A federal judge Wednesday lambasted EPA’s cancellation of $20 billion in climate grants after the Trump administration was unable to offer any evidence of wrongdoing.
But it was unclear whether the judge would take immediate action to offer relief to the grant recipients who warn they will have to start laying off workers and defaulting on financial agreements by the end of the week.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on Tuesday night terminated the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants, including a $7 billion award to Climate United Fund. That group had sued to access those funds, a request that became more complicated after EPA terminated the grant less than 24 hours before a hearing.
“Can you proffer any evidence that [the grant] was illegal, or evidence of abuse or fraud or bribery — that any of that was improperly or unlawfully done, other than the fact that Mr. Zeldin doesn’t like it?” asked Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
