Biden’s $27 Billion Clean Energy Catalyzer Slush Fund
Competition is stiff over who gets first access to Biden’s $27 Billion Clean Energy Catalyzer slush fund.
The US government is getting ready to unleash $27 billion to fund projects in disadvantaged communities that cut greenhouse gas emissions and boost clean energy. The cash infusion from last year’s sweeping climate and tax law is meant to drive the deployment of solar panels, heat pumps and electric vehicles in underserved places around the nation.
But even before the government formally seeks funding applications, hundreds of potential recipients are jockeying for the money. The competition pits credit unions and community development institutions against a national not-for-profit organization that says it should collect much of the haul and be a clearinghouse for the taxpayer dollars, making it the first-ever US-government-minted green bank.
At stake is the fate of an unprecedented effort by the US government to fight climate pollution and environmental injustice at the same time.
States and tribes are set to get $7 billion. The remaining $20 billion is available for “eligible” nonprofits to provide financial assistance to national, regional, state and local projects, with at least 40% of the funding put to work in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
The law offers little guidance on who those eligible recipients might be.
The Coalition for Green Capital, a nonprofit that supports regional green banks, argues it should be the main repository for the $20 billion, making it a nationwide clearinghouse for the funding.
The money “will not reach low-income and disadvantaged communities unless funding is provided to financial institutions with specialized expertise in serving them,” said the Rural Community Assistance Corporation, which supports organizations serving low-income people living in the rural West.
Environmental Justice Now
This “green bank” meme is so much BS I hardly know where to begin.
At least half of this money is sure to go to obviously absurd boondoggles. Most of the rest will be wasted in ordinary graft.
We don’t know who the recipients are yet, but fancy names are sure to help.
I have come up with perhaps the perfect name for a company competing for slush money: Green Solutions Trust Fund
In practice, it will not be green. It certainly will not solve anything. And if there is any trust, it will be seriously misplaced
This post originated at MishTalk.Com.
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