Zeldin Bars Staff From Joining Climate Activists At Fancy Dinners, Events In Any Official Capacity

The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told staffers they “should not accept invitations” from a climate lawfare group “in their official capacity” over “significant concerns,” according to an internal memo.

EPA staff received an invitation to the Environmental Law Institute’s (ELI) annual awards dinner, according to the memo, but agency leadership is urging employees not to attend in any official capacity. The House Judiciary Committee recently launched an investigation into the Climate Judiciary Project (CJP), a project of the ELI, as its efforts “appear to have the underlying goal of predisposing federal and state judges in favor of plaintiffs alleging injuries from the manufacturing, marketing, or sale of fossil fuel products,” the committee wrote in an Aug. 29 letter to ELI President Jordan Diamond.

“It is no longer in the Agency’s interest for employees to participate in their official capacity in any conference, program or other event organized by the Environmental Law Institute, including but not limited to ELI’s Climate Judiciary Project,” Deputy EPA Administrator David Fotouhi wrote in the memo. “Thus, EPA employees should not accept invitations to or participate in such events, including ELI’s Annual Award Dinner in Washington, D.C., scheduled for October 7, 2025, in their official capacity.”

Staff Engagement With ELI Memorandum.9.24.25 (003) by audreystreb

The memo flags the House investigation, as well as other recent hearings in which prominent political figures like Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz branded ELI and CJP as climate activists.

“As steward of American taxpayer dollars, EPA has a responsibility to ensure that staff time and resources are spent in a manner consistent with the Agency’s interests. Given the serious concerns about ELI and the CJP that have been brought to the attention of the Agency, it is no longer in the Agency’s interest for employees to participate in their official capacity in any conference, program or other event organized by ELI until these concerns have been adequately addressed,” the memo states. “Recent reports, congressional hearings and congressional oversight efforts have raised significant concerns with ELI’s alleged efforts to inappropriately influence the judiciary, including judges presiding over environmental litigation matters, in an ex parte fashion under the guise of ‘education.’”

The letter also notes that a state Attorneys General letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin flags ELI for potential legal and ethical concerns, also citing that EPA has doled out grants to the group.

“Concerns have been raised that ELI’s past receipt of federal funding from EPA and other federal agencies may constitute support of ELI and CJP’s activities that have been called into question,” the letter continues, though it goes on to note that “nothing in this memorandum is intended to create new rights or impose new obligations on parties outside of the Agency. Likewise, this memorandum does not limit or affect the rights of any party, including ELI or the CJP, to exercise constitutionally protected rights to petition the federal government.”

ELI’s web page advertising the dinner notes that “for decades, ELI’s Environmental Achievement Award Dinner has been an opportunity for environmental professionals from around the world to forge new bonds of cooperation while supporting the agenda-setting research, education, and training programs of the Institute that makes law work for people, places, and the planet.”

Some energy sector experts like O.H. Skinner, the executive director of Alliance for Consumers, have also raised the alarm over ELI’s work as well as the widespread issue of green climate lawfare.

“It is good to see EPA calling out ELI and CJP,” Skinner told the DCNF. “As we have long warned, the left has a plan to reshape American society through the courts and ELI is in the middle of that effort. EPA’s recent action helps highlight how committed the left is to imposing mandatory Progressive Lifestyle Choices through courtroom maneuvers and how broad their campaign really is.”

A spokesperson for the ELI and CJP told the DCNF that ELI has “engaged in a non-partisan manner with decision makers, regulators, and businesses spanning the spectrum of political and industry interests” since 1969.

“The Environmental Law Institute is internationally recognized for its independent environmental research, analysis, publications, and educational programming,” the ELI spokesperson told the DCNF. “After fifty years of operation, ELI is a well-respected institution with strong connections and relationships across the environmental community.”

“Through every administration over the last three decades, EPA has partnered with ELI to support programs that provide Americans clean air and water,” the ELI spokesperson said. “The Climate Judiciary Project (CJP), an initiative of ELI, provides evidence-based continuing education to judges about climate science and how it arises in the law in partnership with leading national and state judicial education institutions through their established programs. These programs are no different than other judicial education programs providing training on legal and scientific topics that judges voluntarily choose to attend. Any attempt to suggest that the CJP’s judicial educational activities are improper is entirely without merit.”