$42 billion in 48 hours. Less when you consider they were only working, at most, 10 or 12 hour says.
In its last two working days, the Biden administration's Energy Department signed off on nearly $42 billion for green energy projects -- a sum that exceeded the total amount its Loan Programs Office (LPO) had put out in the past decade.
In two days, they pushed more graft to their leftwing political allies than they did, in total, over the course of ten years.
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 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.
The agreements were made despite a warning from the department's inspector general, urging the loan office to suspend operations in December over concerns that post-election loans could present conflicts of interest.
The Biden Crime Family specializes in conflicts of interest.
In just a few months, some of the deals have already become dicey, leading to fears that the Biden administration has created multiple Solyndras, the green energy company that went bankrupt after the Obama administration gave it $570 million. These deals include:
Sunnova, a rooftop solar outfit that thus far had $382 million of its $3.3 billion loan guaranteed, filed for bankruptcy this month. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Li-Cycle, a battery recycling facility, had a $445 million loan approved in November, but since then, the company was put up for sale and has filed for bankruptcy. The Energy Department said no money has been disbursed on that deal. Li-Cycle did not respond to a request for comment.
A $705 million loan was approved on Jan. 17 for Zum Energy, an electric school bus company in California, and its "Project Marigold." 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.
A $9.63 billion Blue Oval SK loan on Jan. 16 was the second largest post-election deal, topped only by a $15 billion loan the next day to Pacific Gas & Electric, with most of that for renewables. The Blue Oval project in Kentucky -- a joint venture between Ford Motor Co. and a South Korean entity -- has been dealing with numerous workplace complaints, and construction of a second EV battery manufacturing plant there has been delayed. 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.
The money and the hasty way in which it was earmarked have drawn the attention of the Trump administration. "It 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," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement to RCI. "DOE is undertaking a thorough review of financial assistance that identifies waste of taxpayer dollars."
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's biggest fiscal year was 2024, when it committed $34.8 billion, records show.
Even with the rush to push billions out the door in its last months, close to $300 billion of the Inflation Reduction Act money remains uncommitted by the LPO. 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's energy policy, particularly with nuclear projects.
Note that this is in addition to the $20 billion graft bonanza you already know about.
That unprecedented gusher of cash from the LPO echoes the efforts of the Biden administration's Environmental Protection Agency to push $20 billion out the door before it left office. As RCI has previously reported, the EPA -- which had never been a consequential grant-making operation -- was tasked with awarding $27 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and Solar For All programs. It did so in less than six months in 2024, including an unorthodox arrangement in which Biden officials parked some $20 billion outside the Treasury's control. That money was earmarked for a handful of nonprofits, some of which had skimpy assets and were linked with politically connected directors.
Yeah I'll bet.
Read the whole thing.
Update on BBB: I think Hakeem Jeffries ended his stupid inarticulate ramblings after breaking the (meaningless, trifling) record.
I think the vote will happen soon.