Yet another D.C. federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to terminate up to $20 billion in grants for climate initiatives, in a case brought by the environmental group Climate United Fund.
The money for the “Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund” had been appropriated by Congress in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law by then-President Joe Biden.
Trump’s EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, vowed to recover those funds after he was sworn in in January, saying “the entire scheme, in my opinion, is criminal,” according to a court filing.
The agency froze the account and later terminated the grants to the three nonprofits, which alleged the EPA didn’t follow proper procedures for terminating such grants.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan agreed.
“When the court asked EPA to proffer evidence justifying its decision given the terms of the agreement, its only response was to refer to the termination letter, which gave no legal justification for the termination,” Chutkan wrote.
She said that while the EPA voiced concerns regarding “program integrity” and “programmatic fraud, waste, and abuse,” “vague and unsubstantiated assertions of fraud are insufficient.”
