EPA Chief Wants to Claw Back $20B in Grants

In a major reversal, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency says he will try to rescind $20 billion in grants awarded by the Biden administration for climate and clean-energy projects. In a video posted on X, Administrator Lee Zeldin says the EPA would revoke contracts for a still-emerging "green bank" that is set to fund tens of thousands of projects to fight climate change and promote environmental justice, the AP reports.

• 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 disadvantaged communities.

• Republicans in Congress have called the green bank a "slush fund" and voiced concern over how the money will be used and whether there will be sufficient accountability and transparency. The Republican-controlled House approved a bill last year to repeal the green bank and other parts of Biden's climate agenda. The bill was blocked in the Senate, which was controlled by Democrats at the time.
• Zeldin, in the video posted Wednesday night, said there will be "zero tolerance of any waste and abuse" at the EPA under his administration. He cited "an extremely disturbing video" from right-wing organization Project Veritas on X that features a former EPA staffer stating that the Biden administration was "tossing gold bars off the Titanic" in order to spend billions of taxpayer dollars before President Trump took office.

• Clean energy advocates denounced Zeldin's action as a political stunt and said he was illegally attempting to revoke spending approved by Congress for partisan reasons. They pledged to challenge the directive in court. "This is not just an attack on clean energy investments—it's a blatant violation of the Constitution," says Lena Moffitt, executive director of Evergreen Action, an environmental group that supports the green bank.
• The money has already been awarded to eight nonprofits, including the Coalition for Green Capital, Climate United, Rewiring America, Habitat for Humanity, and the Community Preservation Corporation.

(More Environmental Protection Agency stories.)