EPA outlines $27B ‘green bank’ for clean energy projects
By MATTHEW DALY
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Tuesday outlined how states and nonprofit groups can apply for $27 billion in funding from a “green bank” that will provide low-cost financing for projects intended to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
The so-called Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created by Congress in the landmark climate law approved last year, will invest in clean energy projects nationwide, with a focus on low-income and disadvantaged communities.
The Environmental Protection Agency expects to award $20 billion in competitive grants to as many 15 nonprofit groups that will work with local banks and other financial institutions to invest in projects that reduce pollution and lower energy costs for families.
Another $7 billion will be awarded to states, tribes and municipalities to deploy a range of solar energy projects, including residential rooftop solar, community solar and solar storage.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the green bank — modeled after similar banks established in states such as Connecticut, New York and California — will unlock billions of dollars in private investment to enable neighborhoods and communities “that have never participated in the clean-energy economy to participate in full force’’ in creating green jobs.
Low-income and disadvantaged communities “who pay the largest percent of their income toward energy bills have been left out of the investment game (and) have not seen the infusion of private capital to help them realize opportunities ... for lots of reasons,’’ said Regan, the first Black man to head the EPA.
“What we are focused on here is ensuring that this $27 billion opportunity is thought-out in a way that allows for that community, that population, to be along for the ride,’’ he added. ”Obviously, if this had been done before, there would be no reason for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. We are charged with bringing private capital off the sideline.’’
The program expects to begin making grant awards this summer and has already received nearly 400 responses to preliminary inquiries, said Jahi Wise, the program’s acting director.
Even before the grants are awarded, Republicans in Congress have taken aim at the green bank, calling it a taxpayer-funded “slush fund” ripe for abuse.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan, above, said the green bank will unlock billions of dollars in private investment to enable neighborhoods and communities “that have never participated in the cleanenergy economy to participate’’ in creating green jobs.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
