EPA Freezing Green Groups' Bank Accounts 'Strikingly Illegal,' Prof Says
Source: Newsweek
Published Feb 28, 2025 at 3:32 PM EST
Groups that were awarded roughly $20 billion in federal funding for clean energy and climate-related projects told Newsweek that they have been locked out of their bank accounts for more than a week as the Trump administration attempts to claw back the money.
Under President Donald Trump, the Environmental Protection Agency is attempting to revoke funding for one of its most ambitious actions against climate change, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, or GGRF. The EPA has requested that a bank freeze accounts holding GGRF money and, according to sources who spoke to Newsweek on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, the agency has triggered an FBI investigation of the GGRF.
A group of Democratic lawmakers accused the EPA of making "inaccurate and misleading claims," and one legal scholar called the EPA's freeze on GGRF funds "strikingly illegal." The agency's request for an order to freeze bank accounts even precipitated the resignation of a senior prosecutor at the Department of Justice who said there was not sufficient evidence to support the EPA's action.
As of Thursday, bank accounts for the recipient groups remained frozen with no explanation from the bank or EPA, representatives of the groups said, and the EPA had produced no evidence of any wrongdoing by the organizations. Citibank, the designated financial agent for the GGRF accounts, declined to comment for this story.
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/epa-freezing-green-groups-bank-accounts-reactions-responses-ggrf-2037522
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