Looking to reorient U.S. energy policy toward fossil fuels and nuclear plants, President Trump has access to an enormous sum of money made available by an unlikely source: the Biden administration and congressional Democrats.
Legislation passed on party-line votes, most notably the $1 trillion Inflation Reduction Act, allocated hundreds of billions to the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency to fund various green energy projects. While some of that money has since been zeroed out by Republicans, more than $280 billion remains – allocated but unspent.
The Trump administration is wiping clear billions of dollars in loans made by the Biden administration and will streamline the federal grant process, while changing the name of the Loan Program Office to the Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF). Energy officials assert the department will rely on “common sense and data,” thereby eliminating the numerous charges of conflicts of interest associated with energy loans during the Biden era, which were highlighted in a recent report from the department’s inspector general.
“The Biden administration had an agenda to decarbonize without asking the important questions of reliability and affordability,” said Greg Beard, the senior advisor to the EDF. “I wouldn’t describe our plan as an agenda, I would describe it as common sense. We’re grateful that Congress saw that the Trump Administration can have an important impact while being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
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