As President-Elect Donald Trump prepares to take office in 2025, staffers within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are scrambling to distribute billions of dollars in climate-related grants under President Joe Biden’s ambitious climate agenda. According to Brent Efron, a Special Advisor for Implementation at the EPA, employees are working overtime to push out funding before the Trump administration takes over and potentially halts or rescinds these programs.
In a conversation with an undercover Project Veritas journalist, Efron pulled back the curtain on what he describes as a chaotic and urgent effort to ensure that Biden’s climate initiatives are secured and protected against the incoming Republican administration.
Efron painted a vivid picture of the agency’s desperation to spend taxpayer money before the new administration arrives, likening the situation to the sinking of the Titanic: “Now it’s how to get the money out as fast as possible before they [Trump Administration] come in… it’s like we’re on the Titanic and we’re throwing gold bars off the edge.” Efron’s metaphor reflects the sense of urgency within the EPA as they rush to disburse over $100 billion in climate grants, largely funded by Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Much of this money, according to Efron, has been funneled into nonprofits, which he believes are less vulnerable to a potential Republican push to defund or cancel the grants. “We gave them [nonprofits] the money because… it was an insurance policy against Trump winning,” he said. “Because they aren’t [a government agency], they’re safer from Republicans taking the money away.” This statement reveals a strategic decision to empower organizations outside of the direct control of the federal government, thus creating a layer of cover for Biden’s climate agenda should the Republican led government seek to reverse the funding.
Some of the groups that have received large grants from the EPA are tasked with distributing subgrants to other local and regional nonprofits. These funds are intended to support climate change projects, with many grants falling between $50 million and $100 million, creating a far-reaching network of organizations that are politically aligned with the current administration’s goals.
“Over the last year we’ve given out $50 billion dollars for climate things…so to go work for one of these places would be really cool,” he stated, suggesting that working at one of the nonprofit organizations benefiting from EPA grants could be a lucrative opportunity in his future.
Under a Trump administration, the EPA is expected to focus on energy independence, deregulation of the fossil fuel industry, and cutting funding for inefficient renewable energy projects. Zeldin has been a vocal critic of climate change legislation, and his leadership would likely result in an immediate overhaul of the current EPA’s priorities.
Critics argue that the rapid disbursement of such large sums of money to politically aligned nonprofits raises ethical concerns, especially in an election year. It reflects a growing concern that bureaucratic agencies, such as the EPA, are being weaponized for partisan gain, using taxpayer dollars to cement the political objectives of the current administration.
