Climate United Fund on Saturday sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Citibank over the non-profit’s lack of access to its $6.97 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grant, alleging that the freeze violates the Administrative Procedure Act.

The lawsuit, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the Climate United Fund’s representation at law firm Jenner & Block, asked the court to order the funds be unfrozen and disbursed.

The total $20 billion in GGRF grant funding held by Citibank has been frozen since Feb. 18, according to grantees.

In a March 3 release, EPA alleged “financial mismanagement, conflicts of interest, and oversight failures with the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund” that necessitate the fund undergo “a comprehensive review alongside concurrent investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

“It is my pledge to be accountable for every penny the EPA spends,” EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said in the release. “This marks a stark turn from the waste and self-dealing of the Biden-Harris Administration intentionally tossing ‘gold bars off the Titanic.’”

However, the suit alleged that Citibank doesn’t have the right to withhold the GGRF funding under the bank’s financial agent agreement with the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

“Unless EPA takes exclusive control of the funds, Citibank must disburse funds to Climate United at Climate United’s request,” the attorneys said. “EPA has never attempted to exercise its right to take exclusive control of the funds through legal means — nor could it, because the preconditions for exercising that right have not occurred.”

The lawsuit said that EPA has the legal right to terminate the agreement for “waste, fraud or abuse” but said a termination requires “credible evidence of the commission of a violation of Federal criminal law involving fraud, conflict of interest, bribery, or gratuity violations found in Title 18 of the United States Code or a violation of the civil False Claims Act.”

“In addition, EPA is obligated by regulation to take certain procedural steps to terminate the grant agreement,” the attorneys said. “Among other things, EPA must …. provide written notice of termination to the recipient that includes ‘the reasons for termination, the effective date, and the portion of the federal award to be terminated, if applicable.’”

EPA has not publicly made any specific allegations against the Climate United Fund, but in a March 2 letter to Acting Inspector General Nicole Murley, Acting Deputy EPA Administrator Chad McIntosh listed allegations against GGRF grant recipients including Power Forward Communities, Young, Gifted & Green and the Coalition For Green Capital. 

In a Monday release, EPA said, “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.”