(Washington, D.C.) – Today, leaders of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee sent letters to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Deputy Secretary James Danly and Acting Inspector General Sarah Nelson requesting a formal briefing with staff from DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) to better understand the questionable lending practices that occurred under the Biden-Harris Administration.
In the letter, Chairman Brian Babin, Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Rich McCormick, and Energy Subcommittee Chairman Randy Weber wrote:
“Reporting suggests that, under the guise of advancing clean energy, the Administration sent billions of taxpayer dollars through the LPO to politically aligned nonprofit organizations. President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 significantly expanded the LPO’s lending authority within its clean energy and climate provisions. With this enlarged capacity of hundreds of billions of dollars in increased funding, the LPO, directed by Jigar Shah, lent large sums to improperly vetted candidates, likely violating its own regulations and federal law.”
The Chairmen highlighted several alarming examples of improper decision-making under the Biden-Harris Administration’s use of the LPO, including:
- In September 2023, the office lent $3 billion to Sunnova, a solar energy provider now bankrupt, that shares a board member with the Cleantech Leaders Roundtable, an organization founded by Director Shah.
- In May 2024, Director Shah approved a $1.6 billion loan to Plug Power, a hydrogen fuel company heavily backed by his former firm, Generate Capital.
Additionally, they noted that in December 2024, DOE’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a preliminary report outlining the LPO’s disregard for various federal prohibitions on self-dealing, collusion, conflicts of interest, and fraud. The OIG concluded its report by requesting that the LPO pause all lending activities pending the establishment of stronger oversight of conflicts of interest.
The Chairmen emphasized that, despite recommendations to pause lending, former DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm continued to push through controversial loan approvals. She issued over $15 billion in loans before President Trump’s inauguration and lent nearly $9 billion to an energy company that had previously donated to her gubernatorial campaign.
“The Committee supports DOE’s efforts to implement the OIG’s recommendations and scrutinize legally concerning loans,” Babin, McCormick, and Weber said. “As stewards of taxpayer dollars, we must address the LPO’s questionable lending history through both administrative and congressional actions. Transparency, impartiality, and competitive rigor are not optional; they are essential prerequisites to any federally backed loan program.”
Read the full letters to Deputy Secretary James Danly and Acting Inspector General Sarah Nelson.
Read the Daily Caller’s exclusive covering the letters here.