Frank Lucas Grills DOE Official On ‘Clean Energy Demonstration’ Funding
Last month, Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) questioned the Department of Energy officials on budget appropriations during a House Science Committee hearing.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
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.