Inclusiv Takes Legal Action Against EPA Seeking the Release of Clean Communities Investment Accelerator Funds
New York, NY (March 31, 2025) - Today, Inclusiv filed affirmative litigation in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Citibank, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from EPA’s baseless attempt to terminate a program created and funded by Congress.
Inclusiv is one of five Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA) award recipients under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) that have been unable to draw Congressionally allocated funds for several weeks. EPA’s harmful actions to prevent Inclusiv and other GGRF awardees from deploying the funds are denying American families and small businesses access to affordable financing for clean energy upgrades of their choosing that will lower their rising energy bills.
“Our decision to take legal action is not only about Inclusiv. This is about protecting the CCIA program and the interests of community lenders, families and small businesses who stand to benefit from the savings the program would provide to them,” said Cathie Mahon, President/CEO of Inclusiv.
Inclusiv was selected for a $1.87 billion award in April of 2024 after a lengthy and rigorous competitive application and review process by the EPA. The funds were awarded under CCIA, one of three sub-programs under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) created through the Inflation Reduction Act. Inclusiv’s CCIA program is focused on common-sense, bipartisan goals: increasing consumer choice and domestic energy generation, lowering consumers’ energy bills, and spurring the creation of new jobs.
To bring those benefits to communities across the country, as part of its EPA-approved workplan, Inclusiv will pass-through $1.683 billion (90% of its $1.87 billion award) in subawards to up to 400 credit unions across the country. To date, Inclusiv has committed $651 million to 108 selected credit unions located in 27 states and Puerto Rico but has not been able to disburse the funds held at Citibank because of the EPA’s unlawful actions. Once the funds are unlocked, credit unions will deploy CCIA funding to support affordable clean energy lending and will leverage the funding, using private capital to multiply the impact of federal dollars.
The EPA Administrator has made numerous unsubstantiated claims about waste, fraud and abuse to defend the EPA’s improper conduct. But Inclusiv has managed our CCIA program with integrity and care, carefully stewarding the federal funding we were awarded to advance the program goals documented in our EPA-approved workplan. Despite the controversy about GGRF in the press and on social media, we continue to meet weekly with our grant managers at EPA as part of our contractual obligations with the agency. Additionally, we have been cooperating with all oversight inquiries, but our repeated requests to meet with the EPA Administrator have been ignored.
Inclusiv has an unmatched track record of 50 years working with community development credit unions, regulated community lenders that serve low- and moderate-income Americans. In the last 40 years, our work has been instrumental in driving private and public investment in credit unions to build wealth and financial independence for individuals, households, and small businesses, in rural, underserved areas and communities excluded from the financial mainstream.
We have for decades successfully worked with the federal government and credit union movement to responsibly and effectively deploy federal funding to advance a broad vision of economic opportunity and shared prosperity, including under the first Trump Administration. Our CCIA program is a natural continuation of this work, and we look forward to bringing its benefits to communities across America.
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