Federal court documents reveal the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Trump has yet to produce evidence of fraud in a $20 billion climate grant program it moved to freeze earlier this year.
Lisa Friedman and Claire Brown report for The New York Times.
In short:
- EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin accused the Biden-era climate grant program of “insane” mismanagement, citing allegations ranging from misallocated funds to political favoritism.
- Despite the rhetoric, court records show no evidence of fraud, and legal filings instead argue that the grants should be canceled because they don’t match Trump administration priorities.
- The funding freeze has left nonprofits scrambling to cover costs and halted or delayed clean energy projects in low-income and rural communities.
Key quote:
“They come in with huge press releases claiming all kinds of things, criminal misconduct, corruption, and then the documents that are filed in court don’t match that rhetoric. It’s completely and utterly irresponsible.”
— Richard Lazarus, environmental law professor at Harvard University
Why this matters:
At the heart of a growing political and legal standoff is the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion initiative created under the Inflation Reduction Act to funnel clean energy financing into historically marginalized communities. The fund is part of a broader strategy to spark grassroots climate resilience — backing projects like rooftop solar for low-income housing or neighborhood-scale geothermal systems. But that momentum has hit a wall. Allegations of fraud, unsubstantiated in court, have been used by some Republican leaders to justify freezing disbursements, a move critics say sidesteps due process and sets a dangerous precedent. For communities long overlooked by both investors and regulators, the pause doesn’t just slow clean energy adoption—it stalls job creation, delays pollution relief, and deepens disparities in public health.
