EPA changed its “terms and conditions” for grants Tuesday in a way that some advocates say could help the agency cancel billions of dollars in climate programs approved by the last administration.
A summary of the policy change was sent by email to eight nonprofits that had been awarded $20 billion through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a Biden-era climate initiative that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has been trying to terminate. The revisions affect new contracts and funding amendments signed on or after March 25.
The move came as Zeldin searches for a way to claw back the money, which is sitting in accounts at Citibank, and to terminate billions more in environmental justice awards that are already under contract.
The revised rules — which apply to all EPA grant programs — reiterate existing conditions that allow the agency and the groups that received federal money to pull the plug on grants for contract violations or by mutual consent.
