Renewable Energy Programs Are Being Eliminated in the 2018 Federal Budget
Three federal loan guarantee programs that have helped advance hundreds of innovative energy projects in recent years are on the chopping block. This is a troubling development for those who believe the U.S. should be moving ever faster toward finding alternative energy sources, not creating barriers. Bills introduced in July in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate eliminated the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Title 17 Loan Guarantee Program (House bill H.R. 3266 and Senate bill S. 1609). Also, funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Business Service (RBS) and its Sections 9003 and 9007 loan guarantee programs will be wiped out if H.R. 3268 and S. 1603 pass as currently framed. The Title 17 and Section 9003 funding programs have long been regarded as critical to spurring new energy ideas into being since conventional bank loans are rarely granted to first-of-a-kind projects because of the risk they will fail or not operate properly the first time they...