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Administrator Lee Zeldin said there would be “zero tolerance for any waste and abuse,” and said financial arrangements under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund should be “instantly terminated.” Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced in a video that he intends to immediately end about $20 billion in clean energy subsidy programs. The funds are allocated by the Biden Administrations Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The financial agent agreement with the bank must be terminated immediately, Zeldin said. “We will be reviewing every penny that has gone out the door,” Zeldin said. “Gone are the days of irresponsible handing over piles of money to far-left activist groups in the name of environmental justice and climate equity.” The funds in question are part of the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), which is intended to “mobilize private financing and capital to address the climate crisis, ensure our country’s economic competitiveness, and promote energy independence, while reducing energy costs and revitalizing the economies of communities that have historically been left behind.” The GGRF, created under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, includes the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) intended to scale up financing for clean technology projects. Recipient organizations are partnering with private sector investors, developers, community organizations, and others to deploy projects, mobilize private capital at scale. It also includes the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA), which establishes hubs that provide financing and technical assistance to community lenders working in low-income and disadvantaged communities, providing an immediate pathway to deploy projects in those communities, while building the capacity of hundreds of community lenders to finance projects for years. The third group of grants is the $7 billion Solar For All program, which awarded funds to 60 grant recipients, including states, territories, tribal governments, municipalities, and eligible nonprofits, to expand the number of low-income and disadvantaged communities primed for investment in distributed solar energy. The funds are expected to enable millions of low-income households to access affordable, resilient, and clean solar energy. pv magazine attended the RE+ Northeast conference on solar and energy storage in Boston the day before Zeldin’s announcement. At a panel discussion on the Solar For All program, Vero Bourg-Meyer, deputy director of the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA), expressed the industry’s standard position. Bourg-Meyer said that the funds have been compromised, and that the freeze on federal funding initiated by President Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” executive order violated U.S. law. Federal Judge John McConnell of Rhode Island said the White House has disobeyed his order to restore the announced federal funding . The federal judge suggested the White House is now acting in contempt of court. Administrator Zeldin said the funding was “purposely designed to force all the money into a rush job with little oversight. How do these organizations decide how to allocate the funds? How much money have they given out so far?” Zeldin questioned the transparency of the programs, suggesting there was uncertainty about how much money was being disbursed and to whom. However, the Solar For All program, for example, was distributed through a competitive grant program. Each grant recipient has made public detailed action plans for where the funds are going, including an analysis of the economic and environmental benefits. Read more about your state or jurisdictions action plan here. At the RE+ Northeast conference panel, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority provided a comprehensive and transparent overview of the funding programs, explaining exactly how private solar companies can access the funds to spur economic growth in their state. Both organizations allocate approximately 80% to 85% of the funds to direct financial support for low-income individuals to access solar projects, guaranteeing a minimum 20% savings on residential electric bills. The remaining 15% to 20% is allocated to community outreach and program administration, the panel said. |
