EXCLUSIVE: Biden’s ‘Gold Bars’ Went To Politically-Connected Orgs Over Internal Red Flags, Watchdog Finds
Federal reviewers internally raised red flags about a Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program that awarded billions with minimal oversight to politically-connected green groups, according to a Tuesday…
Federal reviewers internally raised red flags about a Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program that awarded billions with minimal oversight to politically-connected green groups, according to a Tuesday report published by Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), a watchdog organization.
Reviewers scrutinized several of the grant applications for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), the EPA program that awarded $20 billion to green groups connected to Democrat donors and insiders, identifying concerns such as “excessive” executive pay, curious financial statements and limited oversight, according to documents first obtained by The Free Press and additional findings uncovered and compiled in PPT’s new report. The GGRF budget far exceeded any budget in all of EPA’s history, and the PPT report argues that the program was not administered with appropriate levels of oversight.
“For a program that was given more money to hand out than the EPA has ever had in its entire budget, it would be reasonable for the American public to expect that it would have been operated without the slightest hint of conflict or questions about the recipients,” Michael Chamberlain, director of PPT, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Knowing what EPA leadership did following receipt of these critical assessments, one is left to wonder whether they decided wasteful spending while lacking the resources and any genuine plans to prevent abuse and fraud was merely the cost of doing business to avoid leaving it to a potential Trump administration.”
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The Shocking Weakness of EPA’s GGRF Award Process. by audreystreb
‘Gold Bars’
The GGRF is being investigated by the EPA’s inspector general, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI for potential fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars, and EPA administrator Lee Zeldin has pointed to the program as an example of waste on the Biden administration’s watch on numerousoccasions. Zeldin has often referenced a video covertly recorded by conservative activist group Project Veritas, in which a Biden EPA official likened the agency’s rush to get program funding out the door before the arrival of a new administration to tossing “gold bars off the Titanic.”
“We owe it to the American people to be good stewards of taxpayer money and they deserve better than the reckless spending of our predecessors,” Zeldin said in a statement to the DCNF. “The latest batch of internal EPA documents directly reflects the infamous words of the Biden EPA, this money was tossed ‘off the Titanic.’ In addition to the obvious self-dealing and conflicts of interest, reviewers outlined concerns about unqualified recipients and reduced oversight. … Rest assured, the Trump EPA is working to ensure these tax dollars are properly accounted for. ”
The EPA froze the 129 Citibank accounts where the funds are being held, and in response, several organizations filed lawsuits against the EPA and Citibank, claiming there is no legal justification for withholding the funds and that the EPA acted appropriately in distributing them. An appeals court intervened to stay a previous court ruling that would have forced the EPA to unfreeze the funds.
Power Forward Communities
Power Forward Communities (PFC), a nonprofit coalition linked to Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, was specifically formed to secure taxpayer funding from the GGRF, from which it was awarded $2 billion, the PPT report notes.
Other Democrats linked to the nonprofit coalition include Phyllis Caldwell, the vice chair of Enterprise Community Partners (ECP), an arm of the PFC,as well as the founder and co-chair of PFC Ari Matusiak, both of whom workedin the Obama administration, the PPT report notes. Shaun Donovan, CEO and president of ECP, also served in the Obama administration as the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
A review panel examining the application of PFC graded it just above 80% and raised concerns about proposed salaries for executives and incomplete financial statements, according to the PPT report. Candidates were evaluated “on a steep curve,” and winning applicants achieved no higher than an A-minus score, the PPT report states.
“The salary structure for top officers seems high for a nonprofit – or rather high enough that it merits some explanation,” one reviewer wrote. “ wondering if this could be a problem with public perception. … Many of the costs are just presented, but little or no explanation as to why they are reasonable,” they continued.
Another reviewer wrote that “executive salaries appear excessive,” adding that the amount did “not seem appropriate for federal funds.” Another added that “senior management salaries are seemingly high without justification.”
Reviewers repeatedly listed PFC’s partnership with United Way and Habitat For Humanity as a strength of its application, though both of the organizations later pulled out of the coalition, as the report notes.
After the PFC notified the courts that it was struggling to pay employees or cover operating expenses, United Way withdrew from the coalition, a spokesperson for the organization confirmed to the DCNF. Habitat For Humanity also jumped ship, citing the need to preserve its financial resources due to a potentially prolonged legal battle with the EPA, according to Politico.
“The applicant’s historical financial statements are not available since Power Forward Communities, Inc. has been recently established as a nonprofit corporation,” one reviewer wrote. “This risk is mitigated by the track record and strength of its coalition partners, including United Way and Habitat for Humanity,” they continued.
PFC, ECP, Abram’s office, Habitat for Humanity, Caldwell, Donovan and Matusiak did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
Climate United Fund
Climate United Fund (CUF) was awarded $6.97 billion and received the highest rating of the mentioned nonprofits at 90.1%, yet reviewers noted that the nonprofit had seemingly unjustified high employee compensation and vague plan descriptions, the PPT report noted.
Two separate reviewers also noted that “exec comp seems high,” and that the large budget could “add risk to a federal award.”
Other aspects of the grant application confused reviewers, as the nonprofit dedicated 2.2% of its budget to “market predevelopment,” which an employee needed “additional clarity.” When it came to CUF’s plan to decarbonize homes, one federal employee wrote that “these numbers don’t make sense.”
CUF says the application process was robust, and that reviewers flagging concerns is a natural part of evaluations like the one the group underwent for the GGRF.
“We went through a robust, 9-month application and review process with nearly 50 federal employee reviewers who evaluated and scored numerous applications. As with any review process, there were many viewpoints taken into account and reviewers were required to note strengths and weaknesses with each score,” a spokesperson for CUF said in a statement to the DCNF. “We received a high score and ultimately an award based on our decades of experience investing in communities across the U.S.”
At the time of approval for GGRF funding, the nonprofit’s board boasted multiple Democratic figures, including Phil Angelides, former California State Treasurer and Harold Pettigrew, who was appointed to the Treasury Department’s community development advisory board by Biden, the PPT report notes. Additionally, Anthony Foxx, head of the Department of Transportation under Obama, held a seat during the GGRF application process but has since left the CU board, according to the PPT report.
The nonprofit announced in March that it may not be able to cover operating expenses if it cannot access the Biden-era grant funding.
Angelides,Pettigrew and Foxxdid not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
Coalition For Green Capital
Coalition For Green Capital (CGC) had the strongest financial statements of the grantees, though reviewers flagged that its “FY2022 and 2021 financials show a net loss with declining fees for service income,” according to the PPT report.
The nonprofit received $5 billion in taxpayer funds through the GGRF, and — like its fellow GGRF grantees — the organization has considerable connections to the Democratic Party, according to the PPT report. Notable board members include former Biden official Cecilia Martinez and David Hayes, the former White House special assistant for climate policy.
Hayes was a member of CGC’s board during the first Trump administration before departing to join the Biden White House, then later rejoined the CGC’s board soon after leaving government, according to the PPT report. Hayes and CGC referred the DCNF to the nonprofit’s lawsuit, which states that Hayes did not work on the GGRF provisions later included in the IRA and that his work in the administration presented “no conflict of interest.”
Rated at an 88.9% score, reviewers flagged the nonprofit’s high employee salaries, questionable financial modeling and oversight concerns regarding the deployment of billions in taxpayer dollars in a limited timeframe, according to the PPT report.
One reviewer noted that employee salaries would be exorbitant, the PPT report states. “Of the 71 expected hires, more than 20% would be making salaries more than ~$450,000” the reviewer wrote.
Other reviewers expressed oversight concerns regarding the rapid distribution of billions in taxpayer dollars.
CGC’s “assumption of deploying $10B in the first fiscal year of performance seems unattainable,” another federal employee noted.
“Ambitious assumptions around deployment call into question the risks being modeled by the lead applicant. It stands to reason that the accelerated deployment of capital well beyond what has been seen historically would result in losses well beyond what has been recorded historically,” the reviewer continued, noting that CGC did not address this issue in its application materials.
Martinez did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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