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Obama diverted renewable energy funding, while touting renewables

the administration received dozens of applications, but then made little progress in getting them processed. So far, less than 3 percent of the money set aside for [renewable energy] loan guarantees has actually been formally assign…….

Obama Talks Big About Clean Energy While Cash Stripped From Key Program Internal Memo Advises President Obama to Fix Program or Scrap It  ABC News By MATTHEW MOSK and TIM FLEMING. Nov. 3, 2010 While President Obama has touted his deep commitment to a clean energy industry, the administration has quietly drained more than half of the $6 billion allocated to a key renewable energy program and senior White House officials have proposed either fixing or scrapping one of the President’s most widely heralded initiatives involving solar and wind power.

An internal White House memo sent to the President from key advisors on Oct. 25, obtained by ABC News, outlines the shortcomings of the administration’s renewable loan guarantee program, which was to set aside millions of taxpayer dollars to backstop private efforts to build robust power plants that rely on solar, wind, and other renewable resources.

The memo was drafted by Obama’s top environmental advisor, Carol Browner, top economic advisor Lawrence Summers and the chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, Ron Klain. It acknowledges what some environmental and congressional leaders have quietly complained about for months — that the loan program has moved too slowly to approve projects and now is in trouble…

Cash Diverted To Cash For Clunkers

But in recent weeks, much of the criticism about the government’s commitment to renewable energy has been directed at the White House. Industry insiders have complained that the administration has drained the loan guarantee initiative of its initial funds, and processed applications so slowly that some investors have lost patience.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D.- New Mexico, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, told ABC News the administration received dozens of applications, but then made little progress in getting them processed. So far, less than 3 percent of the money set aside for loan guarantees has actually been formally assign…….

Obama Talks Big About Clean Energy While Cash Stripped From Key Program – ABC News

November 4, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | renewable energy, solar, wind