Appeals court sides with EPA in climate grant terminations fight

Source: Politico

09/02/2025 12:08 PM EDT


A federal appellate court on Tuesday sided with the Environmental Protection Agency in the pitched legal battle over Administrator Lee Zeldin’s termination of $20 billion in Biden-era climate grants, a major victory for the Trump administration’s bid to cancel hundreds of environmental grants and boost fossil fuel production.

The jilted grant recipients are expected to appeal the decision, but even if it’s ultimately upheld, additional litigation will follow — and EPA could find itself on the hook for the outstanding balance, a possibility attorneys at EPA and the Justice Department warned of in internal emails reported by POLITICO in April.

Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had issued an injunction against Zeldin’s terminations in April, ruling that he had violated the law and the Constitution. Chutkan’s injunction was stayed while EPA appealed, preventing any money from moving out of the accounts at Citibank where the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund dollars were held.

But a split panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed Chutkan, saying she should not have issued the injunction.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/02/appeals-court-epa-climate-grant-00539926