New EPA Watchdog Alarms GOP With Claims About Funding Waste

The EPA’s new internal watchdog told a House panel on Wednesday about chronic risks in the agency’s grantmaking, feeding into the Trump administration’s assertions about widespread government waste.

Most of the internal vulnerabilities reported by Nicole Murley, acting inspector general at the Environmental Protection Agency, were publicly noted by the previous watchdog during the Biden administration.

But they received fresh attention in light of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s many claims of having found Biden-era grants that were self-dealing, wasteful, or inappropriately predicated on diversity, equity, inclusion, and access.

Zeldin on Tuesday touted the cancellation of 20 EPA grants totaling $60 ...