Court sides with Trump administration on ‘green’ grant clawback

A federal appeals court cleared the way Sept. 2 for the Trump administration to reclaim billions in climate spending, overturning a lower court order that had blocked the effort. 

In a 2-1 decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated a lower court order that had stopped the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from reclaiming money distributed under the Biden administration’s $20 billion “Green Bank” program.

The program, created by the Democrats’ 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, had awarded funds to eight groups tasked with funding projects designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, according to The Hill. The groups that received grants filed the suit. 

“While some grantees may be forced to shutter their operations during the litigation,” the majority opinion stated, “their harms do not outweigh the interests of the government and the public in the proper stewardship of billions of taxpayer dollars.”

Trump-appointed Judges Neomi Rao and Gregory Katsas wrote the majority opinion, and Judge Cornelia Pillard, an Obama appointee, dissented. The ruling does not decide the ultimate outcome of the case but lifts the freeze on the EPA’s clawback while litigation continues.

The Trump administration welcomed the outcome in a Sept. 2 statement released by the EPA.

“It’s fantastic to see reason prevail in the court system. EPA has a duty to be an exceptional steward of taxpayer dollars,” the release stated. “The gold bar recipients were wrong about jurisdiction all along and wrong to act so entitled to these precious public funds that belong to hardworking American taxpayers.”