Divided federal appeals court says Trump administration was wrong to terminate climate funds

Six of 10 judges agreed with a lower court judge that the EPA likely violated the law when it terminated the grants and tried to claw back funds based on a policy disagreement. This would likely contradict the law’s direction to spend money on the program, they said.

Zeldin early last year told Fox News that he suspected the green bank “was a clear-cut case of waste and abuse” that “in my opinion, is criminal.”

The EPA did not immediately provide comment.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan last year said that when the federal government was asked for evidence of fraud, the agency didn’t provide it and shifted its position to more general concerns about the level of EPA oversight over the program. Chutkan ruled the government can’t violate the law and terminate the contracts and that the groups should have access to some of their frozen money. That order was put on hold during appeal.

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A lawyer for the nonprofits argued that the agency had already allocated the money by putting it in the Citibank account for the program’s use.

The agency argued the nonprofits are making constitutional and statutory arguments that don’t apply in a simple contract fight, and that the matter should be heard by a different court that can only award a lump sum — not force the government to keep the grants in place. Federal officials argue there is no law or provision in the Constitution that compels the EPA to make these grants to these groups.