{"id":1571293,"date":"2025-09-11T15:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1571293"},"modified":"2025-09-11T15:45:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:45:00","slug":"appeals-court-allows-epa-clawback-of-climate-grant-funds-what-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/appeals-court-allows-epa-clawback-of-climate-grant-funds-what-to-know\/1571293\/","title":{"rendered":"Appeals Court Allows EPA Clawback Of Climate Grant Funds: What To Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

Appeals Court Allows EPA Clawback Of Climate Grant Funds: What To Know<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Stacy Robinson via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could legally rescind $16 billion in climate grants that had been awarded as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Signage is seen at the headquarters of the United States Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 10, 2021. Andrew Kelly\/File Photo\/Reuters<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

That 2\u20131 ruling on Sept. 2 overturned a lower court order that blocked the administration from reclaiming the grant money and putting it to other use.<\/p>\n

Where Did the Money Come From and Where Did it Go?<\/h2>\n

As part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, Congress allocated $27 billion for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund,<\/strong> which was designed to power alternative energy initiatives.<\/p>\n

Nonprofit groups competed for the cash, winners were picked, and the full $27 billion was allocated by mid-August 2024, in the form of subgrants given out by three umbrella agencies.<\/p>\n

Court documents later noted that the grant structure for this massive project was unique: Normally, the funds are held by the Treasury Department and disbursed as needed. For the first time, the EPA placed the funds with Citibank, which acted as a \u201cfinancial agent\u201d for the United States.<\/p>\n

Trump Elected, Red Flags Raised<\/h2>\n

On Dec. 3, independent journalism outfit Project Veritas released a video<\/a> showing an EPA employee explaining that the agency was distributing money for climate programs at an accelerated speed, as an \u201cinsurance policy\u201d in case Trump decided to end those programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt truly feels like we\u2019re on the Titanic and we\u2019re throwing like gold bars off the edge<\/strong>,\u201d the employee said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Such projects came under scrutiny after Trump took office. The FBI asked Citibank to freeze Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund payments in February.<\/p>\n

On March 3, the EPA said<\/a> it was referring the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to its inspector general for investigation of alleged \u201cfinancial mismanagement, conflicts of interest,\u201d and possible fraud.<\/p>\n

The announcement noted that one recipient organization had reported $100 in revenue for 2023, but was awarded $2 billion in 2024.<\/strong><\/p>\n

EPA head Lee Zeldin released a statement<\/a> on March 11 announcing he had terminated the grants, citing concerns over \u201cprogram integrity, the award process, programmatic fraud, waste, and abuse, and misalignment with agency\u2019s priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe days of \u2018throwing gold bars off the Titanic\u2019 are over,\u201d Zeldin said.<\/p>\n

The Green Bank Legal Battle<\/h2>\n

The Climate United Fund brought a suit in March on behalf of itself and four other organizations. All the plaintiffs were \u201cgreen banks,\u201d organizations that worked to provide financing for alternative energy projects.<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs argued that withholding the funds was \u201cillegal, and the grants had been terminated with no notice or explanation, and without presenting evidence that the organizations were guilty of \u201dwaste, fraud, and abuse.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

They also said the EPA\u2014part of the executive branch\u2014was violating the separation of powers because it was not enforcing the Inflation Reduction Act, which had been passed by Congress.<\/p>\n

The government countered<\/a> that changes in the grantees\u2019 contracts\u2014made after Trump was elected\u2014gave the EPA little \u201coversight and transparency\u201d on how the money was spent.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, the government said the matter was a contract dispute and should be heard in the Court of Federal Claims, not a district court.<\/p>\n

Court Decisions<\/h2>\n

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan temporarily blocked the EPA and Citibank from withholding the grant money in March, and extended that block on April 16.<\/p>\n

Chutkan said \u201cthe record does indicate that EPA seeks to dismantle these grant programs in their entirety as a policy matter,\u201d but that power belongs to Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, when an organization is created to fulfill the objectives of a grant and its existence relies on grant money, harm is certain once the grant funds are withdrawn<\/strong>,\u201d she wrote in her opinion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit halted Chutkan\u2019s order to give the government time to appeal.<\/p>\n

While the case was playing out, Congress enacted recissions that eliminated the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund\u2014but this only reclaimed $19 million because the rest was still being held by Citibank.<\/p>\n

Eventually the Appeals Court overturned Chutkan\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n

The 2\u20131 majority ruled that the case belonged in the Court of Federal Claims, since the \u201cchallenge to the grant terminations is a disguised contract claim that cannot be heard in district court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Climate United Fund CEO Beth Bafford issued a statement saying the ruling was disappointing, but the organization\u2019s work will continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the end of our road<\/strong>,\u201d she said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The EPA celebrated the ruling in a statement<\/a>, saying \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to see reason prevail in the court system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Implications?<\/h2>\n

Legal scholar and commentator John Shu told The Epoch Times that \u201cthe plaintiffs are in a tough position of their own making.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of the unique structure of the grants, Shu said he didn\u2019t think the case would have far-reaching implications.<\/p>\n

The climate groups may appeal to the Federal Court of Claims, or they may ask the appeals court for an \u201cen banc\u201d hearing before a panel of all its judges, instead of just three.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to happen because that would further delay getting their money, if they get it at all<\/strong>,\u201d Shu said.<\/p>\n

The same goes for a possible hearing by the Supreme Court, he said. A decision could take years, and the plaintiffs\u2019 suit stated that the climate groups were already short on cash to pay employees.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nThu, 09\/11\/2025 – 11:45<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/appeals-court-allows-epa-clawback-climate-grant-funds-what-know<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Appeals Court Allows EPA Clawback Of Climate Grant Funds: What To Know Authored by Stacy Robinson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A federal appeals…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1571294,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1571293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1571293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1571294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1571293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1571293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1571293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}