Last November, Jakarta-based Muhamad Heychael, program director at nonprofit media organization Remotivi, began offering small grants to local journalists to report on the nickel mines and smelters proliferating in remote corners of Indonesia’s far east. Heychael and his colleagues chose 10 journalists hailing from places like Morowali on the island of Sulawesi and Obi Island in North Maluku province. Each got 10 million rupiah ($600) — money linked to an earlier USAID grant — to report on the impact the country’s headlong rush to insert itself into the electric vehicle supply chain was having on their communities. The effort was a small step toward highlighting the pollution, disruption and abuse stemming from the onslaught of secretive Chinese investment in Indonesia’s booming metals sector. But when U.S. President Donald Trump froze USAID funding in January, Remotivi’s reporting initiative ended as soon as it began, putting at risk coverage of the impact to remote communities from one of fastest-growing sectors of Indonesia’s economy. U.S. Congress had earmarked nearly $270 million this year to support independent journalism outlets like Remotivi as well as media-related NGOs around the world, funds now halted by the Trump administration. The loss of those funds, coupled with the decades-long hollowing-out of newsrooms owing to slumping revenue and government curbs on press freedom in the region, will be a boon to polluters who are now less likely to be held to account by reporters. “Without our efforts, there would be no scrutiny,” Heychael said, referring to remote communities that…This article was originally published on Mongabay