What Debt Ceiling? Biden Admin Gears Up to Blow $400 Billion on Soft Green Energy Loans
4 hours ago Eric Worrall 15 Comments
Essay by Eric Worrall
Solyndra mark two? Despite government debt of $31 trillion, and a looming debt ceiling standoff with the Republican Congress, the Biden DOE has chosen now to revive its soft loans for green agenda.
The man in charge of how the US spends $400bn to shift away from fossil fuels
The Department of Energy’s loan programs office was ‘essentially dormant’, says Jigar Shah, its head – but now it’s ready to bankroll clean energy projects
Oliver Milman
Fri 3 Feb 2023 20.00 AEDT
Deep in the confines of the hulking, brutalist headquarters of the US Department of Energy, down one of its long, starkly lit corridors, sits a small, unheralded office that is poised to play a pivotal role in America’s shift away from fossil fuels and help the world stave off disastrous global heating.
The department’s loan programs office (LPO) was “essentially dormant” under Donald Trump, according to its head, Jigar Shah, but has now come roaring back with a huge war chest to bankroll emerging clean energy projects and technology.
Last year’s vast Inflation Reduction Act grew the previously moribund office’s loan authority to $140bn, while adding a new program worth another $250bn in loan guarantees to retool projects that help cut planet-heating emissions. Which means that Shah, a debonair former clean energy entrepreneur and podcast host who matches his suits with pristine Stan Smiths, oversees resources comparable to the GDP of Norway: all to help turbocharge solar, wind, batteries and a host of other climate technologies in the US.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/04/what-debt-ceiling-biden-admin-gears-up-to-blow-400-billion-on-soft-green-energy-loans/
