EPA appealed Wednesday a federal judge’s order that prevents the agency from blocking $20 billion in climate grants, escalating a legal squabble over the frozen Biden-era money.
The appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit came hours after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction, ordering the agency to stop “unlawfully suspending or terminating” the grant awards.
Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said she would issue an opinion detailing her reasoning for the injunction, but it was not immediately available.
The fight over the $20 billion has become one of the most high-profile disputes in President Donald Trump’s attempt to throttle former President Joe Biden’s climate and energy agenda. The money has been sitting for months in accounts at Citibank, where EPA’s Biden-era leaders had placed it for the use of eight affordable housing and community-lending nonprofits.
EPA has argued — without evidence — that the program has been marked by waste and cronyism.
In her order late Tuesday, Chutkan, an Obama appointee, ordered EPA to file a status report within 24 hours, confirming its compliance with the preliminary injunction.
