President Donald Trump’s administration won an appeals court victory allowing it to terminate billions in EPA climate grants on Tuesday.
A federal district court wrongfully blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from temporarily withholding billions of dollars in climate grants, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The District Court for Washington, D.C. granted an injunction blocking the Trump administration from withholding $16 billion in climate grants. Tuesday’s ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court finds that the lower court overstepped its authority in doing so, and that Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was acting in accordance with its role to provide «proper oversight» of how funds are distributed.
«We conclude the district court abused its discretion in issuing the injunction. The grantees are not likely to succeed on the merits because their claims are essentially contractual, and therefore jurisdiction lies exclusively in the Court of Federal Claims», Judge Neomi Rao wrote in the court’s opinion.
«And while the district court had jurisdiction over the grantees’ constitutional claim, that claim is meritless. Moreover, the equities strongly favor the government, which on behalf of the public must ensure the proper oversight and management of this multi-billion-dollar fund», the opinion continued.
The case relates to EPA grants worth $16 billion awarded under the previous administration to five nonprofits to promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
