EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said he will not rest ‘until these hard-earned taxpayer dollars are returned to the U.S. Treasury.’
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from terminating grants that were part of a $20 billion climate funding program created by the previous administration.
In a 23-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the EPA from terminating grants awarded to three environmental groups—Climate United, Coalition for Green Capital, and Power Forward Communities—and block Citibank from transferring the funds back to the government.
According to the court ruling, the EPA explained that it was terminating the grants due to multiple ongoing investigations into “programmatic waste, fraud, and abuse and conflict of interest.”
Chutkan said the evidence was insufficient as the agency failed to provide specific information about the investigations, factual support for the decision, or an individualized explanation for each plaintiff.
“Based on the record before the court, and under the relevant statutes and various agreements, it does not appear that EPA Defendants took the legally required steps necessary to terminate these grants, such that its actions were arbitrary and capricious,” the judge wrote.
Chutkan said the plaintiffs would face imminent harm if Citibank were to transfer the funds—which they use to pay staff, rent, and fund projects—out of their accounts, as the money would be unrecoverable by then.
The judge stated that the plaintiffs have no cash or reserves available to cover their operating expenses and have no other committed sources of funding that could replace the grants.
Climate United was awarded $6.97 billion, the Coalition for Green Capital received $5 billion, and Power Forward Communities received $2 billion last year through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Their grants, held by Citibank, were part of the $20 billion in funding the Biden administration awarded to eight entities for projects aimed at curbing pollution.
The three nonprofits filed the lawsuit on March 8 after Citibank withheld their funding and their grants were terminated. The plaintiffs alleged that the EPA’s decision to terminate their grants was unlawful.
