U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from canceling grants that were part of a climate program developed under the previous White House administration.
The restraining order prevents the EPA from blocking the grants awarded to the groups Climate United, Coalition for Green Capital, and Power Forward Communities. The awards were received through a fund under the Inflation Reduction Act.
“Based on the record before the court, and under the relevant statutes and various agreements, it does not appear that EPA Defendants took the legally required steps necessary to terminate these grants, such that its actions were arbitrary and capricious,” Chutkan wrote.
She added that the plaintiffs have “made a sufficient showing of irreparable harm.”
“Here, the harm is not a possibility—as Plaintiffs have shown, without release of the grant funds, imminent harm is unavoidable,” Chutkan claimed. “Plaintiffs’ financing for their operations and projects all derive from the grant money, which is used to pay employees, pay rent, and fund projects. Moreover, preserving the status quo here is particularly important. If Citibank transfers money out of these accounts, the funds will not be recoverable.”
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement on the ruling, “While the Biden EPA touted ‘tossing Gold Bars off the Titanic,’ these terminated grants, riddled with self-dealing and wasteful spending, are now frozen by court order.”
“The Biden EPA handled politically connected and inexperienced nongovernmental organizations tens of billions in taxpayer funding in a manner that deliberately reduced the ability of EPA to conduct proper oversight,” he continued. “I will not rest until these hard-earned taxpayer dollars are returned to the U.S. Treasury. Every penny EPA spends will go towards our core mission of protecting human health and the environment, and Powering the Great American Comeback.”
