A watchdog group, Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), reported today that federal reviewers privately expressed concerns about a Biden-era EPA program that funneled billions to politically-connected green organizations with little oversight, according to their findings.

Documents obtained by The Free Press from the Environmental Protection Agency reveal that, despite handing out $20 billion in grants to eight nonprofits just before President Donald Trump took office, the federal employees who reviewed grant applications had concerns about high salaries, conflicts of interest, and oversight of taxpayer money.

An earlier investigation by The Free Press into the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund award found that billions of dollars were rushed to eight nonprofit organizations after the November election. All eight had ties to either the Biden administration, prominent Democratic donors, or to one another via board positions. Some of the nonprofit groups, like the Climate United fund, which was set to receive $6.9 billion, and Justice Climate Fund, which was granted $940 million, were formed as coalitions of smaller organizations specifically to make a grab for the cash.

Shortly after taking office, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin—who, in a post on X, wrote that he had “zero tolerance for any waste and abuse” of taxpayer funds—called for a Department of Justice investigation and had the money, most of which resided in 129 Citibank accounts, frozen.

Auditors closely reviewed multiple grant applications for the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), The Free Press reports, which distributed $20 billion to green organizations linked to Democratic donors and insiders. The researchers flagged issues like excessive executive salaries, dubious financial records, and insufficient oversight, as revealed in documents initially further detailed in a new report by Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT). According to the PPT report, The FP says, the GGRF’s budget was the largest ever for the EPA and was managed with inadequate oversight.

The Free Press also points out that the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) is under scrutiny by the EPA’s inspector general, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the FBI for possible fraud and misuse of taxpayer funds. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has repeatedly cited the program as an example of wasteful spending under the Biden administration. Zeldin frequently points to a secretly recorded video by Project Veritas, where a Biden EPA official compared the agency’s haste to distribute program funds before a new administration to throwing gold bars off the Titanic.

The EPA froze 129 Citibank accounts holding the funds, prompting several organizations to sue the EPA and Citibank, arguing that there is no legal basis for withholding the money and that the EPA’s distribution was proper. Fortunately, an appeals court stepped in to pause a prior court decision that would have required the EPA to release the funds.

The climate change agenda should be thoroughly investigated and dismantled. Claims of human-caused climate change primarily serve to empower leftist politicians and bureaucrats, enabling them to impose restrictive rules and regulations to control the public while doling out massive subsidies to groups loyal to the climate alarmist cartel.

PHOTO CREDIT: EPA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. – By Moreau1 – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74279301