Report: Feds spent millions on ‘Environmental Justice’ grants with ‘political’ motives.

A new congressional report from House Republicans alleges the Biden-Harris administration awarded billions of taxpayer dollars in “Environmental Justice” subsidies for political reasons.

The Republican-led Energy and Commerce Committee released a staff report on Monday that laid out the allegations.

“As part of its radical green rush agenda, the administration has given hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to activists who also engage in political activity,” the lawmakers behind the report said in a joint statement. “He was empowered to do this by Democrats in Congress, who pushed through legislation that was designed to rush money out the door as quickly as possible without safeguards against waste, fraud and abuse.”

The report points to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a Democratic bill that, among other things, provided about $41 billion to the Environmental Protection Agency, four times its annual budget, of which $3 billion was for grants for environmental justice.

The EPA defines environmental justice as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people…”, which includes ensuring that no group is disproportionately affected by environmental decisions.

It also includes working for “equitable access to a healthy, sustainable and resilient environment in which to live, play, work, learn, grow, worship and engage in cultural and subsistence practices”.

To that end, the EPA has begun distributing grants, but Republicans say the money has been distributed incorrectly.

From report:

Lists of organizations selected to receive funding or partner with these organizations include environmental activist organizations that work to influence public and elected officials to adopt their often extreme views, such as the complete elimination of fossil fuel use, which Americans recognize as an important part. of a complete energy mix above. While some selected organizations include other types of entities, such as institutes of higher education, many are special interest environmental nonprofits. The views and missions of these organizations often align with those of the administration, in effect using taxpayer dollars to advance the radical Biden-Harris energy agenda. While organizations must use these grants for specified purposes, acceptable uses of the funding are broad enough to include activities such as “public awareness” or “public education.” The IRA language also allows grantees to use awards to “facilitate the engagement of disadvantaged communities in state and federal advisory panels, workshops, regulations, and other public processes.”

Simply put, the EPA gives taxpayer dollars to special interest groups that engage in a radical energy agenda to ‘educate’ others and help those they engage with influence government policymaking and outcomes,” it says. in the report. “It could be seen as akin to a taxpayer-funded lobbying operation. Given these organizations’ existing efforts to influence public opinion, they can use these awards to try to indoctrinate members of the communities in which they conduct outreach.

The EPA denied the allegations, pointing to their vetting process for grantees.

“All eligible applications submitted for EPA funding go through a rigorous competitive process,” Joseph, Dominique, EPA spokesperson, told The Center Square. “EPA takes the integrity of the program very seriously and will continue to achieve the environmental justice goals of the Biden-Harris Administration in a robust and transparent manner. The agency has several safeguards in place to ensure that grant activities are in full compliance with grant commitments and the laws that Congress has directed EPA to implement.”