{"id":1797,"date":"2026-03-10T16:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/authorwebsitepublishing.xyz\/demo\/epa-oversight-office-finds-no-issues-with-biden-era-environmental-justice-program\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T16:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:58:07","slug":"epa-oversight-office-finds-no-issues-with-biden-era-environmental-justice-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/authorwebsitepublishing.xyz\/demo\/epa-oversight-office-finds-no-issues-with-biden-era-environmental-justice-program\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA Oversight Office Finds \u2018No Issues\u2019 With Biden-Era Environmental Justice\u00a0Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 9, 2026<\/b> \u2013 In a report<\/a> released last week, the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s (EPA) internal watchdog office said it found no issues with the way the agency implemented a grant program under President Joe Biden that funded<\/a> solar-powered greenhouses, composting, regenerative farms, and community gardens in under-resourced communities.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s EPA canceled<\/a> $1.5 billion in Community Change Grant Program contracts in May 2025 and shuttered<\/a> the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, which had administered the program.<\/p>\n

It was one of several programs terminated last spring by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who called environmental justice programs under Biden \u201cscams.\u201d \u201cUnder the \u2018environmental justice\u2019 banner, the previous administration\u2019s EPA showered billions on ideological allies, instead of directing those resources into solving environmental problems and making meaningful change,\u201d Zeldin wrote<\/a> in a New York Post<\/i> op-ed at the time.<\/p>\n

After receiving a hotline complaint in February 2025, the EPA\u2019s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) started an investigation into the Biden EPA\u2019s administration of the Community Change grants. But instead of finding fraud, the office found no issues in the way the grants were handled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EPA adhered to its grant application review and selection requirements and designed the Community Change Grants Program in a manner that assured an appropriate selection process,\u201d the OIG concluded<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Advocates at the Environmental Protection Network (EPN) and Lawyers for Good Government said last week<\/a> that the report shows Zeldin\u2019s cancellations were not based on evidence of waste, fraud, or abuse. \u201cThe Trump EPA didn\u2019t terminate these grants because something was wrong with them\u2014they terminated them because they refused to help communities that are overburdened and under-resourced address pollution and climate threats,\u201d EPN Executive Director Michelle Roos said in a statement<\/a>. (Link to this post<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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The post EPA Oversight Office Finds \u2018No Issues\u2019 With Biden-Era Environmental Justice\u00a0Program<\/a> appeared first on Civil Eats<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 9, 2026 \u2013 In a report released last week, the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s (EPA)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorwebsitepublishing.xyz\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorwebsitepublishing.xyz\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorwebsitepublishing.xyz\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authorwebsitepublishing.xyz\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authorwebsitepublishing.xyz\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/authorwebsitepublishing.xyz\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1797\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorwebsitepublishing.xyz\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authorwebsitepublishing.xyz\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authorwebsitepublishing.xyz\/demo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}