The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund was meant to be a groundbreaking solution. Created in the Spring of 2023, the Biden administration claimed the $27 billion program would be a first of its kind program that combined solutions for climate change with revitalization of American communities considered “historically left behind.”
The $27 billion was broken into smaller grants and given to nonprofit organizations including $2 billion awarded to Rewiring America and the Power Forward Communities coalition, a group with close ties to former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Abrams serves as senior counsel to Rewiring America and has appeared in multiple posts on X representing Rewiring America and Power Forward.
Under the justification of reducing climate change, Abrams claims the coalition handed out free household appliances to residents of Desoto, a city in Sumter County with a population of 214.
Prior to receiving the $2 billion grant, the coalition had only received $100 in total revenue. Organizations were expected to distribute money within 21 days but were given 90 days to complete “How To Develop a Budget” training.
“$2 billion in hard earned tax dollars should not have been doled out to this organization for many reasons, especially if they don’t even know how to put together a budget,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. “The Biden EPA ‘gold bars’ scheme is riddled with self-dealing and conflicts of interest, unnecessary middlemen, unqualified recipients, and massively reduced government oversight.”
Records show that approval and funding of the grants was rushed through the system after former Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to President Donald Trump, but before inauguration in an apparent effort to undermine the incoming administration. One former EPA official was secretly recorded describing the situation as “throwing gold bars off the Titanic” as “an insurance policy against Trump winning.”
Federal investigators have frozen accounts linked to this and other grant recipients which were flagged for mismanagement, waste, and fraud while the EPA canceled $20 billion in various climate grants.
Various grant irregularities included $25 billion in grants awarded despite recipients’ personal conflicts of interest.
Zeldin has publicly accused a variety of organizations of being little more than paid pass-throughs and called for a wide investigation into the ethics and efficiency of EPA grants programs.
The fallout from these revelations is expected to intensify as federal investigators dig deeper into the EPA’s grant allocations, raising further questions about oversight, accountability, and the integrity of taxpayer-funded climate initiatives.
