EPA’s quest to retake control of billions in unspent “green bank” grant award funds enters its next phase Tuesday, with a major hearing before 10 appellate court judges — most of them Democratic appointees.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in December took the rare step of revisiting a decision by two of its judges that would have let the Trump administration recover unspent funds from EPA’s $20 billion green finance program. Award balances for eight nonprofits have been frozen in accounts at Citibank since early last year, and EPA has declared the grants terminated.
Most of the nonprofits the Biden administration had tasked with administering the finance program for renewable energy, efficiency and electrification have taken EPA to court to challenge the terminations. This week’s hearing could be their last, best chance of getting the decision reversed.
The full-court, or en banc, review is — on its own — an encouraging sign for the plaintiffs.
