The Epa Can't End Grants From 20 Billion Biden-era Fund For Climate-friendly Projects, A Judge Says

A federal judge says some nonprofits awarded billions for a so-called green bank to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects cannot have their contracts scrapped and must have access to some of the frozen money. The ruling is a defeat for President Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency, which argues the program is rife with financial mismanagement.

The order late Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan "gives us a chance to breathe after the EPA unlawfully - and without due process - terminated our awards and blocked access to funds that were appropriated by Congress and legally obligated," said Climate United CEO Beth Bafford.

The lawsuit by Climate United Fund and other groups contends that the EPA, Administrator Lee Zeldin and Citibank, which held the grant money, illegally blocked the funds awarded last year and had jeopardized the organizations' operations.

Chutkan said Citibank must provide the money that was due to the nonprofits before the EPA had frozen their accounts in mid-February. The EPA immediately appealed.

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, commonly referred to as a "green bank," was authorized by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act under Democratic President Joe Biden. Its goals run counter to the Trump administration's opposition to climate-friendly policies and its embrace of fossil fuels . Zeldin quickly made the bank a target, characterizing the 20 billion in grants as a "gold bar" scheme marred by conflicts of interest and potential fraud.