Alabama Joins Montana-Led 23-State Call to Stop EPA Funding for Climate Training Program

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is leading a group of 23 state Attorneys General who are urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cut funding to the Environmental Law Institute (ELI). Their request targets the ELI’s Climate Judiciary Project, alleging it trains judges using taxpayer dollars to promote climate policy.

In a letter sent on Tuesday to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, the coalition expressed concern that public funds are used to sponsor training programs that may push climate agendas through the courts. The group says the ELI portrays these sessions as “objective and trusted,” but actually uses them to influence the judiciary.

The Attorneys General noted that ELI received a significant portion of its revenue from the EPA—about 13 percent in 2023 and 8.4 percent in 2024.

Knudsen’s letter said bluntly:

“As Attorney General, I refuse to stand by while Americans’ tax dollars fund radical environmental training for judges across the country. The Environmental Law Institute’s Climate Judiciary Project is using woke climate propaganda, under the guise of what they call ‘neutral’ education, to persuade judges and push their wildly unpopular agenda through the court system.”

He also praised former President Trump, stating, “I commend President Trump’s efforts to cut waste and abuse during the first eight months of his presidency, and I am optimistic that his Administration will do the right thing and halt all funding to ELI.”

Joining Montana in this effort are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

While Alabama AG Steve Marshall signed the letter, his office has not yet formally commented on this action. ALPolitics.com has reached out to the AG Marshall’s office, and will be updating this story when we receive a response.

The Climate Judiciary Project is described by ELI as providing “authoritative, objective, and trusted education on climate science, the impacts of climate change, and the ways climate science is arising in the law.”

But the Attorneys General argue the trainings improperly influence judges. They say many of the materials come from the same organizations involved in climate litigation—jeopardizing fairness.

They also raised concerns under consumer protection laws, noting that ELI’s marketing may mislead by presenting the educational material as neutral. “State Attorneys General are responsible for protecting consumers, and we are concerned by ELI’s statements,” Knudsen wrote.

In response, the ELI told The Federalist that the Climate Judiciary Project doesn’t receive funding from government sources and that any EPA grants are unrelated to judicial education. They emphasized a three-decade partnership with the EPA in supporting clean-air and clean-water efforts.

However, the coalition contends that the ELI’s own financial reports show a clear connection, given the sizable share of revenue tied to EPA grants.

The Attorneys General are asking Zeldin to cancel all remaining grants to ELI. So far, aside from a spokesperson’s comment that the Agency will review the letter, there is no confirmation from the EPA about any action.

Adding impetus to the letter is a growing consensus of opinion among many that the “climate change emergency” so often touted as “settled science” is, in fact, anything but. In 2023, more than 1,600 scientists—including two Nobel laureates—signed a joint declaration saying “there is no climate emergency.” Others have referred to human-induced global warming as a “fraud,” a “tool for globalism,” or part of a depopulation agenda by said globalists.

In the face of this mounting opposition to the human-induced climate change narrative, the letter by the Attorneys General urging a cessation of funding for “climate change” training for judges is consistent with President Trump’s other actions to roll back this narrative.

The full text of the letter may be found HERE.