The Biden Administration is frantically trying to dole out as many billions of dollars as possible to fund so-called “green” initiatives and companies – and do so in a way that incoming President Donald Trump can’t reverse.
On Tuesday, the Department of Energy announced that it will provide a record $15 billion low-interest loan commitment to California utility company PG&E, through its Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) project created by Pres. Biden’s dubiously-titled Inflation Reduction Act.
EIR supports projects that “retool, repower, repurpose, or replace energy infrastructure” and that “enable operating energy infrastructure to avoid, reduce, utilize, or sequester air pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions.” The PG&E loan will support “hundreds of projects aimed at fighting the effects of climate change and improving the electrical grid,” The Wall Street Journal reports.
The Biden Administration’s LPO has already made more than $42.4 billion in loan commitments and is feverishly working to add to that total.
The PG&E loan is just one part of Biden’s effort to finance as much as possible before he leaves the White House, Reuters notes:
“The U.S. Department of Energy said on Tuesday it had offered a conditional loan of up to $15 billion to California-based electric utility PG&E to support climate resilience projects and strengthen the power grid.
“President Joe Biden's administration is rushing to push out billions of dollars in financing from the Loan Programs Office, or LPO, which faces uncertainty under President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20.”
The trick is to speed up the loan process in order to finalize loans in the forms of legally-binding contracts that the Trump Administration won’t be able to break.
And, as The Wall Street Journal explains, the administration has been hard at work of late:
“In recent weeks, the office wrapped up a $7.5 billion loan commitment for a lithium-ion battery project, a $4.9 billion commitment for a transmission project and a $6.6 billion commitment for EV startup Rivian Automotive to help fund a plant in Georgia.
“The PG&E loan follows a $2.5 billion commitment to a Wisconsin utility last week that the office said will facilitate the addition of more than 1,650 megawatts of renewable power and energy-storage projects.”