SEEC, Dingell Statement on Court Order to Stop EPA’s Unlawful Freeze of Cost-Saving Grants
Washington, D.C. – The leaders of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC), including Co-Chairs Reps. Doris Matsui, Mike Quigley, and Paul Tonko and Vice Chairs Reps. Don Beyer, Suzanne Bonamici, Sean Casten, Mike Levin, and Chellie Pingree, along with SEEC Member Rep. Debbie Dingell – an original author of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund – released the following statement in response to last night’s court decision that prevents the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from unlawfully terminating the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, and orders the EPA to immediately release the frozen funds to our communities.
Last month, the members led a letter with a total of 82 Members of Congress to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin to demand that the EPA immediately release the frozen grants.
“After two unprecedented months of EPA's attempts to claw back legally obligated dollars, Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) awardees were finally granted their request by the courts to regain access to federal funds dedicated to lowering energy bills, creating jobs, cutting pollution, and helping build a strong American economy. For weeks, Trump’s EPA has waged an unjustified and unsubstantiated assault on GGRF, representing yet another example of the Trump Administration unnecessarily spurring economic uncertainty in our communities and driving American businesses to the brink of bankruptcy. Despite repeated demands by the federal judge that EPA show legal justification for the termination, the Trump Administration failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing.
“Dismayingly, EPA remains undeterred and has already filed for an appeal of the ruling. This relentless pursuit is little more than a campaign of intimidation. Despite not having any of the facts on its side, EPA clearly hopes that it can run these programs into the ground via delay and coercion. We reiterate our demand that EPA stop its shocking witch hunt and finally do the job it was mandated to do.”
Background
Two months ago, the Trump Administration launched a broad, far-reaching attack on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), a historic program established in the Inflation Reduction Act to expand access to low-cost, high-impact clean energy financing. In March, Administrator Zeldin announced that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would terminate contracts with all eight awardees under the GGRF’s National Clean Investment Fund and Clean Communities Investment Accelerator – threatening $20 billion in critical clean energy and local economic development projects. For weeks, neither EPA nor Citibank had provided the nonprofit grantees with any explanation to justify the freeze. On April 15, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan granted a preliminary injunction to GGRF awardees, unfreezing their federal funds and preventing EPA from unlawfully terminating their awards. This morning, EPA appealed Judge Chutkan’s injunction and will be taking the lawsuit to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.