EPA chief Lee Zeldin vows to get back $20 billion Biden admin 'irresponsibly shoveled' to climate groups

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Wednesday that the agency had located $20 billion in taxpayer dollars the Biden administration parked at a financial institution for various climate groups and vowed to get the billions back. 

Before President Donald Trump took office, a Biden EPA appointee had boasted on an undercover video about tossing gold bars (taxpayer funds) "off the Titanic" to environmental groups shortly before Trump took office. Records obtained by the Washington Post showed that Citi Bank had a deal with the Biden administration to disperse $20 billion to states and nonprofits for climate change measures, although, Zeldin said that the bank involved was not at fault in the situation.  

“The days of irresponsibly shoveling boatloads of cash to far-left activist groups in the name of environmental justice and climate equity are over,” Zeldin said in a video posted to X.  “I’ve directed my team to find your gold bars, and they found them. Now we will get them back inside of control of government as we pursue next steps."

According to the outlet, the funds come from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a Democratic act passed in 2022 that gave hundreds of billions of dollars in renewable energy subsidies.

"Roughly twenty billion of your tax dollars were parked at an outside financial institution by the Biden EPA. This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history and it was purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight," said Administrator Zeldin in a press release.

"One of my very top priorities at EPA is to be an excellent steward of your hard-earned tax dollars. There will be zero tolerance of any waste and abuse. We will review every penny that has gone out the door."

During his confirmation hearing, Administrator Zeldin pledged to diligently investigate and account for every dollar spent at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

A majority of the grants awarded through the program were distributed last spring. It was anticipated that the awards would be used by nonprofit groups, including the National Clean Investment Fund, Coalition for Green Capital, and Power Forward Communities, to finance environmentally friendly initiatives.