Climate Grant Recipient To Start Spending $2b As Trump's Epa Tries To Claw It Back

A coalition of nonprofits under fire from President Donald Trump’s appointees says it will begin doling out money from a $2 billion climate grant it received during the Biden era — despite the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempts to claw back the funds.

"When the EPA made a grant to us and grants to other awardees, there's an official contract that the government enters into,” said Tim Mayopoulos, the CEO of Power Forward Communities, in an interview with POLITICO. “The agreement has not been terminated, and we have an obligation to fulfill it."

He said his group, an umbrella for five nonprofits that include United Way and Habitat for Humanity, will deploy its initial $539 million disbursement from the grant over the coming weeks to help communities across the country build energy-efficient housing.

Asked for comment on the status of the fund, EPA referred POLITICO to a videotaped statement Feb. 12 in which Administrator Lee Zeldin demanded that a total of $20 billion in Biden-era green grants be returned — vowing, “The days of irresponsibly shoveling boat loads of cash to far-left activist groups in the name of environmental justice and climate equity are over.”

Power Forward, one of eight recipients across two grant programs totaling $20 billion, has found itself swept up in the growing political storm surrounding Zeldin’s attempts to revoke the awards — part of the Trump administration’s wider effort to expand its constitutional powers by throttling already-enacted spending it disagrees with. Congress approved the $20 billion as part of a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund created by former President Joe Biden’s 2022 climate law, and Biden’s EPA contractually obligated the money before last October, as the statute required.

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund also includes another $7 billion for solar grants.

The Trump administration’s efforts to revoke the climate cash have kicked off a spiraling mess that shows no signs of ending.

A senior federal prosecutor resigned last week after saying Justice Department officials had pressured her to launch a criminal investigation into the green grant program despite a lack of evidence of wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Zeldin has taken the unorthodox step of trying to get Citibank, where Biden’s administration had deposited $20 billion of the funds, to send it back. Zeldin has condemned the grants as an example of “waste and abuse,” though without specifying what aspects of the spending he considers wasteful or abusive.

“I'm a little perplexed that this is at all controversial,” Mayopoulos — a former CEO of Fannie Mae — told POLITICO. “We are in violent agreement with the president that the cost of housing and the cost of energy is too high for many Americans, and we are looking to address that issue.”

Zeldin has also attempted to lay the dispute at the feet of former Democratic Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams — even referring to Mayopoulos’ group as “Stacey Abram’s Power Forward Communities” in an EPA press release last week. Several pro-Trump news outlets have amplified that accusation, with the New York Post describing Abrams as a “fierce supporter” of Biden. But Mayopoulos said Abrams, a former paid adviser to one of Power Forward’s member groups, is no longer involved with his organization.

“Stacey Abrams has not received a penny of this EPA grant. It was never the plan for her to receive any money from this grant,” Mayopoulos said in the interview. “Power Forward Communities has no relationship with Ms. Abrams, other than the fact that she's one of the people who have advised one of our coalition members in the past.”

That coalition member, Rewiring America, confirmed to POLITICO that Abrams’ contract with the group expired at the end of 2024. Abrams never received any payments from or held a position with Power Forward Communities, nor did she get any money from the EPA grant, Abrams spokesperson Joshua Karp said.

In her advisory role with Rewiring America, Abrams did work to identify potential partners for the coalition now working on the grant, Karp said. Abrams alluded to that role in a post on X in October 2023, writing: “Thrilled to be part of @rewiringamerica and the Power Forward Communities coalition. This is how we expand access to clean energy — by prioritizing housing, equity and resilience.”

In his attacks on the grant, Zeldin has repeatedly pointed to an undercover video recording released by a conservative group in December, in which a person identified as an EPA adviser likened the Biden administration’s effort to spend climate money before Trump’s inauguration to “throwing gold bars” off the Titanic. But that video came out more than two months after EPA had obligated the $20 billion, and eight months after then-Vice President Kamala Harris and then-Administrator Michael Regan had announced that Power Forward and seven other recipients would get the money for projects designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Mayopoulos said the money that Power Forward is spending would support energy efficiency upgrades, build homes and boost lending capital for rural, affordable and multifamily housing.

Zeldin has expressed doubts about Power Forward’s selection to oversee the $2 billion grant, noting that the organization had formed only in 2023 and had revenues of just $100, according to federal tax filings.

The EPA chief told Fox News on Sunday that the Justice Department “has been asking a lot of questions of us” and that Citibank is cooperating with the department. Though he has not cited any evidence of illegal behavior, he said that “the entire scheme, in my opinion, is criminal.”

Citibank declined to comment.

Mayopoulos said those accusations misrepresent his organization, which intends to improve or build 11,000 multifamily and 61,000 single-family homes, spur 64,000 jobs and curb energy bills $1.26 billion over the seven-year grant period.

The coalition’s member groups have long histories of rolling out major spending projects, Mayopoulos added. Together they have combined for $100 billion in projects across 1.4 million affordable homes, Power Forward Communities said.

“Power Forward Communities was created to serve as the coalition entity for these five respected nonprofits,” Mayopoulos said. “They clearly have the experience and capabilities and proven track record over two-and-a-half centuries of collective work to do this and to fulfill this grant.”

Besides United Way and Habitat for Humanity, Power Forward’s members include the affordable housing group Enterprise Community Partners. The other partners are the Local Initiatives Support Coalition, which specializes in financing projects in areas that struggle to attract private-sector investment, and Rewiring America, which aims to electrify homes and curb fossil fuel use.

Program supporters have worried the Trump administration’s threats to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund could create a chilling effect on spending the money. But Mayopoulos said he is “confident” that Citibank will honor the agreements it has with the Treasury Department and the EPA, calling it a “large and highly respected financial institution.”

Mayopoulos argued that the money will help achieve Trump’s goals of reducing energy costs. The awards that Power Forward announced Monday include $115 million for rural Americans — who largely backed Trump — in states such as West Virginia and Alabama, with much of that used to finance new multifamily housing.

Two other awards would boost multifamily lending by $424 million across 20 states, including Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas and Florida.