Frank Lucas Grills DOE Official On ‘Clean Energy Demonstration’ Funding

3 months ago

Last month, Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) questioned the Department of Energy officials on budget appropriations during a House Science Committee hearing.

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Transcript

00:00and eager for your questions.

00:02Thank you, Deputy Secretary, for your testimony,

00:04and I'd now like to recognize myself for five minutes.

00:08Deputy Secretary Turk, the Department of Energy

00:12has been well-funded in recent years

00:14through annual appropriations and the multi-trillion dollar

00:17spending packages of the IIJA and the IRA.

00:22Yet with that funding, it appears

00:23the department is quick to commit,

00:24but struggling to actually get it out the door,

00:28leaving billions setting in the department.

00:30So I'm hopeful that you can clarify

00:32some information on that.

00:34Between the IIJA and the IRA,

00:37the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations

00:39was appropriated an additional $27 billion.

00:43Can you tell me how much of that money

00:45has been committed to projects of the 27 billion?

00:48Happy to do so, and I think it's useful

00:50to recognize the context of this investment,

00:52historic investment from Bill and IRA.

00:54When that legislation was passed,

00:56it was passed specifically with multi-years in mind,

01:00in many cases, five-year programs,

01:02in many cases, multi-tranches of funding

01:05coming out the door.

01:06That said, we're actually having launched

01:09100% of our Bill and IRA programs,

01:11and we're on track to obligate this year,

01:14or announce 46.6 billion of the roughly $100 billion

01:18that was provided in the Bill and IRA.

01:20So we're making substantial progress,

01:22but again, looking at the context,

01:24this money was not expected to,

01:26nor did Congress empower us to spend it all at once.

01:29It was supposed to be an investment,

01:31a generational investment that is gonna take

01:33several years to invest in America.

01:37So the $100 billion number you used,

01:39$46 billion committed, how much of that money

01:42has actually left the DOE's accounts

01:45and been used by the projects?

01:47Can you give me an idea on that?

01:48So the numbers, we'd be happy to share

01:50the very latest numbers.

01:51The Secretary and I get briefed on a weekly basis

01:54in terms of where those trajectories are.

01:56A significant amount of that money has been announced.

01:59It's out there.

02:01Some of that money's in formula grant money

02:02that goes through states and local governments as well.

02:04But we can give you all the exact numbers,

02:06and we're happy to share that with the committee

02:08on a regular basis if you'd like to have that.

02:10Absolutely, Undersecretary.

02:12And the numbers you used combine the IIJA and the IRA.

02:19If you can tell me off the top of your head,

02:20and if this has to be a follow-up number, that's fine too,

02:23but in the IRA, the loan program's office

02:26was appropriated an additional $11.7 billion.

02:29Can you tell me in particular how much of that money

02:32has been allocated off the top of your head?

02:35Yeah, and that money, of course,

02:36leverages much broader amounts of money

02:38that we're able to loan to private sector companies

02:40across our country.

02:42We now have a pipeline of $290 billion in our loan program

02:47for projects literally across the country.

02:49It's quite remarkable.

02:50One of the jobs of the Deputy Secretary

02:52is to chair what's called the Credit Review Board,

02:54which is the board that we use internally

02:55to approve projects when they go to conditional commitment.

02:59We've already gotten almost $30 billion of that

03:02out in conditional commitment with companies,

03:04but we've got that incredible pipeline,

03:06and we're trying to leverage that money

03:08that Congress has provided us for the biggest benefit

03:12for Americans and American companies.

03:16In the IIJA, and again, I know I asked for specifics,

03:20and I know they're gonna come,

03:21the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable

03:23was appropriated an additional $16 billion.

03:26Again, off the top of your head,

03:28how much of that's been committed,

03:30and how much has actually gone out the door?

03:33Yeah, so we've gotten a lot of money out the door.

03:35We're happy to share the money broken up

03:37by the different offices, whether it's our OSET office

03:40or our Energy Efficiency and Renewables office,

03:43and those dollar amounts are increasing

03:46on a daily and weekly basis.

03:48It's really, truly historic,

03:50the amount of funding that we are providing

03:51to help Americans lower their costs.

03:54A lot of this money, like the rebates money

03:56that is going out the door to states

03:58is actually lowering costs.

04:00Weatherization lowers costs for Americans.

04:03On average, $372 a year for those of our American citizens

04:07who are getting those funds.

04:08But we're happy, Mr. Chairman, to give you the numbers,

04:10and again, provide those on a regular basis

04:12so that you can all do your oversight.

04:14And I've realized, Deputy Secretary,

04:17you see where I'm coming from,

04:19is I've discussed many times with the Secretary, your boss,

04:23the magnitude of Chips and Science

04:25and a number of other things we've done are so great

04:28that there will be similar requirements,

04:30there'll be similar needs in the future,

04:33and that we have to be very successful

04:34in this rather incredible amount of money we've set aside

04:38in order to justify being able to address

04:39whatever the next great challenges are.

04:43That's why I really want to know

04:45of the money that's been in the various programs

04:48that has been provided, appropriated,

04:50how much has been committed

04:51and how much has gone out the door

04:53so that we can analyze

04:55from our constitutional responsibilities,

04:57be in charge of the purse, how all this is going,

05:00and it also is the justification then

05:02for the things that may come in the future.

05:05Again, I've sent letters to the Secretary

05:08asking questions about this and follow-up letters,

05:10and I'm sure that after our discussion today,

05:13you'll be forthcoming,

05:14but it is important as stewards of the purse

05:17that we make sure that your folks

05:20and their role as implementers of the policy get it right.

05:25Well, let me just agree with you completely, Mr. Chairman,

05:28and I personally, and I know our team,

05:31feels an immense amount of responsibility.

05:33These are truly historic amounts of funding

05:35that American taxpayers are providing.

05:38We feel the weight of history

05:39to make sure that we use this money responsibly

05:42as much as we, and as quickly as we possibly can.

05:46So we've hired up, as you mentioned,

05:471,000 new folks to help.

05:49We've created new offices,

05:50but the fact that we've been able

05:52to launch 100% of our programs

05:54and announce or obligate 46.6 billion of that

05:58is a remarkable accomplishment, I think.

06:01I would just simply reiterate,

06:03in our responsibilities authorizers,

06:05looking over your shoulder is very important,

06:07and our interactions with the appropriators

06:10as they make the decisions

06:11how to fund these programs in coming years matters also.

06:14With that, this is an issue I'm sure we'll come back to.

06:17I yield back the balance of my time

06:18and recognize the.

Frank Lucas Grills DOE Official On ‘Clean Energy Demonstration’ Funding

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