CONGRESS PULLS NEW ENERGY LOANS

Robbing Renewable Energy to Pay Teachers
Bryan Walsh, August 10, 2010 (Time)

"…[T]he House of Representatives passed an emergency $26 billion spending bill to prevent the layoff of 300,000 teachers, police and other civil servants…due to state cutbacks…Democrats hailed it as the only way to keep thousands of teachers in the classrooms as students prepared to return to school, while Republicans derided the legislation as yet another fiscally irresponsible government bailout…

"…[I]n order to provide some of the funds needed to pay for that $26 billion package, the House voted to transfer $1.5 billion from the renewable-energy and loan-guarantee program used to support solar, wind and other alternative energy companies. Along with another reduction earlier this year, that leaves the program's size at about $25 billion—less than half what Democrats in Congress had originally planned. (Unsurprisingly, the Senate has already passed a similar measure.)"

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"…[E]ducation is incredibly important for the future of the country, and…[the] plummeting college graduation rate is one more reason why this country seems to be crumbling…But it is sad and shortsighted that as the Democratic leadership in the House scrambled to find money to pay for this last-minute bill, they had no qualms about pilfering a fund meant to direct us towards a cleaner, greener future."

[Letter from the renewable energy industry to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif):] “With this latest rescission, a total of $3.5 billion will be eliminated from the program, and many pending projects will go unfunded. An estimated private sector investment of $30 to $35 billion will be squandered…These two cuts will significantly undermine the DOE Loan Guarantee Program. Failure to act on the Treasury Grant Program and other tax incentives or to restore funding to the DOE Loan Guarantee Program will jeopardize the renewable energy industries' efforts to develop clean electric generation and create tens of thousands of jobs…”

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"Pelosi's staff has said that she will work to restore the funding at a later date. But that didn't happen with the money taken out to pay for the Cash for Clunkers program—which at least had some environmental features—and given the toxic environment in Congress today, with November midterms rushing toward us, it's hard to see that happening. The reality is that for all the lip service paid by Democrats to the renewable energy industry—supposedly the future of jobs in America—these companies have little political influence on Capitol Hill.

"…[S]urely in a country that spends over $700 billion on defense—just to take an example—we can find other sources to help cover the costs of shifting to cleaner energy. (Obviously China can—Beijing announced just a few days ago that it will spend $738 on renewable-energy projects over the next decade.) We talk about the climate crisis, the energy crisis, yet decisions like [this one] demonstrate our inability to face up to the future. Even by our current, depressed political standards, that's sad."