A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the EPA from withdrawing about $20 billion in climate currency, and the Trump administration said the door was pushed open by the departing Biden administration. [emphasis, links added]
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan said the Environmental Protection Agency had “no legal reason” about why recipients who tried to make money or give the money a chance to object or challenge the decision.
She issued a temporary restraining order against the EPA.
“It is certain that agencies can decide to reevaluate their plans, or they can decide to terminate the agreement or federal rewards,” the judge wrote.
The money has become a symbol of the Biden administration's last-minute effort to “prevent” the administration.
Late last year, the Veritas project captured an official, revealing that the EPA plan to push money away compared to “throwing the gold bars from the Titanic.”
New EPA administrator Lee Zeldin became the mission to regain the money, and earlier this month he announced his success.
“The days of throwing the gold bars from the Titanic are over,” he said. “I have taken action to terminate these grants and are filled with self-trading and wasteful expenses. The EPA will be an outstanding administrator of the taxpayer dollar, whose funding is committed to our core mission of protecting human health and the environment, rather than protecting human health and the environment in the name of “climate equity.”transparent
He said the Biden administration could not spend all its money before leaving, but instead “parked” funds at Citibank.
Mr. Selding urged Citibank to stop releasing the money to organizations that won grants from the Biden administration.
The money is part of the Democratic Climate Budget Act 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act, which puts a lot of taxpayer money into clean energy and environmental grants.
Read more in The Washington Times
