Author name: RVM News

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said he has made several criminal referrals after reviewing billions of dollars in Biden-era green energy grants that he alleges were routed through politically connected nonprofit groups, as reported by Just The News.

Zeldin discussed the referrals during an interview on Monday on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast, where he said his agency has canceled or stopped about $29 billion in EPA grants.

The figure includes a $2 billion grant to Power Forward Communities, a nonprofit tied to longtime Georgia Democratic election activist and failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

“It’s about self-dealing,” Zeldin told Just the News.

Zeldin said the EPA has referred several transactions to the agency’s inspector general and the Justice Department for possible prosecution or additional investigation.

“Those referrals have been made,” Zeldin said.

The EPA chief said the concerns involve pass-through organizations connected to former Obama and Biden administration officials, Democratic donors, former Cabinet members, and other high-ranking administration officials.

“As you look through all of these pass-through entities, you’re seeing so many connections to former Obama and Biden administration officials and Democratic donors, people who were former Cabinet members, other high-ranking administration officials,” Zeldin said.

Zeldin said some of the allegations trace back to funding included in the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed when Democrats controlled Congress and the White House. He specifically pointed to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

“They included all of this funding in this so-called Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. And then they would work with these different agencies of the Biden administration to get it out to their unqualified friends. The whole thing just feels criminal,” Zeldin said. “[…] This is clearly something that falls into the category of blatant waste and abuse.”

One of the grants Zeldin has repeatedly highlighted is the Biden administration’s $2 billion award to Power Forward Communities. The money was awarded in 2024 to support “residential decarbonization,” including replacing gas furnaces and other appliances with electric alternatives.

Abrams reportedly “played a pivotal role” in establishing the group, according to Fox News. The grant later drew scrutiny after Power Forward Communities was reported to have only $100 the year before the award.

The Trump administration’s EPA announced in February 2025 that it was taking steps to recover the money as part of a broader effort to claw back funds pushed out during the closing period of the Biden administration.

Abrams, who worked for Vitalizing De Soto, a group tied to Power Forward, has denied wrongdoing. She said the grant was intended to help homeowners purchase eco-friendly appliances.

“Based on that program, a coalition of organizations – famous organizations – came together and said to the EPA, ‘if we can do this here, we can do this for millions more Americans,’” Abrams said in a 2025 MSNBC interview. “Let us invest the money of America in lowering the cost for Americans.”

Judicial Watch has sued to obtain more information about the grant.

“As the Biden administration was collapsing in 2024, it lawlessly rushed out billions in cash to left-wing interest groups in a way that encouraged fraud and abuse. The Trump EPA team should disclose and expose every single document about this massive Biden corruption scandal,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.

Zeldin’s review began in spring 2025, when the EPA said the Biden administration had moved $20 billion from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund into an account at Citibank in New York, with eight nonprofits given authority to spend the money.

The EPA asked its inspector general to investigate several transactions. According to the agency, those included former Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Director Jahi Wise, who “personally oversaw” a $5 billion grant to his previous employer; the $2 billion grant to Power Forward Communities; and a $20 million award to Young, Gifted & Green, whose CEO applied for funding while serving on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

The $20 billion has been canceled, but the matter remains tied up in federal court. No major criminal prosecutions have been brought against grant recipients so far.

The EPA has said career agency officials raised concerns during the application review process about sending billions of taxpayer dollars to groups with limited financial background and political ties.

“Comments from the panel of government career staffers during the application review process highlighted concerns over handing billions of American tax dollars to these groups in addition to the lack of financial background to handle such large sums of money,” the agency wrote.

A federal judge initially blocked Zeldin’s efforts and allowed the groups to access the money. A three-judge appeals panel later sided with the EPA. The full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing the case, which could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

Zeldin said he expects that after the litigation concludes, most of the $29 billion in grants flagged and blocked by the EPA will be returned to the Treasury.

“We’re not taking money from left-wing NGOs to give them to right-wing NGOs,” Zeldin said. “This is about getting that money back to the taxpayer. This is about making sure that the money coming through an agency like EPA doesn’t have any amount of waste and abuse, that there’s a zero tolerance for it.”