The Trump administration did score a court win against radical environmentalism at taxpayer expense on Tuesday.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin celebrated on Sept. 2, “MASSIVE DC Circuit Court win for the Trump EPA & taxpayers!” This new ruling rejected a previous district court ruling, rather approving the government’s termination of various wasteful grants and rejecting the claimed jurisdiction of the lower court. Or, in other words, judicial overreach and woke climate alarmism took hits today.
Zeldin explained on X, “After the Biden EPA set up the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund through self-dealing & conflicts of interest, unqualified recipients & reduced agency oversight, I terminated these grants completely!” Among the former grantees was an NGO tied to perennial failure Democrat Stacey Abrams.
Zeldin also included a quote from the new ruling, which stated:
We conclude the district court abused its discretion in issuing the injunction. The grantees are not likely to succeed on the merits because their claims are essentially contractual, and therefore jurisdiction lies exclusively in the Court of Federal Claims. And while the district court had jurisdiction over the grantees’ constitutional claim, that claim is meritless. Moreover, the equities strongly favor the government, which on behalf of the public must ensure the proper oversight and management of this multi-billion-dollar fund. Accordingly, we vacate the injunction.
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The EPA administrator also added more background information in a separate X post, “The Biden EPA parked $20B at an outside bank to dole out to just EIGHT pass through NGOs, including the infamous $2B for the Stacey Abrams linked NGO that received only $100 in 2023. The Trump EPA has ZERO tolerance for ANY waste and abuse!” He included more quotes from the court’s new decision.
These included the pertinent statement, “The month before President Trump’s inauguration, EPA modified the grant agreements—with no apparent consideration from the grantees—to make it more difficult for the government to terminate the grants.”
The decision stated that the previously issued preliminary injunction blocked the federal environmental agency “from carrying out basic executive functions to ensure the prudent and effective management of substantial public funds.” Hence the circuit court vacated the injunction.
The circuit court found that the district court had “also ignored the government’s evidence of mismanagement of the grant funds, such as the damning ‘gold bars’ video [see below], which further supports EPA’s good faith in deciding to terminate the grants and recommit the funds with proper supervision and accountability.” The ruling also obliquely criticized the biased reported of leftist news outlets.
In conclusion, the Trump-Zeldin EPA is working to save American taxpayers money and the circuit court is backing them up in that laudable effort.
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