Energy Dept. aims to give out stimulus loans by summer
WASHINGTON--Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced on Thursday a number of ways he will streamline the process by which the Energy Department distributes funding, with the goal of dispersing 70 percent of its funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by the end of 2010.
"We have undergone a detailed scrubbing of the process," he said. "What we've found is that the old process required too much paperwork and simply took too long. These are sweeping reforms in the way the Department of Energy does business."
The energy investments in the stimulus package intimately tie the reshaping of the energy sector to the country's economic recovery.
Chu called the significant investment "very farsighted."
To get the money out more quickly, Chu announced Thursday he is naming Matt Rogers as a senior adviser to implement the new department reforms. Rogers formerly served as a senior partner at McKinsey and worked with the energy industry for more than 20 years. He also served on the Obama transition team.
The changes Rogers will implement include rolling out appraisals of applications for loan guarantees, rather than waiting for the application deadline to evaluate them. Loan application forms will be simplified and the department will speed up loan underwriting by using outside partners.
With these changes in place, the department should be able to begin offering loan guarantees under its previous loan guarantee program by late April or early May, Chu said, though some recipients may have to secure their own share of the financing or meet other conditions before their applications are approved. With the same financing conditions, the department should be offering loan guarantees under the stimulus legislation by early summer, Chu said.
"The goal is to begin making these investments in months, not years," Chu said.
Steven Chu, now secretary of the Department of Energy, at his former lab at Stanford University.
(Credit: Stanford University)Among other things, the department also intends to establish a Web site to provide more assistance to applicants and add transparency to the process.
The department will also be working with outside industries to find good projects to finance.
"It'll be interesting to see what the market brings forward," Rogers said Thursday.
When President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Tuesday, he said the bill should allow the country to double its use of renewable energy within three years.
Chu said he could not parse out specifically how much of that energy will come from which sources, but he said there are a few mature renewable sources that could help the country reach that goal, such as wind and photovoltaic energy.
"There are numerous wind projects that can go forward," he said. "The Bonneville Power Administration has (transmission) lines sited and those lines will connect to wind farms. This is something that can be done within this two-year period."
Chu said as the government tries to accelerate the use of renewable energies, it will also be exploring different methods of carbon capture and sequestration.
"Right now, to the best of my knowledge, it is not a slam dunk which technology is the right one," he said.
He also said he meets with White House climate czar Carol Browner and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson about once a week to make sure the Energy Department's interests do not conflict with the White House's climate change goals.
As the department works to develop the renewable energy sector, Chu said it is imperative it also fund basic science research.
"If you look at some of the wealth creation in the United States--the Internet, biotech--a lot of that was driven by companies that deeply believed in research like Bell Laboratory, IBM Labs," he said. "In the energy sector, you don't have that. What I see is the Department of Energy filling that vacuum."
Stephanie Condon is a staff writer for CNET News focused on the intersection of technology and politics. She is based in Washington, D.C. E-mail Stephanie. 
"To Boldly Go (At Warp Speed) Where None Has Gone Before"!
It will be interesting to know within what time frame the "Web site" being mentioned here will be up and running!!!
Agreed 100%; also, this should include all forms of energy - bio-mass, bio-gas, garbage, wood waste, ethanol, hydro-electricity generation... plus a host of other forms of renewable energy resources.
re: "Nearly 70 computers missing from Los Alamos nuclear lab" (see the below attached link):
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10163715-83.html?tag=mncol
Thus the above to be addressed and to the extent that there are no such spill overs (as was mentioned) in relation to the proposed renewable energy development projects related to the recently passed "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act".
These technologies are essential for ensuring the cost-effectiveness of the systems deployed, and providing oversight and accountability. Especially in this economy, it's not enough to just deploy "green" technology and use renewable energy -- you need to oversee those systems and get the most of them. We must combine eco responsibility with fiscal responsibility.
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- by Brownermustgo February 21, 2009 12:06 PM PST
- Carol Browner?s History of Discrimination at EPA
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(10 Comments)In 2000, a jury found that the EPA, under then-administrator Carol Browner, was guilty of race, sex, and color-based discrimination, and that Ms. Browner tolerated a hostile work environment. During subsequent oversight hearings of the Congressional Science Committee, the Chairman instructed Browner to clean up the working conditions at EPA so the next administrator wouldn?t get handed ?a garbage can.?
Despite promising to do so under oath, Ms. Browner never accepted the jury?s findings as EPA Administrator. She never disciplined any of the senior managers under her supervision at EPA who were implicated in Coleman-Adebayo v. Carol Browner. She never stopped the appeal process in the case. It was her successor, Christine Todd Whitman, in her 1st act as EPA Administrator, who announced that the verdict in Coleman-Adebayo would not be appealed, and that the Agency would accept the jury?s findings.
Congress was so outraged by the conditions within EPA, that it passed unanimously in both houses the NoFEAR Act (Notification of Federal Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation) 2001 and mandated that all Federal new hires be instructed in Coleman-Adebayo v Browner within 90 days, and that all Federal workers receive the instruction every 2 years.
Apparently, being found guilty of discrimination by a jury of her peers, having Congress enact legislation to outlaw her administrative behavior, and mandate that all Federal workers be instructed in Coleman-Adebayo v Browner was not enough to derail Ms.Browner?s career, or to prevent the retaliation against Dr. Coleman-Adebayo from the EPA that continues to this day.
These are not ?allegations,? they are matters of public record.
The core of the case in Coleman-Adebayo v Carol Browner was Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. President Obama is a civil rights attorney. The question of justice in this matter has not been adequately addressed, with Ms. Browner?s ascension back into the heights of power, while Dr. Coleman-Adebayo, who stood up for civil rights for all Federal employees was thrown under the bus where Rosa Parks, a generation before her, took her stand.
The media need to start asking the president, Ms. Browner, and new EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson, what the public is to make of this regrettable case of a whistleblower being vilified, while her tormentors, Carol M. Browner, and the staff she left behind at EPA are still retaliating, still discriminating against whistleblowers (who may be able to prevent poisonous peanuts from killing people), and still thrive within the EPA.