WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to cut wasteful grants and programs awarded under the previous presidential administration, saving U.S. taxpayers $1.7 billion.
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin announced the latest cuts on March 10. He is working with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk on a “line-by-line review of spending,” according to a news release.
While the cuts total $1.7 billion, there is a larger pot the group is seeking to claw back – $20 billion routed through Citibank on for the “Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund,” according to The Daily Wire.
The fund acted like a piggy bank for favored left-wing groups, with $2 billion going to “Power Forward Communities, a green group linked to Democrat Stacey Abrams,” The Daily Wire reported.
Zeldin has already identified nearly $60 million in ideological grants from the Biden administration for “environmental justice.”
“Additional monies were allocated for DEI training for staff, expanding environmental justice content through the America’s Children and the Environment Program, contractors to advance agency DEI initiatives, and more,” the EPA announced in February. “More savings have been accrued through the agency’s cancellation of outside contractors hired to plan office-wide retreats, and from other contracted work that could be insourced.”
Some of the “environmental justice” grants canceled recently by Zeldin went to well-connected Democrats, according to a Washington Free Beacon report.
For example, LaTricea Adams served on President Joe Biden’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council. At the same time, she applied for a grant on behalf of her nonprofit Young, Gifted & Green – and received $20 million, according to the Washington Free Beacon. The grant is about 10 times the annual revenue of the nonprofit.
The grant would “result in the establishment of the Mid-South Environmental Justice Center with a community advisory board,” according to Democrat Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen. “It will also help to implement a community engagement plan, coordinated workforce training in green jobs, and hands-on water- and air-quality testing,” a January news release from his office stated.
Another group with no experience in restoring wetlands or replacing lead pipes received $20 million to do those operations.
Eliminating DEI and Environmental Justice @EPA will ensure this agency is ONLY focused on protecting human health and the environment, while Powering the Great American Comeback.
We will serve EVERY American with EQUAL dignity and respect. pic.twitter.com/fMYqQZ9hTC
— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) March 14, 2025
Democracy Green “is a small mother-daughter operation that has never conducted wetlands restoration or lead pipe removals,” according to the Free Beacon. But the group’s board president, La’Meshia Whittington, served on an EPA advisory committee.
The group pushed back against the accusations, calling the Free Beacon an “obscure publication” that published “outright fabrications.” “Our organization has successfully executed water infrastructure projects in North Carolina, including emergency water support and remediation efforts after natural disasters,” the group wrote to Zeldin. “We own the wetland in question- no funds from the CCG Grant are being used for land acquisition but rather this project will restore an already contaminated creek that runs adjacent to some communities benefiting from the pipe replacement.”
Zeldin’s actions are part of a broader push by President Donald Trump to remove onerous economic regulations pursued in the name of fighting “climate change.”
He has also focused on “unleashing American energy” to bring down the cost of electricity and manufacturing.
“It is thus in the national interest to unleash America’s affordable and reliable energy and natural resources,” he wrote in a day one executive order. “This will restore American prosperity — including for those men and women who have been forgotten by our economy in recent years. It will also rebuild our Nation’s economic and military security, which will deliver peace through strength.”
To fulfill this promise, Zeldin announced a “deregulatory effort” to “bring down the cost of living,” according to Breitbart.
“We will bring down the cost of living. It’s going to be easier to heat your home, to purchase a vehicle, to operate a business,” Zeldin told the outlet over the weekend.
“I’ve been told that we’re going after the holy grail of the climate change religion, and I would just say this: that we can protect the environment and grow the economy. It’s not a binary choice,” he said. “We don’t have to just choose one. The Trump administration chooses both.”
