EPA Chief Calls for Reinstatement of $20 Billion in Climate Funding

February 14, 2025 TruthUSA

Agency leader Lee Zeldin demanded the return of the funds and pledged to scrutinize ‘every dollar that has been disbursed.’

The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the agency will seek to recover approximately $20 billion that was allocated to environmental organizations prior to President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.

In a video shared on the social media platform X on Wednesday, Zeldin indicated that the EPA has opted to retract the grants for climate and clean energy initiatives, primarily due to concerns over insufficient oversight and transparency.

“The era of carelessly funneling vast amounts of funds to far-left activist groups under the guise of environmental justice and climate equity is finished,” said the EPA leader. “The American public deserves a government that is more transparent and accountable than what was witnessed in the past four years.”

In his video, Zeldin stated that the EPA discovered that nearly $20 billion in taxpayer money was transferred during the previous administration to an unspecified external financial institution.

The bank managed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was established under the Inflation Reduction Act, through which the EPA distributed the $20 billion in grants to eight organizations.

Zeldin asserted that he believes the financial agreement with the bank should be terminated immediately and called for the institution to return all funds.

Zeldin claimed that the eight organizations were charged with funding nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and others at their discretion, with “far less transparency.”

“This arrangement was unprecedented in EPA history,” Zeldin stated. “It was deliberately structured to commit all the money in a hurried process with diminished oversight.”

As per the EPA head, nearly $7 billion of that total was allocated to the Climate United Fund. This fund, as stated on its official website, is described as a “national coalition of non-profits investing in solutions that address America’s most pressing economic and environmental challenges.”

In a statement from April 2024, the prior EPA commented that “The Climate United Fund’s program will focus on investing in harder-to-reach market sectors like consumers, small businesses, small farms, community facilities, and schools—with at least 60 percent of its investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities, 20 percent in rural areas, and 10 percent in tribal communities.”

In the video, Zeldin also referenced a Project Veritas video released in December 2024, in which Brent Efron, a special assistant in the EPA’s policy office during the Biden administration, seems to imply that the agency was eager to distribute billions in funding before the new Trump administration took over.

“Now we’re just trying to get the money out as quickly as possible before they arrive and halt everything,” Efron disclosed to an undercover Project Veritas reporter. “It genuinely feels like we’re on the Titanic and we’re tossing off gold bars.”

Zeldin announced that he will refer the alleged actions of the EPA under the previous administration to the EPA Office of Inspector General and intends to investigate the issue in collaboration with the Justice Department.

The EPA leader emphasized that, under the Trump administration, the agency will adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards waste and abuse and will examine “every dollar that has been expended.”

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