Environmental justice groups spend Biden aid on payroll, trips, rap song

Much of the millions of dollars in environmental justice funding from President Biden’s COVID-19 relief is paying for the salaries, benefits and travel expenses of community organizations’ staff, according to congressional documents shared with The Washington Times.

An investigation found that some money has funded the development of a rap song for elementary school students, paid vacations, Timberland boots and catered meals.

Republicans say the expenditures, detailed in a report by the Republican minority staff of the Senate Budget Committee, are evidence of the administration’s funneling of taxpayer money to boost the bottom lines of left-leaning groups in the name of addressing environmental and public health concerns.

“Climate change poses real challenges, but the EPA’s efforts to address climate issues through its 2021 environmental justice program don’t pass the smell test,” Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the committee, told The Times. “Obvious abuse of taxpayer dollars and faulty EPA oversight of grantees raise major concerns for this program and cast doubt on the agency’s fiscal responsibility.”

The Environmental Protection Agency awarded $4.3 million in 2021 to 34 organizations as part of a broader $50 million for environmental justice projects in Mr. Biden’s American Rescue Plan. The EPA and its organization recipients have sought to keep Congress in the dark about how the money is spent, according to previous reporting from The Times.

The report from Mr. Grassley’s staff offers a window into how the grant recipients, each eligible for up to $200,000 for specific environmental or public health objectives, are dishing out money from Uncle Sam. Based on financial records that the committee obtained from cooperating organizations, the majority of the funds have been used for staffing — including salaries, paid vacation time, health and retirement benefits, cellphones and travel expenses.

Some organizations revealed that they budgeted or were on track to spend all or nearly all of their funding on staff salaries and benefits.

Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, a federally recognized tribe in Washington state, budgeted more than 90%, or $181,000, for staffing costs — including nearly $13,000 for paid vacations — indirect costs, stipends and travel to install a network of air-quality monitors in its region. The remaining 9.5%, or $18,953, was allocated for supplies and materials.

BikeWalkKC reported to the committee that as of September, 100% of its $200,000 grant had gone to staff, indirect costs, subcontracts and stipends totaling $166,669 to study the impacts of a free bus system for the poorest neighborhoods of Kansas City, Missouri.

In other instances, the money went toward items such as a rap song, food for a meeting with the EPA and Timberland boots.

Atlanta-based Metro Community Ministries told congressional staff it was compiling a group of youths and young adults to be community advocates on clean water and pollution reduction strategies, who would present a PowerPoint, rap song and other material to elementary schools, community groups and other organizations. They declined to disclose the associated costs.

The Energy Coordinating Agency of Philadelphia, which offers conservation and weatherization services to low- and moderate-income residents, provided workforce training for pest management in underserved communities. This included $1,057 in Timberland boots for trainees and a $553 catered meal to host a graduation ceremony that EPA staffers attended, according to an Energy Coordinating Agency spokesperson.

The EPA issued a statement similar to the one it gave to The Times in December, saying that the agency “has been responsive to the senator’s inquiries” and that it “provided multiple comprehensive responses and document productions” to Mr. Grassley.

The EPA did not address the findings about how the organizations have been using the environmental justice funds, known formally as the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program.

“This program has supported communities in need across the country by funding projects that address health outcome disparities from pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic, including through partnerships with local businesses, local governments, and others,” the EPA said.

Mr. Grassley had requested that Inspector General Sean O’Donnell investigate the EPA’s handling of congressional oversight and the organization’s use of funds. Mr. O’Donnell has vowed to conduct two audits into the administration’s handling of environmental grants, including the environmental justice funding, according to correspondence between the EPA watchdog and Mr. Grassley.

The Biden administration has doled out nearly $2 billion more from the Inflation Reduction Act for this and other environmental justice initiatives, underscoring congressional Republicans’ oversight concerns about tracking the money.

The EPA does not have an ongoing accounting of how dispersed funds are used because the agency requires that grant recipients disclose only how much of the money has been spent, not how it was spent.

“The EPA needs to correct course and explain to the American people how it plans to appropriately oversee and administer millions of taxpayer dollars going forward,” Mr. Grassley said.