EPA’s internal watchdog Tuesday dinged the agency’s oversight of grant expenditures, such as failing to demand justification when a grantee paid a consultant more than $200 per hour.
The Office of Inspector General found the agency failed to provide proper documentation for nearly three-quarters of grantee reimbursements reviewed under two of its funding streams. And it failed to comply with regulations, its inspector general said, requiring proof of expenditures and justification for spending by grantees. The OIG reviewed 39 transactions under two programs.
The OIG report released Tuesday reviewed EPA grant management between October 2024 to September 2025. The office didn’t immediately respond to questions about whether the Trump or Biden administration was responsible for most or all of the discrepancies.
The audit identified reporting and documentation problems in EPA’s administration of its general grant program for states, cities and universities and of a popular grant program that helps school districts buy electric school buses but has been criticized by some Republicans.
