EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has contended that the agency’s Clean School Bus program was mismanaged and wrongly shoveled money to a Canadian manufacturer that promptly sunk into bankruptcy protection with the U.S. cash.
But a closer look at Zeldin’s claims — which he cites to argue that the Biden administration’s climate spending was rife with fraud and mismanagement — show the new agency chief has overstated the amount of federal funding that was sent to the company, Lion Electric, and mischaracterizes the process that the agency used to award the money.
“The money shouldn’t have been given to the school bus company up front,” Zeldin told POLITICO earlier this month, repeating the criticism he’s made in other media appearances. “The idea of sending $160 million and then they can spend $65 million and declare bankruptcy and keep the rest is a concept that any of us can see coming from a mile away.”
He has even suggested the Lion Electric case has EPA thinking of “completely restructuring” the way it distributes grants “to ensure maximum oversight and accountability.”
