Audrey Streb
DCNF Energy Reporter
Federal reviewers internally raised red flags about a Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program that awarded billions with minimal oversight to politically-connected green groups, according to a Tuesday report published by Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), a watchdog organization.
Reviewers scrutinized several of the grant applications for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), the EPA program that awarded $20 billion to green groups connected to Democrat donors and insiders, identifying concerns such as “excessive” executive pay, curious financial statements and limited oversight, according to documents first obtained by The Free Press and additional findings uncovered and compiled in PPT’s new report. The GGRF budget far exceeded any budget in all of EPA’s history, and the PPT report argues that the program was not administered with appropriate levels of oversight.
“For a program that was given more money to hand out than the EPA has ever had in its entire budget, it would be reasonable for the American public to expect that it would have been operated without the slightest hint of conflict or questions about the recipients,” Michael Chamberlain, director of PPT, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Knowing what EPA leadership did following receipt of these critical assessments, one is left to wonder whether they decided wasteful spending while lacking the resources and any genuine plans to prevent abuse and fraud was merely the cost of doing business to avoid leaving it to a potential Trump administration.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Watchdog Slaps Ex-Biden Official With Complaint Over EPA ‘Gold Bars’ Scandal)
The Shocking Weakness of EPA’s GGRF Award Process. by audreystreb
‘Gold Bars’
The GGRF is being investigated by the EPA’s inspector general, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI for potential fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars, and EPA administrator Lee Zeldin has pointed to the program as an example of waste on the Biden administration’s watch on numerous occasions. Zeldin has often referenced a video covertly recorded by conservative activist group Project Veritas, in which a Biden EPA official likened the agency’s rush to get program funding out the door before the arrival of a new administration to tossing “gold bars off the Titanic.”
“We owe it to the American people to be good stewards of taxpayer money and they deserve better than the reckless spending of our predecessors,” Zeldin said in a statement to the DCNF. “The latest batch of internal EPA documents directly reflects the infamous words of the Biden EPA, this money was tossed ‘off the Titanic.’ In addition to the obvious self-dealing and conflicts of interest, reviewers outlined concerns about unqualified recipients and reduced oversight. … Rest assured, the Trump EPA is working to ensure these tax dollars are properly accounted for. ”
The EPA froze the 129 Citibank accounts where the funds are being held, and in response, several organizations filed lawsuits against the EPA and Citibank, claiming there is no legal justification for withholding the funds and that the EPA acted appropriately in distributing them. An appeals court intervened to stay a previous court ruling that would have forced the EPA to unfreeze the funds. (RELATED: Turns Out Top Execs Of Org Picked For Billions By Biden EPA Are Big Time Democrat Donors)
🚨FOIA’d docs expose, as we’ve been saying, the Biden EPA “gold bars” scheme was riddled with self-dealing and conflicts of interest, unqualified recipients, and reduced oversight.
An honest person might even call this sourced documentation “evidence”. https://t.co/H2kufgYg38
— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) May 12, 2025
Power Forward Communities
Power Forward Communities (PFC), a nonprofit coalition linked to Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, was specifically formed to secure taxpayer funding from the GGRF, from which it was awarded $2 billion, the PPT report notes.
Other Democrats linked to the nonprofit coalition include Phyllis Caldwell, the vice chair of Enterprise Community Partners (ECP), an arm of the PFC, as well as the founder and co-chair of PFC Ari Matusiak, both of whom worked in the Obama administration, the PPT report notes. Shaun Donovan, CEO and president of ECP, also served in the Obama administration as the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
A review panel examining the application of PFC graded it just above 80% and raised concerns about proposed salaries for executives and incomplete financial statements, according to the PPT report. Candidates were evaluated “on a steep curve,” and winning applicants achieved no higher than an A-minus score, the PPT report states.
“The salary structure for top officers seems high for a nonprofit – or rather high enough that it merits some explanation,” one reviewer wrote. “[I’m] wondering if this could be a problem with public perception. … Many of the costs are just presented, but [with] little or no explanation as to why they are reasonable,” they continued.
Another reviewer wrote that “executive salaries appear excessive,” adding that the amount did “not seem appropriate for federal funds.” Another added that “senior management salaries are seemingly high without justification.”
Reviewers repeatedly listed PFC’s partnership with United Way and Habitat For Humanity as a strength of its application, though both of the organizations later pulled out of the coalition, as the report notes.
After the PFC notified the courts that it was struggling to pay employees or cover operating expenses, United Way withdrew from the coalition, a spokesperson for the organization confirmed to the DCNF. Habitat For Humanity also jumped ship, citing the need to preserve its financial resources due to a potentially prolonged legal battle with the EPA, according to Politico.
“The applicant’s historical financial statements are not available since Power Forward Communities, Inc. has been recently established as a nonprofit corporation,” one reviewer wrote. “This risk is mitigated by the track record and strength of its coalition partners, including United Way and Habitat for Humanity,” they continued.
PFC, ECP, Abram’s office, Habitat for Humanity, Caldwell, Donovan and Matusiak did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment. (RELATED: Biden-Harris Admin Handed Billions To Coalition Partnering With Stacey Abrams’ Org Dedicated To Turning Out Voters)
Climate United Fund
Climate United Fund (CUF) was awarded $6.97 billion and received the highest rating of the mentioned nonprofits at 90.1%, yet reviewers noted that the nonprofit had seemingly unjustified high employee compensation and vague plan descriptions, the PPT report noted.
Two separate reviewers also noted that “exec comp seems high,” and that the large budget could “add risk to a federal award.”
Other aspects of the grant application confused reviewers, as the nonprofit dedicated 2.2% of its budget to “market predevelopment,” which an employee needed “additional clarity.” When it came to CUF’s plan to decarbonize homes, one federal employee wrote that “these numbers don’t make sense.”
CUF says the application process was robust, and that reviewers flagging concerns is a natural part of evaluations like the one the group underwent for the GGRF.
“We went through a robust, 9-month application and review process with nearly 50 federal employee reviewers who evaluated and scored numerous applications. As with any review process, there were many viewpoints taken into account and reviewers were required to note strengths and weaknesses with each score,” a spokesperson for CUF said in a statement to the DCNF. “We received a high score and ultimately an award based on our decades of experience investing in communities across the U.S.”
At the time of approval for GGRF funding, the nonprofit’s board boasted multiple Democratic figures, including Phil Angelides, former California State Treasurer and Harold Pettigrew, who was appointed to the Treasury Department’s community development advisory board by Biden, the PPT report notes. Additionally, Anthony Foxx, head of the Department of Transportation under Obama, held a seat during the GGRF application process but has since left the CU board, according to the PPT report.
The nonprofit announced in March that it may not be able to cover operating expenses if it cannot access the Biden-era grant funding.
Angelides, Pettigrew and Foxxdid not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment. (RELATED: ‘The Swamp Is Getting Deeper’: EPA Awards Billions From Biden’s Landmark Climate Bill To Orgs Loaded With Dem Insiders)
Coalition For Green Capital
Coalition For Green Capital (CGC) had the strongest financial statements of the grantees, though reviewers flagged that its “FY2022 and 2021 financials show a net loss with declining fees for service income,” according to the PPT report.
The nonprofit received $5 billion in taxpayer funds through the GGRF, and — like its fellow GGRF grantees — the organization has considerable connections to the Democratic Party, according to the PPT report. Notable board members include former Biden official Cecilia Martinez and David Hayes, the former White House special assistant for climate policy.
Hayes was a member of CGC’s board during the first Trump administration before departing to join the Biden White House, then later rejoined the CGC’s board soon after leaving government, according to the PPT report. Hayes and CGC referred the DCNF to the nonprofit’s lawsuit, which states that Hayes did not work on the GGRF provisions later included in the IRA and that his work in the administration presented “no conflict of interest.”
Rated at an 88.9% score, reviewers flagged the nonprofit’s high employee salaries, questionable financial modeling and oversight concerns regarding the deployment of billions in taxpayer dollars in a limited timeframe, according to the PPT report.
One reviewer noted that employee salaries would be exorbitant, the PPT report states. “Of the 71 expected hires, more than 20% would be making salaries more than ~$450,000” the reviewer wrote.
Other reviewers expressed oversight concerns regarding the rapid distribution of billions in taxpayer dollars.
CGC’s “assumption of deploying $10B in the first fiscal year of performance seems unattainable,” another federal employee noted.
“Ambitious assumptions around deployment call into question the risks being modeled by the lead applicant. It stands to reason that the accelerated deployment of capital well beyond what has been seen historically would result in losses well beyond what has been recorded historically,” the reviewer continued, noting that CGC did not address this issue in its application materials.
Martinez did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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Perhaps it’s time for ALL 503C institutions to resubmit their non-profit paperwork and reapply with CLEAR information and requalifications
As a former researcher and developer of larger-scale energy efficiency implementation programs over several decades, my expectation would be that these organizations have (had) almost no clue about what work needs to be done on a large scale to achieve greenhouse gas reductions. I waited decades to see if anyone could come close to doing so, and the only good example of such an effort is the DOE Weatherization Assistance Program. Not much else, although wasting funds on solar can lead to a lot of expenditures. There is no truly qualified workforce, as most of those qualified are already working construction. There is ZERO possibility that an adequate, qualified workforce to accomplish desired greenhouse gas reductions can be pulled out of the existing population. In the end, these grants would mainly provide for many more AL-Gore-type mansions for corrupt insiders.
‘potential fraud’ must be shorthand for rampant corruption.
Ah, but it’s only fraud if you’re caught!
The hard part of any scam is the money laundering.
This looks as obvious as USAID for
being transfers to political allies.
The non-profit management, that is/was oversalaried, would have had personal donations to political causes and individuals.
I would hope to see how much went to Stacy Abrams and similar minded causes, vs non-Abrams type donations.
At its founding the USA’s transportation and information generating technology included horses, trains, candles, and the hand operated printing press. Such was reason for the long delay from a presidential election to the transfer to the new team. Technology has changed.
The 73-to-79 days between the presidential election and the inauguration is not appropriate in the current era when the office changes politically. Much of the shenanigans reported in this post could not have happened if the election happened on Tuesday and the inauguration was the following Saturday. Further new actions during the intervening days should be restricted.
[Fine points can be worked out.]
Here in the UK the election is held on a Thursday and the new PM (if there is one) is ensconced in 10 Downing St. by Friday (Saturday at the latest if it’s a close call with numerous re-counts). No messing!
I respectfully disagree to changing the timeframes.
In the event of election fraud, election corruption, and other possibilities, the interval from election to inauguration is necessary.
It might be a better approach that tossing gold bars off the Titanic be prohibited. Only Congressional approved appropriations can be allocated in that time.
There is more than one way to skin a cat.
Trains came to the US some 40 years after the Constitution was written and inauguration was originally 4+ months after the election.
Inauguration was originally set by statute (to some time in March), but the 20th Amendment (1933) set it to January 20. So changing inauguration would require a Constitutional amendment.
Needs to name some names of former staffers or their relatives who join payrolls of beneficiary organizations in the next few years.
The Democratic Party’s kickback machine needs to be dismantled and scrapped; one appropriation, one grant, and one subsidy at a time.
Follow the money.
………….and follow the Autopen, Joke Biden was a Puppet Prez………some money may have gone to pay LA rioters……call it anarchy………call it what happens when criminals get power
All of the taxpayer money spent so far to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels has resulted in ZERO reduction of atmospheric CO2 as evidenced by the Mauna Loa measurements.
That’s a 100% failure rate for all funded organizations for over 40 years.
If anyone thinks this is money well spent “fighting” climate change, I’d like to know the reasons why.
China and India and SE Asia are in control of the total coming CO2 emissions. it will not be NetZero w/o them
Identify the perps, charge them, judge them and send the guilty to jail.
That is what used to be standard practice for many decades. What, if anything, has changed in law except less diligence? Geoff S
Time to zero out public money for NGOs. Zero.
No Federal department allowed to disburse any money to a third party organization, except to serve the technical needs of a federal program.
NGOs are welcome to obtain funding from private donations, church groups, and rich philanthropists, as was done prior to 1950.
No more public money. To any of them, for any reason.
I recall reading, perhaps here on WUWT, that the EPA had an internal slush fund derived from the fines it levied.
That fund lubricated the sue, settle, pay circus: NGOs would sue the EPA over some supposed offense. The EPA would settle, issue some new rule, and recompense the NGO from its slush fund. Large amounts of money transferred over and had virtually no oversight.
The whole thing is an ideological scam, which just happens to enrich the enviro-demagogues. But, of course, they deserve the money because they’re saving the planet.
It’s definitely an understatement to proclaim Biden and his admin are quintessential traitors….