Congressman Brett Guthrie, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, along with Congressman John Joyce, M.D., Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, and Congressman Gary Palmer, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment, have sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin. The letter requests information regarding the allocation of nearly $30 billion in grants from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) during the closing days of the previous administration.
Chairmen Guthrie, Joyce, and Palmer stated: “In the final days of the Biden-Harris Administration, the EPA put their far-left allies ahead of the American people, giving away Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants worth nearly $30 billion to recipients who were not equipped to receive such large amounts of funding. By requesting documentation about this grant process from the EPA, Republicans on the Committee on Energy and Commerce are continuing our work to root out waste, fraud, and abuse while being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
The request comes after earlier communications were sent to eight nonprofit organizations that received over $20 billion through GGRF earlier in 2025.
A key excerpt from their letter reads: “The Committee finds the potential for financial mismanagement particularly worrisome, as some of the grantees’ previous revenues were only a small fraction of the GGRF funds they received, which raises questions about whether the grant recipients can adequately manage grant amounts that are significantly larger than their previously documented revenue.”
The letter continues: “The Committee seeks to ensure that the federal government is a good steward of taxpayer dollars and to continue supporting EPA’s efforts in combatting waste, fraud, and abuse within the GGRF program. To assist with the Subcommittee’s investigation of GGRF and support the Administration’s efforts, the Committee requests the following documents no later than November 19, 2025:
- The complete grant file for all NCIF and CCIA grantees.
- Scoring breakdowns for top-ranked applicants.
- Checklists or guidance used by EPA employees in pre-award due diligence.
- Reports from Citibank or U.S. Treasury concerning GGRF account activities.
- Progress reports from all NCIF and CCIA grantees.
- Names of individuals involved in applicant review panels.”
Under provisions set by Congress through The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), EPA was authorized to establish a $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund program. From this amount, $20 billion was distributed among eight recipients—three organizations under National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) receiving $14 billion collectively and five organizations under Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA) sharing $6 billion.
Additional details on this ongoing investigation can be found in related news coverage:
Fox News has reported that a Biden-era grant program is being described as a ‘gold bar’ scheme by a former Trump EPA administrator (link).
Daily Caller published an article covering demands for documentation related to what it calls Biden’s ‘Gold Bars’ probe (link).
