There are two ways to look at last week’s news that the Trump Administration is terminating $27 million in funding for the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities’ Microgrid project.

One is to wonder why funding for a natural gas powered project ran afoul of a president who favors natural gas over wind and solar projects. The BPU Microgrid system involves utilizing existing power generation equipment to power a strong network of underground electrical distribution circuitry to ensure electricity runs to the core of downtown Jamestown independent of regional power providers. The microgrid will ensure that energy is delivered to public services, the hospital, designated emergency shelters, schools, and other businesses and that electric vehicles can be charged during an emergency. The fact it’s powered by the BPU’s natural gas turbine would seem to be a benefit in the federal government’s view.

The reliability the project would provide certainly should help city residents sleep a bit better at night knowing that vital public services would operate seamlessly if there is another August 2003 blackout in our future. From that lens losing the bulk of the microgrid’s funding stream is incredibly disappointing.

The second way to look at the announcement is through a financial lens. The federal government was set to pay $27 million for a project that may not be used often. BPU power is already far more reliable than electricity providers serving more rural areas, not that we expect the federal government to know that, so it’s natural to ask if the microgrid is actually necessary given the number of catastrophic outages we have seen here. In a city with a lot of needs, is this the best use of $27 million?

What makes the aftermath of decisions like this difficult is the Trump Administration provides little reasoning for its decisions. If the aim is to bring the federal budget into balance, then we can understand taking $27 million from a project that would be a nice addition to the BPU but may not fix an immediate need if we weren’t at the same time cutting funding for needs – like housing or emergency food programs. A program that could help the homeless may be coming to an end within the next year just as Chautauqua County is applying for membership. Food assistance programs have been cut at a time when more and more people are struggling to put meals on the table. Health care costs are through the roof. And grocery and gas prices – two Trump talking points during the campaign – have barely budged in the past 10 months.

It’s understandable that the federal government is eliminating projects like the BPU’s microgrid project for financial reasons. It’s a want instead of a need. But if we’re going to give up our national wants, we should meet our national needs. And, in our view, that’s not happening.