By Another liberal federal judge is doing everything she can to protect Democratic self-dealing and has temporarily blocked the Environmental Protection Agency from rescinding $20 billion in climate-related “grants” to leftwing groups–including sending $2 billion to Stacey Abrams–ruling that the agency failed to substantiate its claims of financial mismanagement and corruption.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued an injunction preventing EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin from revoking funding allocated to Climate United, the Coalition for Green Capital, and Power Forward Communities. Chutkan determined that the EPA had not presented adequate evidence to justify its allegations that the grants were linked to what it described as a “gold bar scheme” involving self-dealing, wasteful expenditures, and potential fraud, wrote The Washington Examiner.
“In the termination letters, EPA Defendants vaguely reference ‘multiple ongoing investigations’ into ‘programmatic waste, fraud, and abuse and conflicts of interest’ but offer no specific information about such investigations, factual support for the decision, or an individualized explanation for each Plaintiff,” Chutkan wrote in her ruling. She also emphasized that the organizations targeted for defunding were not afforded the opportunity to challenge the allegations before their grants were rescinded.
The Washington Free Beacon previously reported that Abrams and her group were slated to get billions from Biden’s EPA. “Power Forward Communities’ grant was one of just eight Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants that the EPA doled out in April 2024 and that, altogether, totaled $20 billion. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin announced on Feb. 13 that his staff and Department of Government Efficiency officials discovered that the Biden administration parked that same $20 billion at an outside financial institution before leaving office, limiting the federal government’s oversight of the program.
The revelation that Power Forward Communities is among the beneficiaries of the funds Zeldin’s team located raises ethics questions about how the Biden administration selected recipients of such massive grants and whether it played favorites when doling those grants out. Abrams was a vocal proponent of the Biden administration’s green energy agenda and campaigned for former vice president Kamala Harris.
It also appears to validate concerns expressed for years by Republicans that Biden administration allies would prop up organizations that were specifically designed to receive federal funding under programs like the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created to operate as a “green bank” by Democrats’ behemoth Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.”
Earlier in the year, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency’s decision to reclaim $20 billion in climate funds allocated during the final days of the Biden administration, arguing that the rushed distribution lacked proper oversight. The funds, managed through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, were placed under the control of a financial institution, a move Zeldin criticized as unprecedented. The EPA plans to terminate the financial agent agreement and return the money to the U.S. Treasury.
A Project Veritas investigation revealed that EPA official Brent Efron admitted to fast-tracking over $100 billion in climate-related grants under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act as an “insurance policy” against a Trump presidency. Efron suggested the funds were deliberately funneled to nonprofits to ensure Biden’s climate agenda remained intact, even implying potential personal career benefits from the allocation process. His remarks, including a comparison of the spending to “throwing gold bars off the Titanic,” have sparked backlash, with conservatives condemning the EPA’s unchecked authority.
Zeldin has vowed to investigate, referring the matter to the EPA Office of Inspector General, Congress, and the U.S. Department of Justice. He framed the move as part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to reassess Biden-era climate policies and prevent wasteful spending. The financial institution overseeing the funds, reportedly Citigroup, has not commented, but critics argue that the arrangement followed established Treasury practices.
The EPA leader announced the decision to revoke the grants last week, asserting that the Biden administration had improperly funneled billions of taxpayer dollars to an external financial institution, thereby restricting the EPA’s capacity to provide oversight.
The ruling represents another case where a low-level liberal judge has decided that she gets to be president, not Donald Trump. The White House will appeal the ruling.
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