EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced plans to reverse contracts made by the previous administration that would have distributed $20 billion in grants for clean energy and transportation projects in disadvantaged communities. The funding—part of the Biden EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund set up under the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure bill—was meant to kickstart projects over the next seven years, reducing up to 40 million metric tons of climate pollution annually .

Zeldin criticized the grant disbursement as a “rush job with reduced oversight” and is calling on the Inspector General, Congress, and the Justice Department to help end agreements with eight regional organizations that were set up as financial agents for these funds . This move aligns with past efforts by the Trump-era EPA to freeze or cut funding related to climate change and environmental justice, though critics, including Democratic lawmakers like Senator Patty Murray, argue that such changes should require Congressional approval.

Source: Carbon Brief