FOLLOW UP: DOE says projects included with recent retraction of $3.7 billion in grant funding would have failed to meet energy needs and were not economically viable
LOWVILLE- The U.S. Department of Energy has an explanation as to why nearly $4 billion in grant funding for several clean energy infrastructure upgrades has been retracted.
In a news release, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright says a thorough financial review of each of the 24 awards from the Biden era jobs and infrastructure law, including the $22 million grant for the Kraft Heinz facility, alleges that these projects failed to advance the energy needs of the American people, were not economically viable and would not generate a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.
Secretary Wright went on to accuse the previous presidential administration of failing to execute an adequate financial review “before signing away billions of taxpayer dollars.”
“Today, we are acting in the best interest of the American people by cancelling these 24 awards,” the secretary went on (read the full statement below).
“While the previous administration failed to conduct a thorough financial review before signing away billions of taxpayer dollars, the Trump administration is doing our due diligence to ensure we are utilizing taxpayer dollars to strengthen our national security, bolster affordable, reliable energy sources and advance projects that generate the highest possible return on investment,” said Secretary Wright. “Today, we are acting in the best interest of the American people by cancelling these 24 awards.”
Per the Biden era Infrastructure and Jobs Law, the Lowville Kraft Heinz facility was allotted $22 million to help install solar panels, thermal energy storage and etc.
Of the 24 awards cancelled, nearly 70% (16 of the 24 projects) were signed between Election Day and January 20.
The projects primarily include funding for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and de-carbonization initiatives.
By terminating these awards, the DOE claims they are generating an immediate $3.6 billion in savings for the American people.
Earlier this month, DOE issued a Secretarial Memorandum entitled, “Ensuring Responsibility for Financial Assistance,” which outlined DOE’s policy for evaluating financial assistance on a case-by-case basis to identity waste of taxpayer dollars, protect America’s national security and advance President Trump’s commitment to unleash affordable, reliable and secure energy for the American people.
DOE utilized this review process to evaluate each of these 24 awards and determined that they did not meet the economic, national security or energy security standards necessary to sustain DOE’s investment.
Kraft-Heinz image.
