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Trump’s EPA, DOGE join forces to cut Biden era grants totaling $1.7 billion, looking for billions more

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From LifeSiteNews

By Matt Lamb

LaTricea Adams served on President Joe Biden’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council. At the same time, she applied for a grant on behalf of her nonprofit Young, Gifted & Green – and received $20 million, according to the Washington Free Beacon. The grant is about 10 times the annual revenue of the nonprofit…

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to cut wasteful grants and programs awarded under the previous presidential administration, saving U.S. taxpayers $1.7 billion.

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin announced the latest cuts on March 10. He is working with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk on a “line-by-line review of spending,” according to a news release.

While the cuts total $1.7 billion, there is a larger pot the group is seeking to claw back – $20 billion routed through Citibank on for the “Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund,” according to The Daily Wire.

The fund acted like a piggy bank for favored left-wing groups, with $2 billion going to “Power Forward Communities, a green group linked to Democrat Stacey Abrams,” The Daily Wire reported.

Zeldin has already identified nearly $60 million in ideological grants from the Biden administration for “environmental justice.”

“Additional monies were allocated for DEI training for staff, expanding environmental justice content through the America’s Children and the Environment Program, contractors to advance agency DEI initiatives, and more,” the EPA announced in February. “More savings have been accrued through the agency’s cancellation of outside contractors hired to plan office-wide retreats, and from other contracted work that could be insourced.”

Some of the “environmental justice” grants canceled recently by Zeldin went to well-connected Democrats, according to a Washington Free Beacon report.

For example, LaTricea Adams served on President Joe Biden’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council. At the same time, she applied for a grant on behalf of her nonprofit Young, Gifted & Green – and received $20 million, according to the Washington Free Beacon. The grant is about 10 times the annual revenue of the nonprofit.

The grant would “result in the establishment of the Mid-South Environmental Justice Center with a community advisory board,” according to Democrat Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen. “It will also help to implement a community engagement plan, coordinated workforce training in green jobs, and hands-on water- and air-quality testing,” a January news release from his office stated.

Democracy Green “is a small mother-daughter operation that has never conducted wetlands restoration or lead pipe removals,” according to the Free Beacon. But the group’s board president, La’Meshia Whittington, served on an EPA advisory committee.

The group pushed back against the accusations, calling the Free Beacon an “obscure publication” that published “outright fabrications.” “Our organization has successfully executed water infrastructure projects in North Carolina, including emergency water support and remediation efforts after natural disasters,” the group wrote to Zeldin. “We own the wetland in question- no funds from the CCG Grant are being used for land acquisition but rather this project will restore an already contaminated creek that runs adjacent to some communities benefiting from the pipe replacement.”

Zeldin’s actions are part of a broader push by President Donald Trump to remove onerous economic regulations pursued in the name of fighting “climate change.”

He has also focused on “unleashing American energy” to bring down the cost of electricity and manufacturing.

“It is thus in the national interest to unleash America’s affordable and reliable energy and natural resources,” he wrote in a day one executive order. “This will restore American prosperity — including for those men and women who have been forgotten by our economy in recent years.  It will also rebuild our Nation’s economic and military security, which will deliver peace through strength.”

To fulfill this promise, Zeldin announced a “deregulatory effort” to “bring down the cost of living,” according to Breitbart.

“We will bring down the cost of living. It’s going to be easier to heat your home, to purchase a vehicle, to operate a business,” Zeldin told the outlet over the weekend.

“I’ve been told that we’re going after the holy grail of the climate change religion, and I would just say this: that we can protect the environment and grow the economy. It’s not a binary choice,” he said. “We don’t have to just choose one. The Trump administration chooses both.”

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Biden-era tax on natural gas repealed, a boon for energy industry

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Fr0m The Center Square

By Thérèse Boudreaux

America’s natural gas industry celebrated Monday after President Donald Trump signed into law a resolution repealing Biden-era fees on methane emissions.

The Waste Emissions Charge, which Republicans say is the equivalent of a natural gas tax, was authorized by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency in November 2024.

The resolution rescinds that regulation under the Congressional Review Act. The CRA legislation gives Congress the authority to repeal regulations issued during the final months of a previous administration.

House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., called the repeal “a victory for the American businesses and families who would have been forced to bear the cost of the Biden-Harris Administration’s natural gas tax.”

“It’s time to restore American energy dominance by harnessing innovation and producing the natural gas needed to support our electric grid,” Guthrie added.

Energy experts who testified before Congress in February said the high energy prices during Joe Biden’s presidency directly resulted from increased environmental regulations on energy production. The regulations slowed down domestic energy production and consequently led to increased costs, they said.

The American Exploration and Production Council (AXPC) shares the same view, praising Republicans in Congress and Trump for repealing the Waste Emissions Charge.

“AXPC thanks President Trump for signing the Congressional Review Act legislation – to undo EPA’s flawed rule to implement the natural gas tax,” AXPC CEO Anne Bradbury stated. “While American energy producers remain laser focused on reducing methane emissions, this punitive rule risked undermining those efforts.”

An analysis by the Congressional Budget Office shows that “Charging for methane emissions leads to an increase in the price of natural gas and a decrease in the quantity of natural gas produced and consumed.”

But environmental groups have argued that the legislation will increase energy costs and disrupt efforts to reduce emissions of a potent greenhouse gas. Nearly 80 environmentalist groups recently sent a letter urging lawmakers to keep the regulation, about to take effect, in place.

The Center Square reached out to multiple environmental groups but received no response in time for publication.

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Poilievre commits to ending industrial carbon tax

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By  Franco Terrazzano 

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation applauds Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre’s promise to end all carbon taxes, including the industrial carbon tax, if he becomes prime minister.

“Poilievre is right to oppose the hidden industrial carbon tax that makes everything more expensive and costs Canada jobs,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Canadian businesses are already struggling to survive massive tariffs and hidden industrial carbon taxes make them even less competitive.

“A carbon tax is a carbon tax is a carbon tax, and Canadians can’t afford to keep paying more to fuel up their cars, heat their homes and buy groceries.”

The federal government imposes an industrial carbon tax on oil and gas, steel and fertilizer businesses, among others.

Today, Poilievre said a Conservative government will “repeal the entire carbon tax law, including the tax on Canadian businesses and industries.”

During the Liberal Party leadership race, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he would “improve and tighten” the industrial carbon tax and “extend the [tax’s] framework to 2035.”

“So in changing the carbon tax … we are making the large companies pay for everybody,” Carney said.

However, just 12 per cent of Canadians believe businesses pay most of the cost of the industrial carbon tax, according to a recent Leger poll  commissioned by the CTF. Meanwhile, 70 per cent said businesses would pass most or some carbon tax costs on to consumers.

“Carbon taxes on refineries make gas more expensive, carbon taxes on utilities make home heating more expensive and carbon taxes on fertilizer plants increase costs for farmers and that makes groceries more expensive,” Terrazzano said. “Canadians can’t afford a carbon tax on businesses, which will mean higher prices, fewer jobs and less production in Canada, especially during a trade war.

“Poilievre deserves credit for being the only federal leader committed to ending all carbon taxes.

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