Elfreth Joins SEEC Letter to Demand EPA Release Obligated Funds

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth (MD-03), a member of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC), joined Co-Chairs Reps. Doris Matsui, Mike Quigley, and Paul Tonko in a letter sent to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin to demand that the EPA direct Citibank to immediately release the legally obligated money from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. They led a total of 82 Members of Congress in signing the letter.

“We write to you in response to the Trump Administration’s persistent and shocking attempts to undermine the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). For weeks, Citibank has withheld congressionally authorized GGRF funding at your direction without any justification, and now, despite failing to produce any evidence of wrongdoing, the Trump Administration has requested that GGRF awardees turn over records to the FBI and appear in federal court. And last week, you further escalated EPA’s inappropriate attack on the program by announcing the termination of existing GGRF contracts without any evidence that the grantees were in breach of the terms of their agreements. Last night, a federal judge responded and blocked the EPA’s attempt to claw back billions in legally obligated dollars, slamming EPA for providing “no legal justification for the termination” and for failing to follow due process. We are stunned by this unprecedented campaign of intimidation, and we call on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to direct Citibank to immediately release these legally obligated funds,” said the letter. 

“We find it extremely troubling that GGRF funds continue to be the target of a political witch hunt without any justification or evidence of wrongdoing. The EPA’s actions have unnecessarily spurred great economic uncertainty, and now, the eight nonprofit recipients of NCIF and CCIA funding are at risk of going bankrupt and some have already begun to furlough their workers. In the absence of a clear explanation to awardees for why these funds continue to be frozen, we urge EPA to direct Citibank to release these funds without further delay so that these federal dollars, as intended by law, can help American families and businesses begin to lower their energy bills, spur local economic development, and work towards healthier, safer communities across the country,” the lawmakers continued. 

The letter can be found here.

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