Trump Freezes Energy Department Spending, Loans

Ari Natter
Sat, January 25, 2025, 1:16 AM GMT+9 2 min read
(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration has halted spending, loans and other actions at the Energy Department as part of a “comprehensive review” to ensure they align with the president’s priorities, according to a memo from the agency’s acting secretary seen by Bloomberg.
The Jan. 20 memo freezes the awarding of grants, loans, funding opportunities, procurement announcements, rules, studies and activities including personnel moves and publication of rules and studies, until approval by acting secretary Ingrid Kolb.
Trump has vowed to put an end to spending on climate-friendly policies he has deemed wasteful, while championing fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas.
“Effective immediately and until further notice, prior to any actions or decisions on all herein described activities, a review under varying criteria will be undertaken to ensure all such actions are consistent with current Administration policies and priorities including budgetary priorities,” said the memo, which was addressed to heads at the agency.
The order essentially freezes the department, which has a roughly $50 billion budget that includes awarding funds to help commercialize new energy technologies. Its Loan Programs Office has some $41.2 billion in conditional commitments to companies that have yet to be finalized. Other agency missions include cleaning up nuclear waste left behind from bomb development during the Cold War, studying super computers and maintaining the nation’s massive cache of emergency crude oil.
The memo, which is similar to directives issued to some agencies by former president Joe Biden when he took office, is notable because it is broader than an executive order signed by Trump on his first day in office. That directive ordered a halt and review to spending from Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and a bipartisan transportation bill that also contained billions in spending for a range of Energy Department initiatives.The Energy Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
A similar Trump administration memo sent by the Interior Department’s acting head Jan. 20 ordered a freeze on leases, rights of way and other approvals for wind and solar projects on federal lands and water.
 
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Comment by Dan McKay on January 24, 2025 at 4:27pm

Abolish the Department of Energy so it can not try any funny business on Trump's agenda

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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