April 19, 2025 Story by: Editor
An appeals court has temporarily halted a lower court’s order that enabled the release of contested climate funds.
District Judge Tanya Chutkan blocked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from clawing back billions of dollars in climate funds that were given to climate finance organizations during the Biden administration.
Her order directed Citibank to release the funds to the green bank groups as soon as Thursday.
However, late Wednesday an appeals court issued a different ruling that prevented the funds from being released and instead maintained the status quo.
A panel of appeals court judges ordered that the funds should neither be returned to the U.S. Treasury Department nor released to the climate organizations so that the panel would have adequate time to consider the case.
he funds in question were part of a $20 billion program from the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act that gave nonprofits money to use to fund climate-friendly projects.
The Biden administration awarded that $20 billion to eight institutions. Since taking office, the Trump administration has tried to recoup the money.
When Chutkan ordered the funds released, the EPA appealed. It said in a statement at the time that the grants “are terminated, and the funds belong to the U.S. taxpayer. We couldn’t be more confident in the merits of our appeal and will take every possible step to protect hard-earned taxpayer dollars.”
The agency declined to comment on the latest order.
Meanwhile, Beth Bafford, CEO of Climate United, which was one of the grant recipients, said in a written statement, “We remain firm on the merits of our case and will press forward to deliver on our promises to communities across America.”
Source: The Hill
