During Wednesday's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) questioned Energy Secretary Chris Wright about grants appropriated to update the energy grid.
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00:00Mr. Chairman, Mr. Secretary, good to see you. Welcome.
00:05Strong, resilient grid is an important contributor to America's energy security, yes?
00:11Yes.
00:12In the bipartisan infrastructure law, with strong bipartisan majorities,
00:17we established new efforts to support state governments and utilities
00:22at upgrading their grids to make them more resilient, more reliable, and more efficient.
00:29And in 2023, the state of Georgia was awarded $250 million
00:34to implement in partnership with three utilities, Oglethorpe Power, Georgia Transmission,
00:40and Georgia System Operations grid upgrades across the state.
00:43Each dollar, by the way, matched by these utilities.
00:47Private skin in the game as well.
00:49And this is especially important in rural Georgia.
00:54Just to paint the picture for you, after the storm last fall, Hurricane Helene,
00:58the outages lasted for weeks and weeks and weeks.
01:02There wasn't the manpower or the capacity to repair all the damage.
01:06There's a real need for grid upgrades in Georgia.
01:10And these funds have been obligated,
01:14but I understand are now in a state of limbo, pending review,
01:17additional questions being asked, driving some significant uncertainty in Georgia
01:22because, A, my constituents want a world-class upgraded energy grid,
01:29and, B, these private companies have already themselves committed tens of millions of dollars
01:34of capital to this project.
01:36So where does that stand, and when will we have an answer on whether those funds,
01:40which, again, have already been obligated
01:42and are part of a bipartisan piece of legislation,
01:46are indeed going to be headed to Georgia?
01:48Yeah, Senator Ossoff, thank you for your question and your comments.
01:51I agree.
01:52Grid stability, and do we have challenges there?
01:55Absolutely.
01:56Is there work to be done there?
01:57Absolutely.
01:59I don't think you were here when I first laid out the reason,
02:03one of the reasons we're doing these very careful reviews was,
02:07it's a similar story for the grants as the Loan Program Office,
02:10but I'll give the numbers from the Loan Program Office.
02:12It extended $43 billion of credit in the 15 years it existed as an office,
02:19and then in the 76 days after the election last November?
02:23This is not an LPO award.
02:25It's the same thing on the other side.
02:29I'll just say it this way then.
02:31Of those grants that you're talking about, those commitments that have been made,
02:35more money was committed in the 76 days from election day.
02:38And forgive me, Mr. Secretary, but my time is limited,
02:40and the question is when my constituents will have an answer.
02:45This summer.
02:45We put together a team, a process.
02:48We're engaging with the lenders, and we're running through them,
02:51and everyone that's viable is going to help the community of Georgia.
02:54It's financially viable.
02:56Those are the things that will go forward.
02:58I mean, this, again, bipartisan legislation, grid upgrades,
03:02bipartisan support in Georgia, award to the state of Georgia,
03:06private investment to accompany it, clear unmet need.
03:09Let's have a follow-up conversation about how we can expedite consideration of that,
03:13because there's just tremendous uncertainty that has been created by this insistence
03:18on a grant-by-grant-by-grant, loan-by-loan-by-loan scrubbing
03:23of everything against ideological criteria at OMB.
03:26And I understand that you want to make sure that public dollars are well used,
03:29but these are obligated funds that were appropriated on a bipartisan basis in Congress.
03:34I want to raise one more key Georgia concern with you.
03:37Are you familiar with the Bluebird Corporation?
03:39Most famous school bus in the world.
03:42Bluebird.
03:42Made in Georgia.
03:43We're proud of it.
03:44So I recognize the name, but no, not...
03:46Okay, Made in Georgia.
03:46And there is growing demand from local school districts for electric school buses
03:51for all kinds of good reasons.
03:52And the Bluebird Corporation wants to get in on this and be able to meet that market demand.
03:59They've invested $80 million of private capital to retool an aging manufacturing facility
04:05to produce those electric school buses.
04:07That was met, matched by an $80 million federal grant from the Department of Energy.
04:13And similarly, and again, I frankly don't need, don't have time with all due respect
04:18for the big picture on what you're doing and why you're doing it.
04:20I sort of understand the talking points on that.
04:24What I want to convey to you is how important this is to middle Georgia.
04:27This is one of the most storied and successful companies in Georgia history.
04:32When this grant was awarded, the Peach County Industrial Development Authority called it
04:35an awesome win for our community.
04:37Fort Valley Mayor Jeffrey Lundy said it's celebration day.
04:40I got a quote from a councilman here who said that when Bluebird goes up, Fort Valley goes up.
04:46When Bluebird goes down, Fort Valley goes down.
04:48And again, we've got private capital that's been hazarded, that's been invested, an expectation,
04:54a lot of commercial decisions that have been made, assuming the federal government will
04:59make good on its commitments for funds it has obligated.
05:02When can Bluebird expect an answer?
05:05This summer, I think, is the time frame that we'll get through.
05:07This summer like June, this summer like July, this summer like August.
05:11I can't get you that date right now, but it'll be done this summer.
05:15And you understand, Mr. Secretary, the cost of prolonged uncertainty, especially for
05:21these private companies, yes?
05:22I do.
05:23And if you reviewed the portfolio of things I've looked at that don't check the boxes
05:27you talked about, you'd understand why I can't just send out hundreds of millions
05:31of dollars of taxpayer money to bridges to nowhere.
05:33I'm asking you to make good on obligations that have already been made to the state of Georgia.
05:36We'll follow up on this directly as well.
05:39Thank you so much.