‘When Will We Have An Answer?’: Jon Ossoff Presses Chris Wright For Update On Frozen Energy Grid Grants

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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.

Transcript

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.

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