MONTGOMERY, Ala.- Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall today joined a coalition of states supporting the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) effort to shut down a Biden-era climate grant program after EPA officials admitted the administration rushed nearly $20 billion in taxpayer funds out the door like “gold bars off the Titanic,” prioritizing political timing and ideological goals over accountability, oversight, and the rule of law.
The multistate amicus brief, led by West Virginia and joined by 23 states, urges the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate a lower court injunction that has blocked EPA from rescinding grants issued under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The states argue the program was unlawfully structured, riddled with waste and conflicts of interest, and intentionally designed to evade oversight before the transition to a new administration.
According to the brief, the Biden administration funneled nearly $20 billion to just eight nonprofit entities, many with little to no financial track record, through a novel funding structure that stripped EPA of meaningful control over taxpayer dollars. Internal admissions revealed officials viewed the program as an “insurance policy” against losing power, hastily rewriting grant agreements after the 2024 election to limit EPA’s authority to intervene.
“When federal officials admit they were throwing taxpayer money overboard like ‘gold bars off the Titanic,’ that’s not climate policy, it’s reckless mismanagement,” Attorney General Marshall said. “Forcing EPA to keep paying out these grants would mean ordering the agency to violate federal law and the Constitution. That’s not how government is supposed to work, and it’s not something the courts should endorse. EPA has a duty to stop a scheme designed to evade oversight and lock in billions before voters could hold anyone accountable.”
The states argue the grants violated the Inflation Reduction Act’s requirement that funds be awarded on a competitive basis and failed to serve the general welfare, as required by the Constitution. The brief also details how the program disproportionately harmed energy-producing states like Alabama by directing taxpayer dollars toward ideologically driven projects while undermining reliable, affordable energy and local economies.
The coalition is asking the court to allow EPA to proceed with rescinding and reassessing the grants to ensure federal funds are spent lawfully, transparently, and in accordance with Congress’s intent.
The West Virginia led coalition included Alabama and attorneys general from: Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
