Judicial Watch Sues EPA for Records on Biden’s $2 Billion Election Year Grant to Stacey Abrams

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for records on the Biden administration’s $2 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grant to the nonprofit Power Forward Communities which is tied to failed Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (No. 1:26-cv-01638)).

The taxpayer funds, awarded in April 2024, were from the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund program established under the Biden administration’s massive Inflation Reduction Act. The grant was awarded to finance so-called “residential decarbonization.”

Power Forward Communities, which was established in 2023, is a coalition of nonprofits which includes partners like Rewiring America, Enterprise Community Partners, and Habitat for Humanity. Abrams reportedly “played a pivotal role” in establishing the group, which in its first few months of operation reported just $100 in revenue.

In early 2025, following the start of the second Trump administration, the EPA under Administrator Lee Zeldin ordered grants made via the National Clean Investment Fund be frozen due to an ongoing investigation into what the agency under Zeldin said were “serious concerns” that were raised “regarding self-dealing and conflicts of interest, unqualified recipients, and reduced government oversight.”

In February 2025, the Trump administration’s EPA announced it would take steps to get the money back. Zeldin cited comments from a former Biden EPA political appointee, who described disbursements made through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund as akin to “tossing gold bars off the Titanic,” because Biden officials were allegedly trying to get money out the door before Trump took over.

In March 2025, the grant payments were halted, while Citibank, the banking entity used to help move or transfer the grants, froze the payments after recommendation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Power Forward Communities was one of several nonprofits that filed a lawsuit against the EPA and Citibank to prevent the termination of the grants and have restored access to the funds. In March 2025, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan issued a temporary restraining order blocking the EPA from canceling the grants. The judge also blocked Citibank, which holds the money on behalf of EPA, from transferring it to the government or anyone else.

On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in September 2025, found that the District Court had abused its discretion in issuing the injunction while ruling jurisdiction for such claims lay with the Court of Federal Claims and not the district court. The appeals court rescinded Judge Chutkan’s injunction and the funds remain frozen as the case is ongoing.

Judicial Watch sued after the EPA failed to respond to a February 20, 2025, FOIA request for all documents and communications regarding the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grant to Power Forward Communities.

“As the Biden administration was collapsing in 2024, it lawlessly rushed out billions in cash to left-wing interest groups in a way that encouraged fraud and abuse. The Trump EPA team should disclose and expose every single document about this massive Biden corruption scandal,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

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