The US Environmental Protection Agency announced on Tuesday that it was scrapping $20 billion worth of Biden-era climate and environmental justice grants as well as over 400 diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) and environmental justice grants worth $1.7 billion.
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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has terminated grant agreements worth $20 billion issued by the Biden administration to finance clean energy and other climate-friendly projects.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin anticipated the move last month, when he announced in a post on social media X (formerly Twitter) that he was scrapping contracts to distribute $20 billion in grants to fund clean energy and transportation projects in disadvantaged communities.
“The Biden EPA tossed $20 billion of gold bars off the Titanic,” Zeldin wrote on X, citing a video posted by right-wing organization Project Veritas in December that showed a former EPA special adviser for implementation explaining how the Biden administration rushed to disburse billions in grants ahead of Trump’s inauguration. “BIG UPDATE! We found the gold bars and they are now being recovered for you, the hardworking American taxpayer,” he said.
The grant money was made available through the $27-billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund created with former president Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. It was awarded in April 2024 to eight organizations, which were tasked with financing “tens of thousands” of projects ranging from home energy retrofitting to air pollution reduction.
On Wednesday, Zeldin confirmed on X that the eight recipients of the grant were notified that their grants had been terminated. “It is my commitment to President Trump, Congress, and you, that EPA will be an exceptional steward of your tax dollars. I’ll have it no other way!,” he wrote.
‘Politicized’ Move
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Environmental Protection Network (EPN), a group of more than 600 former EPA employees that was formed in 2017 to protect the agency’s integrity, condemned the decision. It said the move represents “a significant setback” in the US’s fight against climate change and promotion of environmental justice and is a deviation from the agency’s “core mission to protect human health and the environment.”
Matthew S. Tejada, EPN volunteer and former Deputy Assistant Administrator for Environmental Justice in EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, said the grants were meant to make communities “safer, healthier and more prosperous.”
Among the eight non-profits the money was awarded to was Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), an organization that focuses on community development investment. In a statement on Thursday, OFN said the EPA’s decision to freeze the fund impacts the “planned announcement” of over $228 million in initial grants to 26 organizations to fund housing, distributed energy, and transportation infrastructure initiatives across over 30 states.
OFN also said the EPA’s decision is based on “inaccurate and politicized claims” that are “baseless and undermine a critical effort to drive American energy independence, local resilience, and job creation in communities.”
Other grantees included the Coalition for Green Capital, Climate United Fund, Power Forward Communities, Opportunity Finance Network, Inclusiv and the Justice Climate Fund.
“Those who have already paid the highest price for pollution, through their health and their children’s future, are the first to be sacrificed by Trump’s EPA. But, they will not be the last. Every American should be concerned about what this means for our future,” said Tejada.
Environmental Justice Under Attack
On Tuesday, Zeldin also announced he was cancelling over 400 diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) and environmental justice grants worth $1.7 billion. The move also means the Environmental Justice Divisions within 10 EPA regional offices will be reorganized and eliminated and its staff put on leave, CBS News reported.
Zeldin said the EPA worked closely with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory body set up by the new Trump administration to cut US government jobs and other spending.
DOGE, under billionaire Elon Musk’s leadership, is on a mission to cut all spending and staffing related to DEI initiatives within workplaces. These programs aim to promote fair representation for and uplift historically marginalized groups like African Americans, LGBTQ+ individuals, women, disabled individuals, and other ethnic minorities across the country.
In a separate statement on Thursday, EPN condemned the agency’s dismantling of environmental justice efforts, calling it “alarming.”
“By shutting down environmental justice, Trump’s EPA is turning its back on protecting clean air and safe drinking water for every American, regardless of where they live or who they voted for,” said Michelle Roos, Executive Director at EPN. “Trump is taking a chainsaw to EPA as a favor for corporate polluters that leaves everyone else wondering what toxic pollution will be in the water that we drink and the air that we breathe.”
Featured image: Gage Skidmore/Flickr.
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