The Environmental Protection Agency said it was canceling 20 billion dollars of grants to climate and clean energy programs that were frozen for weeks, an illegal -classified step by non -profit groups that were supposed to receive money.
The money has been arrested in an escalating controversy, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Ministry of Justice, the Federal Investigation Office and Citibank, where the money is held and they are frozen now, which pays Claims of three non -profit groups.
Grants were issued to a total of eight non -profit organizations through Warmical gases boxWhich received $ 27 billion of financing from Congress through the Act of Inflation Reduction 2022.
But since he took office, Lee Zilden, an environmental protection agency official, tried to back down from the money, saying they were part of a “scheme” and mentioned as evidence of a video hidden camera from Project Veritas, a conservative group known for using secret recordings to embarrass its political opponents.
The Environmental Protection Agency can cancel the grant contracts if it can document examples of waste, fraud and abuse by beneficiaries. But this did not happen at this stage.
Yesterday, Democrats in the Energy and Trade Committee in the House of Representatives Investigate At the Environmental Protection Agency, freezing money and what they said was “false and misleading data for Mr. Zeldin.”
Two recipients of non -profitable grants, and the Green Coalition, said they would fight the cancellation. A court hearing is scheduled for a related case on Wednesday.
Here is what we know about the financing of $ 20 billion and how it has become a target for the Environmental Protection Agency
How the controversy started
In February, Mr. Zealin announced that he had found billions of dollars from “golden bars” to finance grants in Citibank, and contacted the granting of greenhouse gas reduction fund (or “plan” and “Rush’s job without supervision”.
Mr. Zealin adopted the Trump administration’s focus on discounts in spending, and reached his work with the Ministry of Governmental efficiency. Dozens of other EPA contracts were canceled, as the total of what the agency said was about two billion dollars in more than 400 initiatives.
“Gold Bars” was a reference to a video clip released in December by Project Veritas, where Brent Efron, an employee of the Environmental Protection Agency, likened his agency efforts to spend federal funds on climate programs before leaving his position by throwing “golden bars” off Titanic.
Mr. Efron’s lawyer denied that his client was referring to the greenhouse gas reduction box.
After the statement of Mr. Zeldin, Ed Martin, the interim American lawyer for Washington, DC, asked Denis Cheung, the High Federal Prosecutor, to freeze $ 20 billion in City Bank. But Suddenly After determining the absence of sufficient evidence to order frozen money. The FBI and the Ministry of Justice continued their investigations.
Last week, Mr. Zilden also referred the matter to the Inspector General of the Agent, the Chargé d’Affaires of achieving a third simultaneous investigation.
The beneficiaries of non -profit grants began implementing their legal defense at the end of last week, when the United climate filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency and Citibank, claiming that they were illegally blocking money. Two other beneficiaries provided suits against City Bank in the following days.
A Hearing on the United climate is scheduled to obtain a temporary restriction to issue funds on Wednesday at the local United States Court of Colombia.
What the non -profit organizations say
Beth Bufford, the group’s CEO, said the cancellation surprised the United Climate, a non -profit organization that gave approximately $ 7 billion. She said she received an official ending letter half an hour before the agency issued a public statement.
Non -profit organizations have not been able to reach money in their Citibank accounts since mid -February. The funds were concluded there according to an agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and the bank.
Without the promised money, some groups said they are struggling to pay the employees.
In the end of the end of the New York Times, the Environmental Protection Agency said it had identified “material palaces” in the program, including the lack of sufficient control and the allocation of improper or speculative money. No evidence was provided.
The coalition for Green Capital, one of the largest beneficiaries, described the decision of the Environmental Protection Agency as “unauthorized and illegal”, and said he was considering legal options.
What we know about the program of 20 billion dollars
A 20 billion dollar program is designed to provide low -cost loans to companies and developers for climate initiatives, which include things such as fixing solar panels and re -adjusting the mural to make them more efficient in energy use.
The Environmental Protection Agency distributed money to eight non -profit organizations, which planned to distribute money as loans in addition to grants to local “green banks” or credit unions, which in turn will provide their own loans.
The idea was that the commitment of the Federal dollar would attract special investments for green projects.
Mr. Zeldin made a lot of the fact that $ 20 billion of grant funds were held in Citibank, and depicted the decision of the Environmental Protection Agency using an external financial institution as a mediator as an attempt to sabotage the oversight.
The former scholarship recipients and environmental protection agency officials have opposed this characterization, and they said that the agency has a complete vision in transactions through Citibank accounts for non -profit organizations and their sub -operations
It is not clear how much $ 20 billion has been spent before the freezing mode.
A spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency said that she could not answer the amount of money that was loaned by non -profit organizations because the money on which the Biden administration was spent.
Citibank did not respond to a comment.
