Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced on Monday that he canceled 400 environmental justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion grants, saving taxpayers more than $1 billion.
"UPDATE: I am cancelling over 400 DEI and Environmental Justice grants across 9 grant programs totaling $1.7 BILLION, bringing @EPA's total savings to over $2 BILLION!" he said on X. "This fourth round of EPA/@DOGE cuts was our biggest yet."
The Department of Government Efficiency praised Zeldin on X.
"Great work by @epaleezeldin @EPA," DOGE said. "These cancellation of non-essential grants/contracts included $3.2M to a consulting firm to 'develop a reporting system to collect data on Justice40, the EJ scorecard, and other EJECR reporting asks.'"
With this latest round of cuts, Zeldin has saved taxpayers more than $2 billion since being sworn in, according to an EPA news release.
Administrator Zeldin has been working with other agencies to establish accountability and oversight regarding $20 billion parked at a financial institution by the Biden-Harris Administration in a rushed effort to obligate money with reduced oversight. The Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating and the money is currently frozen by the financial institution. Further, Administrator Zeldin cancelled grants and contracts related to DEI and environmental justice in the first round of spending cuts, terminated a $50 million Biden-era environmental justice grant to the Climate Justice Alliance that believes “Climate Justice travels through a Free Palestine”, and ended more than one million dollars in media subscriptions.
In the second round of spending cuts with DOGE, EPA identified and cancelled an additional 20 grants totaling $60,958,537.30 in taxpayer savings. In the third round of spending cuts, EPA identified and cancelled 21 grants amounting to $116,449,761 total immediate taxpayer savings.
EPA continues to work diligently to implement President Trump’s executive orders. (EPA)
“Working hand-in-hand with DOGE to rein in wasteful federal spending, EPA has saved more than $2 billion in taxpayer money,” Zeldin said in a statement. “It is our commitment at EPA to be exceptional stewards of tax dollars.”