A federal appeals court ruled 2-1 on Tuesday that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin could, in fact, withhold $16 billion in so-called “gold bars” sent from the outgoing Biden administration to favored left-wing “green” organizations.
The decision, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, overturned a lower court ruling and delivered a major win to the Trump administration in its effort to claw back federal funds devoted to an ecosystem of left-wing groups.
In February, as Breitbart News reported, Zeldin announced that he was freezing nearly $20 billion in funds that were disbursed by the Biden administration in its last, lame-duck days — without, Zeldin said, any real oversight:
Zeldin made the announcement in a video posted to social media on Wednesay when he charged the Biden administration of “throwing gold bars off the Titanic” in relation to the money lost on climate projects that he said was a “rush job with reduced oversight.”
“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. “The American public deserves a more transparent and accountable government than what transpired these past four years.”
The funds were designated for a “green bank” for climate-related projects. Zeldin charged that the real intent had been to create a slush fund for left-wing activism against the incoming Trump administration’s policies — at taxpayer expense.
CNN reported:
A lower court said the EPA couldn’t support Administrator Lee Zeldin’s accusations and that the agency was wrong to try and end contracts with the nonprofits without substantiating allegations against them. On Tuesday, a divided federal appeals court ruled 2-1 in the agency’s favor, saying the EPA should not have been blocked from terminating the grants and that the arguments by the climate groups have no place in federal district court.
Instead, the case should be heard in a federal claims court that hears contract disputes, the appeals court ruled in a decision written by US Appeals Court Judge Neomi Rao, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in his first term. The decision was a major loss for the groups who said they can only seek monetary damages in district court. The groups in this case were seeking an order allowing them immediate access to their funds, which total about $16 billion.
It is unclear whether the case will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, or re-filed in a federal claims court. Democrats have often won cases against Trump by forum-shopping at the district level, only to be overturned by higher courts.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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