Iowa AG asks EPA if taxpayer funds supported environmental group’s work in China
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird wants to know if the Environmental Protection Agency used taxpayer dollars to fund an environmental group’s work with Chinese government institutions.
Bird sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin this week. In it, she asked whether federal grants to the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) financed projects involving the Chinese government and organizations connected to it.
She wants an answer by the end of November.
“I hope that you can confirm for me that no EPA dollars went to fund projects carried out by ELI in partnership with Chinese-government entities,” Bird wrote.
Bird questioned ELI’s involvement with the China International Business Dialogue on Environmental Governance.
The program shared information about American and European environmental regulations with Chinese officials, according to Bird. It helped Western businesses talk through environmental rules with Chinese regulators.
Bird also asked if EPA grants supported projects involving Wuhan University, Tianjin University, Renmin University or Chinese government agencies.
“The Biden administration allowed the EPA to team up with radical activists that were funded by China,” Bird said in a statement. “Those activists wanted to stop American energy dominance and raise the cost of gas and electricity.”
In response, the Environmental Law Institute issues a statement to The Center Square.
“Over its more than 50-year history, ELI has worked in more than 100 countries to advance environmental protection by making law work for people, places, and the planet,” ELI spokesperson Nick Collins wrote. “Our work in China was no different. ELI’s most recent work there, which ended in 2024, focused on communicating the concerns of U.S. companies about environmental regulation in China. Through grants from the U.S. Department of State and U.S.-based philanthropic organizations, ELI also helped Chinese public officials and nongovernmental organizations strengthen environmental enforcement and hold Chinese companies accountable for environmental damage. ELI has never received funding from the Chinese government.”
Bird’s letter comes three months after a report from State Armor, a national security nonprofit. The nonprofit accused ELI of maintaining relationships with Chinese government institutions while promoting environmental policies that hurt American energy production.
State Armor CEO Michael Lucci said the EPA should investigate where its money went.
“The EPA should provide a full accounting of its past funding of ELI and determine whether taxpayer dollars were used to support projects benefiting the Chinese government and China’s geopolitical strategy,” Lucci said.
The EPA ended its grant relationships with ELI.
An EPA spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the agency killed four ELI grants in December 2025. It also ended a fifth grant early in August 2026. The agency doesn’t have any active grants with the nonprofit.
ELI denied State Armor’s allegations.
ELI said its programs helped Chinese officials enforce environmental laws to hold polluters accountable. It also said its work with Chinese regulators helped American companies do business in China.
The nonprofit said it wasn’t acting on the Chinese Communist Party’s behalf.
Bird’s request comes as ELI has faced plenty of criticism.
Last year, 23 state attorneys general told the EPA to cancel its grants to the organization over concerns about its Climate Judiciary Project. The project gives environmental education to American judges.
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee also held a hearing in June 2025 looking at China’s influence on American energy policy and environmental litigation.
Bird wants the EPA to see if any of its past funding supported ELI’s China-related projects.
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