The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administration confirmed Tuesday that $20 billion in what it called “gold bar” grants to eight recipients has been terminated.
“It is my commitment to President Trump, Congress, and you, that EPA will be an exceptional steward of your tax dollars,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a post on social media platform X, adding in a video that it’s a “high priority” to terminate those programs and that he has “officially terminated these grant agreements.”
🚨Update: @EPA just notified 8 recipients of $20 BILLION in Biden EPA “gold bars” that their grants have been TERMINATED!
— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) March 11, 2025
It is my commitment to President Trump, Congress, and you, that EPA will be an exceptional steward of your tax dollars. I’ll have it no other way! pic.twitter.com/PjJ5WOlaY1
Last month, in a video posted on X, Zeldin said the EPA would try to rescind $20 billion in grants awarded by the Biden administration for climate and alternative energy projects.
The program, approved under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, is formally known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, but is more commonly called the “green bank.” Two initiatives, worth $14 billion and $6 billion, respectively, are intended to offer competitive grants to nonprofits, community development banks, and other groups, for projects with a focus on what are said to be disadvantaged communities.
The money has already been awarded to eight nonprofits, including the Coalition for Green Capital, Climate United Fund, Power Forward Communities, Opportunity Finance Network, Inclusiv, and the Justice Climate Fund. Those organizations have partnered with a range of groups, including Rewiring America, Habitat for Humanity and the Community Preservation Corporation.
Zeldin added in a video released Tuesday that the FBI and the Department of Justice are both investigating the funds. The money has since been frozen, he added.
“Not only does EPA have full authority to take this action but frankly, we were left with no other option,” he said. The terminations announced Tuesday were done because the programs, he said, were in violation of the EPA’s statutory objectives and were misaligned with the administration’s focus.
“The only way we can reduce waste … is by terminating these grants,” Zeldin, a former Republican congressman, said in the video.
Zeldin said last month that in meetings with members of Congress before he was confirmed, he “made a very important commitment to them and to the American people” and added that he wants a “full accounting” of EPA funds.
