invited to comment on order putting Henifin in charge of sewers. Details here
On Tuesday, City Attorney Drew Martin announced Trump's executive orders during a meeting of the Jackson City Council, but Martin provided little details on what exactly the orders would impact.
"As of this morning, the (Trump) administration has ordered a halt to all environmental litigation and transferred many of the lawyers in the environmental division to the Department of Justice," Martin said on Tuesday. "That includes our efforts on the consent decree. All talks are paused, everything is stayed for some indefinite period of time, so I just wanted everybody to be aware of that. There's not much we can do about it."
But Martin did say Trump's orders impact "all the EPA attorneys that we're working with to get the consent decree done." Part of Trump's order reassigns EPA environmental attorneys to a new program called the Sanctuary City Task Force.
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Henifin said he doesn't see the reassignment of the EPA attorneys as impacting the water system's stipulated order or the sewer system's consent decree "at this time."
"Should we need to make a change to either, there could be some delay," Henifin said. "Again, too soon to tell. The City's Consent Decree, referenced by Drew is already stayed, there is no action needed or pending until Judge Wingate lifts the stay, which will happen at the end of the Sewer Stipulated Order in October 2027 or when he lifts the stay on the drinking water action, once he makes a final decision in the water case."
