FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL–Financial conflicts of interest and billions of questionable expenditures under the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency are facing fresh scrutiny by House investigators.
In a letter Thursday, House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.; and Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo.; asked EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for a briefing, while also commending Zeldin for identifying waste, fraud and and abuse in the agency.
The letter from Comer and Burlison, the chairman of the Oversight’s Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs, seeks more information on the EPA’s “allocation of funding resources to outside groups and its novel agreements.”
Zeldin in February announced the Biden administration’s EPA parked $20 billion at Citibank to distribute climate grants to avoid oversight. Zeldin also referred the matter to the EPA’s inspector general and to the Justice Department.
The letter from Comer and Burlison said the $20 billion was for “environmental groups to be dispersed later with minimal, if any, guardrails.”
“Further, it appears that the $20 billion at issue is part of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) whose former director appears to have facilitated $5 billion in funding to his former employer,” the letter continues.
The Washington Free Beacon first reported last month the director of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund oversaw a $5 billion grant to his former employer.
“The assessment of the Biden administration EPA and the financial institution’s coordination should include a review of the individuals involved in establishing this anomalous arrangement because of apparent conflict of interest concerns and the lack of oversight for Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and IRA funds—including in the months before President Donald Trump’s inauguration,” the letter continues.
The letter adds, “At least one former Biden Administration EPA official who appears to have worked on a team dedicated to the BIL and IRA implementation between November 6, 2024, and January 20, 2025, is seeking employment with a recipient of the funds.”
It referenced an undercover video by Project Veritas, showing an EPA employee involved with the grants suggesting going to work for one of the environmental groups getting the grants.
In calling for the termination of the contract and a return of the $20 billion to the U.S. treasury, Zeldin said oversight was needed for EPA officials, and stressed there was no evidence Citibank did anything improper.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, a Barack Obama appointee, blocked the EPA from canceling the contract.
The letter’s reference about the $5 billion grant was in regards to Jahi Wise, the founding director of the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which awarded the grant to the Coalition for Green Capital, which previously employed Wise.
The Daily Signal reached out to the Coalition for Green Capital, but a spokesperson did not immediately respond for comment.
Wise next became a “leadership in government fellow” with the Soros-family run Open Society Foundations to “identify interventions that can accelerate the mobilization of private and public capital into climate and clean technology projects, particularly in underserved and overlooked communities.”
The Daily Signal reached out to the Open Society Foundations, which did not immediately respond for comment.
The Daily Signal called and texted a number listed to Wise on WhitePages.com that identified him as a former senior official at the EPA. There was no response to either the call or text.
