The Department of Energy (DOE) pushed back against a report Thursday suggesting that the Trump administration is considering slashing funding for green energy projects.
President Donald Trump is committed to supporting all forms of energy, not just fossil fuels, DOE spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said in a press statement addressing a leaked document suggesting the administration will cut funding for solar and wind.
“[A]nyone who questions this Administration’s commitment to an all-of-the-above energy approach simply look at our record,” Hynes said about a report in the Washington Post. She added that the DOE awarded hundreds of millions of dollars to green energy companies in 2017.
“Though it may not fit into the narrative of the environmental lobby and their pundits, the truth is that Secretary Perry believes that there is a role for all fuels — including renewables — in our energy mix,” Hynes said.
Trump is preparing to ask lawmakers for deep budget cuts to DOE programs propping up the solar and wind industries – a new proposal asks Congress to slash them by 72 percent overall in Fiscal Year 2019, according to draft budget documents.
Many of the cuts would likely be restored through the parliamentary process, the report notes, but Trump’s February budget will create a compelling starting point for negotiations. The document dump comes less than a year after the administration, which heavily favors fossil fuel production, sought to nix tax credits for electric vehicle makers.
Republican lawmakers called for the immediate repeal of the $7,500-per-vehicle credit during last year’s tax cut negotiations to help balance out the party’s hefty tax bill.
Electric car sales slumped badly in Georgia, going from 1,400 per month to just 100 per month, after the state shuttered its $5,000 credit. Other countries have eliminated electric vehicle credits with similar results.
The DOE asked the White House for slimmed down spending reductions to the programs, according to WaPo’s Thursday report, which relied on anonymous sources who suggested the Office of Management and Budget had insisted on the deeper cuts.
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