EPA continued to argue Wednesday that it is under no legal obligation to honor $20 billion in Biden-era climate grants because the awards conflict with Trump administration policy.
A legal brief, filed late Wednesday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, charges that a federal agency has the inherent right to terminate contracts “for consideration of its priorities.”
The agency is striving to recover billions in green lending grants that have been under contract since last summer with nonprofits that the Biden administration selected to administer EPA’s key climate law program.
The balance of those awards is held in accounts at Citibank, the financial agent for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which aims to fund green energy projects. The money has been frozen for more than a month, and the eight awardees are suing EPA and the bank to release the funds.
