{"id":701,"date":"2025-07-02T19:24:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T19:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/?p=701"},"modified":"2025-07-02T19:24:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T19:24:37","slug":"bidens-administration-wasted-billions-to-cronies-for-clean-energy-in-final-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/bidens-administration-wasted-billions-to-cronies-for-clean-energy-in-final-days\/","title":{"rendered":"BIDEN&#8217;S ADMINISTRATION WASTED BILLIONS TO CRONIES FOR CLEAN ENERGY IN FINAL DAYS !"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"ArticleFull_header__z0vIZ\">\n<h1 class=\"ArticleFull_title__FDrpw\" data-attribute-guid=\"\">Despite Warnings, Biden&#8217;s Energy Department Disbursed $42 Billion In Its Final Hours<\/h1>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"NodeContent_mainContent__2jyAd\">\n<div class=\"NodeContent_body__HBEFs NodeBody_container__eeFKv\">\n<p><strong>In its last two working days, the Biden administration\u2019s Energy Department signed off on nearly $42 billion for green energy projects<\/strong> \u2013 a sum that exceeded the total amount its Loan Programs Office (LPO) had put out<a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/lpo\/loan-programs-office\">\u00a0in the past decade<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/690860_jpg_92.jpg?itok=Rv_DFkvS\" data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/690860_jpg_92.jpg?itok=Rv_DFkvS\" data-link-option=\"0\"><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"inline-images image-style-inline-images\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/inline-images\/690860_jpg_92.jpg?itok=Rv_DFkvS\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"373\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"a92514ad-a7fc-4e98-a874-3d435ab2d288\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><\/picture><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The frenzied activity on Jan. 16 and 17, 2025, capped a spending binge that saw the LPO approve at least $93 billion in current and future disbursements<\/strong> after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election in November, according to documents provided by the department to RealClearInvestigations. It appears that Biden officials were rushing to deploy billions in approved funding in anticipation that the incoming Trump administration would seek to redirect uncommitted money away from clean energy projects.<\/p>\n<div id=\"in-content-1\" class=\"in-content\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/21841313772,21778456762\/zerohedge\/in_content_1_1\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><strong>The agreements were made despite a warning from the department\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eenews.net\/articles\/doe-watchdog-calls-on-loan-office-to-suspend-financing\/\">inspector general<\/a><\/strong>, urging the loan office to suspend operations in December over concerns that post-election loans could present conflicts of interest.<\/div>\n<p>In just a few months, some of the deals have already\u00a0become dicey, leading to fears that the Biden administration has created multiple Solyndras, the green energy company that went bankrupt after the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/adamandrzejewski\/2021\/04\/12\/remembering-solyndra--how-many-570m-green-energy-failures-are-hidden-inside-bidens-instructure-proposal\/\">Obama administration gave it $570 million<\/a>. These deals include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sunnova<\/strong>, a rooftop solar outfit that thus far had <strong>$382 million of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latitudemedia.com\/news\/what-happens-to-sunnovas-doe-loan-guarantee-if-it-files-for-bankruptcy\/\">its $3.3 billion loan<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0guaranteed,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/sunnova-files-bankruptcy-residential-solar-065432339.html\">filed for bankruptcy this month<\/a>. The company did not respond to a request for comment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Li-Cycle<\/strong>, a battery recycling facility, had a $445 million loan approved in November, but since then, the company was put up for sale and has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/investors.li-cycle.com\/news\/news-details\/2025\/Li-Cycle-Obtains-Creditor-Protection-Under-CCAA-and-Chapter-15\/default.aspx\">filed for bankruptcy<\/a>. The Energy Department said no money has been disbursed on that deal. Li-Cycle did not respond to a request for comment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A $705 million loan was approved on Jan. 17 for Zum Energy<\/strong>, an electric school bus company in California, and its\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/lpo\/articles\/lpo-announces-conditional-commitment-zum-services-inc-deploy-battery-electric-school\">\u201cProject Marigold.\u201d<\/a> At $350,000 and more, electric school buses currently cost more than twice as much as their diesel counterparts. So far, Zum has received $21.7 million from the government, according to usaspending.gov. The company did not respond to a request for comment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A $9.63 billion Blue Oval SK loan on Jan. 16 was the second largest post-election deal<\/strong>, topped only by a $15 billion loan the next day to Pacific Gas &amp; Electric, with most of that for renewables. The Blue Oval project in Kentucky \u2013 a joint venture between Ford Motor Co. and a South Korean entity \u2013 has been dealing with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/jtXOk\">numerous workplace complaints<\/a>, and construction of a second EV battery manufacturing plant there\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.localmemphis.com\/article\/news\/local\/blue-oval-city-production-delays-2027\/522-ab314a31-b42f-424f-8328-751359e767b0\">has been delayed<\/a>. More than $7 billion has been obligated on that deal, according to the Energy Department. Blue Oval did not respond to a request for comment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The money and the hasty way in which it was earmarked have drawn the attention of the Trump administration<\/strong>. \u201cIt is extremely concerning how many dozens of billions of dollars were rushed out the door without proper due diligence in the final days of the Biden administration,\u201d Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement to RCI. \u201cDOE is undertaking a thorough review of financial assistance that identifies waste of taxpayer dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The enormous sums came from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which injected $400 billion into the LPO, a previously sleepy Energy Department branch originally intended to spur nuclear energy projects. That total represented more than 10 times the amount the LPO had ever committed in any fiscal year of its existence. Prior to the post-election blowout, the office\u2019s biggest fiscal year was 2024, when it committed $34.8 billion, records show.<\/p>\n<p>Even with the rush to push billions out the door in its last months, <strong>close to $300 billion of the Inflation Reduction Act money remains uncommitted by the LPO.<\/strong> Trump administration officials have already nixed some smaller deals. Secretary Wright recently urged Congress to keep the money in place as the LPO now aims to use it to further the Trump administration\u2019s energy policy, particularly with nuclear projects.<\/p>\n<div id=\"in-content-2\" class=\"in-content\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/21841313772,21778456762\/zerohedge\/in_content_2_1\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>That unprecedented gusher of cash from the LPO <strong>echoes the efforts of the Biden administration\u2019s Environmental Protection Agency to push $20 billion out the door before it left office<\/strong>. As RCI has previously reported, the EPA \u2013 which had never been a consequential grant-making operation \u2013 was tasked with awarding $27 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding through the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearinvestigations.com\/articles\/2024\/10\/22\/overnight_success_bidens_climate_splurge_gives_billions_to_nonprofit_newbies_1066437.html\">Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearinvestigations.com\/articles\/2025\/03\/20\/the_greenhouse_gas_windfalls_blew_hard_for_solar_in_the_biden_epa_1098678.html\">Solar For All<\/a>\u00a0programs. It did so in less than six months in 2024, including an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearwire.com\/articles\/2025\/03\/13\/a_new_beltway_mystery_follow_the_biden_epa_money_1097269.html\">unorthodox arrangement\u00a0<\/a>in which Biden officials parked some $20 billion outside the Treasury\u2019s control. That money was earmarked for a handful of nonprofits, some of which had skimpy assets and were linked with politically connected directors.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The LPO\u2019s post-election bonanza was put together in even less time. <\/strong>The Energy Department deals, however, involve mostly for-profit enterprises, which raises questions about whether the Biden administration was propping up companies that would not have survived in the private marketplace. Should any of the companies hit it big in the future, shareholders could get rich, while taxpayers will receive only the interest on the loan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>The loan office should not be in the virtual venture business,<\/strong>\u201d said Mark Mills, executive director of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/energyanalytics.org\/\">National Center on Energy Analytics<\/a>. \u201cBut in a few cases, it could make sense to serve as a catalyst or backstop for viable and important projects from a national security or policy perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>RCI spoke with several Trump administration officials who declined to comment on the record, given the extensive ongoing review of both the LPO\u2019s post-election arrangements and other Energy Department projects linked to Biden\u2019s climate agenda.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>They wanted to get the billions to companies that probably wouldn\u2019t exist unless they could get money from the government<\/strong>,\u201d one current official said. \u201cThe business plans, such as they were, were \u2018how do we secure capital from the government?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During Biden\u2019s tenure, the office was run by Jigar Shah, who on June 17 was named to the board of directors of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/clean-energy-entrepreneur-jigar-shah-140000987.html\">nonprofit Center for Sustainable Energy.<\/a>\u00a0Bloomberg News reported last month that Shah \u201chelped select roughly 400 companies with development plans to receive grants and loans upwards of $100 million each.\u201d In response to the Trump administration\u2019s pushback on green subsidies, Bloomberg reported that Shah is working to help some of the companies he bankrolled\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/zj8C9#selection-1509.1-1509.117\">shift operations to Europe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/330936366\/202423049349301947\/full\">The Center<\/a>\u00a0relies chiefly on government contracts instead of donations, and <strong>it saw that revenue jump from $274.1 million in 2023 to more than $500 million in 2024,<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/330936366\/202423049349301947\/full\">according to tax records<\/a>. The center did not respond to a request to speak with Shah.<\/p>\n<div id=\"in-content-3\" class=\"in-content\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/21841313772,21778456762\/zerohedge\/in_content_3_1\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Thus far, no entity has received the entire amount of the deals the Biden administration struck since last November, according to the Energy Department and usaspending.gov. In a handful of cases, companies have come to the current administration and opted out of the deals.<\/p>\n<p>Still, <strong>millions of taxpayer dollars have already been distributed, in some instances, to deals the department listed as \u201cconditional commitments.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Wright has said there are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/BNiPO#selection-1501.0-1504.0\">\u201creasons to be worried and suspicious\u201d<\/a>\u00a0about the post-election binge, and vowed some of the deals will be scrubbed.<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, the Biden administration made subtle\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2023\/05\/30\/2023-11104\/loan-guarantees-for-clean-energy-projects\">changes to the LPO\u2019s regulations<\/a>, cutting strings and stipulations that traditionally attach to loans. Consequently, the office cut deals after the election on terms more favorable to the recipient than the taxpayer, and in several cases, making a \u201cconditional commitment\u201d the same as a loan, according to Trump officials. The changes also moved money that a later administration could have cut into \u201cobligated\u201d silos, making the deals harder to cancel, according to the current Energy Department.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>Essentially, they had the Loan Program Office operating like a graveyard energy venture capital fund,<\/strong>\u201d one Trump official told RCI. \u201cThis was all tied to the religious fervor for any green energy project in the prior administration, and the goal was not to get the government repaid but to advance the \u2018green new deal.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The $93 billion under review represents a separate \u201cgreen bank\u201d from smaller Biden administration deals that the Energy Department has already canceled. Last month, the Government Accounting Office said the department was not on track to \u201cissue loans and guarantees before billions of dollars of new funding expires.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As part of the review, Wright issued\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/articles\/secretary-wright-announces-new-policy-increasing-accountability-identifying-wasteful\">policy guidelines in May<\/a>\u00a0that he said offer more protection to taxpayers. The department may now require significantly more information from loan recipients and applicants, such as \u201ca project\u2019s financial health, a project\u2019s technological and engineering viability, market conditions, compliance with award terms and conditions and compliance with legal requirements, including those related to national security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>The department declined to provide the terms of specific deals, again citing the ongoing review<\/strong>. Trump administration officials claim the business plans for many of these deals were threadbare, that term sheets were essentially tossed out, and the entire process could be described, in the words of a Biden EPA official in December, as \u201cthrowing gold bars\u201d off the Titanic\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.projectveritas.com\/news\/epa-advisor-admits-insurance-policy-against-trump-is-gold-bars-off-titanic\">\u201cas an insurance policy against Trump winning.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"in-content-4\" class=\"in-content\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/21841313772,21778456762\/zerohedge\/in_content_4_1\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe>Despite these dubious outcomes and the alleged removal of taxpayer protections that accompanied the deals, Trump administration officials said they remain committed to the LPO. The office has a valuable role to play in fulfilling energy policy goals, which include nuclear projects, strengthening the nation\u2019s power grid, and limiting the U.S. reliance on Chinese supply chains for key minerals and elements.<\/div>\n<p><strong>\u201cIt\u2019s as if you went away and the kids threw a rager in the house<\/strong>,\u201d one official told RCI. \u201c<strong>You may need some new furniture and the like, but it\u2019s still a really nice home.<\/strong> The Office can be a critical resource for the manufacturing base of this country, and our goal is not to end the LPO but to improve it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration could face some of the same financial issues if it rejiggers the LPO along lines that support its energy policy goals, particularly within the nuclear industry. Projects there have been marred by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucs.org\/sites\/default\/files\/attach\/2018\/11\/Nuclear-Power-Dilemma-full-report.pdf\">unprofitable plants<\/a> and massive cost overruns and delays in construction, making federal loans to the section inherently risky.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prominent voices \u2013 and investors \u2013\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/illuminem.com\/illuminemvoices\/bill-gates-is-backing-this-geothermal-company-will-trumps-republicans\">like Bill Gates<\/a>\u00a0have also encouraged the government to back new sources of energy and minerals.<\/strong> Geothermal projects are one such field, and there appears to be bipartisan support in Washington for capital that will shore up U.S. energy independence. On Jan. 15, the Biden administration approved a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/lpo\/articles\/lpo-announces-conditional-commitment-project-atlis-lithium-hydroxide-production\">$1.2 billion \u201cconditional commitment\u201d<\/a>\u00a0with a subsidiary of EnergySource Minerals LLC (ESM), which hopes to extract lithium from geothermal brine.<\/p>\n<p>A deal with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ioneer.com\/\">ioneer Ltd.<\/a> appears to match some of the professed goals of the Trump administration, but it has also been plagued by financial setbacks since Biden\u2019s LPO approved it in its final days. The company&#8217;s deal grew from an original $700 million &#8220;conditional commitment&#8221;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/lpo\/articles\/lpo-announces-conditional-commitment-ioneer-rhyolite-ridge-advance-domestic-production\">\u00a0in 2023<\/a>, to the $996 million approved on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/lpo\/articles\/doe-announces-996-million-loan-guarantee-ioneer-rhyolite-ridge-advance-domestic\">Jan. 17, 2025<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ioneer.com\/rhyolite-ridge-project\/about-rhyolite-ridge\/\">Rhyolite Ridge<\/a>\u00a0project is a mining and manufacturing center in Nevada to produce lithium and boron<\/strong>. Those elements have implications for defense and national security in addition to energy, according to ioneer Vice President Chad Yeftich.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIoneer believes government policy should encourage projects if we want critical minerals developed domestically,\u201d Yeftich said. \u201cTime is the key risk for development as China continues to provide financial support to its critical minerals industry and dump critical minerals into the market thereby depressing the price.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Yeftich noted Rhyolite Ridge has secured $200 million in private capital<\/strong>, but in February, its chief private equity partner broke ties with the project. Finance professionals familiar with big deals told RCI that such a rupture so close in timing to the loan would likely deep-six the arrangement, but Trump officials said Biden\u2019s LPO stripped such boilerplate language from many of the post-election deals.<\/p>\n<p>Secretary Wright told RCI that these maneuvers suggested the previous administration was more interested in disbursing funds than protecting taxpayers. \u201cAny reputable business would have a process in place for evaluating spending and investments before money goes out the door, and the American people deserve no less from their federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite Warnings, Biden&#8217;s Energy Department Disbursed $42 Billion In Its Final Hours In its last two working days, the Biden administration\u2019s Energy Department signed off on nearly $42 billion for green energy projects \u2013 a sum that exceeded the total amount its Loan Programs Office (LPO) had put out\u00a0in the past decade. The frenzied activity [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":702,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions\/702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}