EPA’s Zeldin Targets $20 Billion Grants From Biden’s Climate Law

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is taking aim at roughly $20 billion in funding from the Biden administration’s climate law, pledging to investigate the spending and refer the matter to the agency’s inspector general.

“This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history, and it was purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight,” Zeldin said Wednesday in a post on X.

Zeldin didn’t name the funding mechanism, but he appeared to be referencing the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a program from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act that delivers nearly $27 billion in competitive grants to projects that decarbonize the economy. The fund is meant to create a national financing network for clean energy projects and other climate solutions.

“Even further, this pot of $20 billion was awarded to just eight entities that were then responsible for doling out your money to NGOs and others, at their discretion, with far less transparency,” he said. Zeldin specifically pointed out a $7 billion grant to the Climate United Fund.

Two programs within the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund—the National Clean Investment Fund and the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator—totaled $20 billion in funding for eight recipients, including Climate United Fund.

Former President Joe Biden’s EPA announced the recipients of funding under that program in April 2024, with a goal of directing most of the projects to low income, disadvantaged, and rural communities.

Republicans at the time criticized the program’s funding for potentially being used to support projects that wouldn’t otherwise be financed or that might be bad investments. House Republicans passed a bill last year to repeal the fund.

Beth Bafford, CEO of the Climate United Fund, told Bloomberg Law in April 2024 that the group would “take calculated risks. We need to, to accelerate the activity and get to net zero, but we know we can do it within a sustainable financial institution, because that’s what all three partners have done for decades.”

Zeldin on Wednesday said “the financial agent agreement with the bank needs to be instantly terminated,” adding that the bank must immediately return the money.

“EPA needs to reassume responsibility for all of these funds. We will review every penny that has gone out the door. I’ll be referring this matter to the inspector general’s office and will work with the Justice Department as well,” he said.

The action appears to follow through on a vow Zeldin made during his Senate confirmation hearing to closely scrutinize the billions of dollars Biden’s EPA has issued in grant funding under the infrastructure and climate laws.

“I just want to be in a position to account to all of you, as far as the dollars being spent by EPA,” Zeldin told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee at his nomination hearing in January.