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The Environmental Protection Agency said it’s terminating $20 billion in grants awarded through a green bank program established under former President Joe Biden’s signature climate law.
The money is part of a $27 billion pool and awarded to community development organizations and other nonprofits, credit unions, housing agencies and solar energy projects. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin claims that the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is part of a “scheme” administered by the previous administration without proper oversight.
In a statement Tuesday, the agency said it had notified recipients of awards from the fund that their grant agreements for climate-related projects were being terminated after a review identified “material deficiencies which pose an unacceptable risk to the lawful execution of these grants.”
“This termination is based on substantial concerns regarding the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) program integrity, the award process, programmatic fraud, waste, and abuse, and misalignment with agency’s priorities, which collectively undermine the fundamental goals and statutory objectives of the award,” according to the statement, which did not provide evidence for the accusations.
The program came under scrutiny from Republicans after an EPA employee was caught on camera by the right-wing activist group Project Veritas comparing the funding to “throwing gold bars off the Titanic,” discussing urgency of distributing the money “as fast as possible before they come in and stop it all,” and characterizing the effort as “an insurance policy against Trump winning.”
The EPA said it would work to “re-obligate lawfully appropriated funds in the GGRF with enhanced controls to ensure adequate governance, transparency, and accountability, consistent with statutory requirements.”
The moved was panned by environmental groups and congressional Democrats, who said Zeldin didn’t have the legal authority to terminate the funding.
“Without a shred of evidence, Administrator Zeldin is escalating his unfounded attempts to unilaterally terminate congressionally authorized and contractually obligated funding that would lower household energy costs, spur economic growth, and cut pollution,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat.
“Despite the wishes of his puppet masters in the Musk-Trump Administration, this is not how the Constitution, the appropriations process, or contract law works,” Whitehouse said in a statement.
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It’s so Joever for any hope of keeping warming under 1.5C
I’m sorry some areas won’t receive free solar, but America needs to address the spending. We need to be strong again. Maybe a local charity organization will be formed and step up, rather than demanding money from taxpayers.
Okay, boomer
I suspect this is where the $400K went for KIB and its tree planting program went.
I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CONGRESSMAN AND SENATOR!!!!!!!
Its already doomed, unfortunately. We had our chance, and we blew it.
How sad, Republicans forever kicking the can down the road (for the last 30 years or so) with environmental responsibility. Sad. And I agree with Michael, we had a chance to make real change and try to turn this thing around and we continue to fail. It is not going to matter one day how much money or jobs we have, when there is no clean air or water left.