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2025-04-17 Home Front: Politix

The EPA can''t end grants from $20 billion Biden-era fund for climate-friendly projects, a judge says

[APNEWS] A federal judge says some nonprofits awarded billions for a so-called green bank to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects cannot have their contracts scrapped and must have access to some of the frozen money. The ruling is a defeat for President Donald Trump
...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried....
's Environmental Protection Agency, which argues the program is rife with financial mismanagement.

The order late Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ''gives us a chance to breathe after the EPA unlawfully — and without due process — terminated our awards and blocked access to funds that were appropriated by Congress and legally obligated,'' said Climate United CEO Beth Bafford.

The lawsuit by Climate United Fund and other groups contends that the EPA, Administrator Lee Zeldin and Citibank, which held the grant money, illegally blocked the funds awarded last year and had jeopardized the organizations' operations.

Chutkan said Citibank must provide the money that was due to the nonprofits before the EPA had frozen their accounts in mid-February. The EPA immediately appealed.

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, commonly referred to as a ''green bank,'' was authorized by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act under Democratic President Joe The Big Guy Biden
Joe <q>The Big Guy</q> Biden

...46th president of the U.S. I'm not working for you. Don't be such a horse's ass....
. Its goals run counter to the Trump administration's opposition to climate-friendly policies and its embrace of fossil fuels. Zeldin quickly made the bank a target, characterizing the $20 billion in grants as a ''gold bar'' scheme marred by conflicts of interest and potential fraud.

Posted by Fred 2025-04-17 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11150 views ] Top
File under: Lawfare

#1 due process

Outside criminal prosecutions, where the hell did handling government grants get tagged with that? If it is not a contract but a grant, why doesn't a grantor have the power to terminate. Smells like another power the judiciary granted itself.

Posted by Procopius2k 2025-04-17 11:41|| 2025-04-17 11:41|| Front Page Top

#2 The EPA can revise the grant and change the statement of work. It needs to do this fast and by people who know what they are doing.

Posted by Lord Garth 2025-04-17 12:32|| 2025-04-17 12:32|| Front Page Top

#3 Audit the recipient group to see how they have used the funds that have been received.

Posted by Super Hose 2025-04-17 12:34|| 2025-04-17 12:34|| Front Page Top

#4 Ignore the judge, rework the statement and tell her to go fuck herself.

Posted by DarthVader 2025-04-17 13:39|| 2025-04-17 13:39|| Front Page Top

#5 a decent way to revise the grant statement of work is to require the grantee to list a number of specific tasks they expect to accomplish and for each one develop a work plan that has to be reviewed and approved before costs may be incurred and require each quarter's work to be reviewd and approved before costs may be incurred on the next quarter's work

Posted by Lord Garth 2025-04-17 14:10|| 2025-04-17 14:10|| Front Page Top

#6 ^ And 15% max Overhead

Posted by Frank G 2025-04-17 14:27|| 2025-04-17 14:27|| Front Page Top

#7 ^6

not sure if overhead rates may be adjusted retroactive to initial approval.

certainly they can be capped at 15% for new grants or amended grants that just add on to ongoing work that is nearing completion

Posted by Lord Garth 2025-04-17 17:06|| 2025-04-17 17:06|| Front Page Top

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