High-level officials in Biden administration went to work for grant recipients, watchdog finds

The Department of Energy recently announced it’s eliminating more than $83 billion in what it called “Green New Scam” loans and conditional commitments made through the Loans Programs Office during the Biden administration.The Trump administration has tried to roll back funding the Biden administration rushed out the door in its final months. 
Democracy Restored, a nonprofit government watchdog, calculated that following former President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate with now-President Donald Trump on June 27, 2024, the Biden administration began rushing billions out the door to more than a dozen environmental and climate-focused NGOs, including the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, Climate United Fund, the Ocean Conservancy, the Nature Conservancy, and Rocky Mountain Institute. 
Using data from USASpending.gov, Democracy Resorted found that federal agencies had obligated more than $600 million in taxpayer money to these organizations since July 1, 2024. The obligations began to drop the day after the election. Obligations to these same organizations since Nov. 5, 2024 fell to $246 million. 
While various agencies were providing millions in support to these organizations, high-level officials within the agencies either went to work for them after Trump took office, or they had previously worked for them prior to assuming key roles at the agencies under Biden. 
Shovels of money after debate debacle
The Department of Energy awarded the World Resources Institute a $1 million grant in August 2024. The funding would go toward training and collaboration in support of school bus fleet electrification. Jigar Shah, who was director of the Loans Programs Office within the DOE, is now a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute. 
Jennifer Wilcox, who held the position of principal deputy assistant secretary at the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management at the Department of Energy, is also a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute. The institute is a global research organization focused on various sustainability and climate action initiatives. 
“I think the money being shoveled out after President Biden’s debate and the apparent revolving door of appointees going to recipients of these federal funds raises many questions about the timing of the money, the impact of special interests in the Biden administration and the general ethics surrounding this behavior,” Houston Keene, director of Democracy Restored, told Just the News. 
Loan Programs Office under scrutiny
Shah has reportedly had ties to recipients who received loans from the Loans Program Office, which has since been renamed to the Office of Energy Dominancy Financing. Shah’s office, the Washington Beacon reported in May, awarded a loan to New York-based Plug Power in May 2024 to help finance green hydrogen projects. 
Through his private equity firm, according to the Beacon, Shah had invested $100 million in Plug Power, and Plug Power once described Shah’s former firm as its “longstanding partner.” Shah told the Beacon that he never worked directly on the loans to Plug Power, and the company had applied for the loan prior to Shah joining the office. 
An Office of Inspector General’s audit in December found that 20% of the Loan Program Office’s employees that the auditors reviewed had a potential conflict of interest or the appearance of a loss of impartiality performing their duties. 
Energy Secretary Chris Wright testified in May that the LPO had issued about $40 billion in loans for energy projects over the previous 15 years. But in the last 76 days of the Biden administration, he said, that number jumped to $100 billion. Wright said that the rushed loan agreements lacked clauses traditionally required by the DOE. 
Revolving doors 
The data compiled by Democracy Restored showed other individuals moving through a revolving door between the agencies they held important positions in to nonprofits that received funding from those agencies. 
While complicated Federal law prohibits certain acts by former employees (including current employees who formerly served in “senior” or “very senior” employee positions) which involve, or may appear to involve, the unfair use of prior Government employment, none of the restrictions of that law prohibits any former employee, regardless of government rank or position, from accepting employment with any particular private or public employer.
There’s no evidence that any of these individuals directly worked on any of the grants the organizations received, but Keene with Democracy Restored said these relationships raise concerns about employment relationships between funding agencies and funding recipients, which deserves more investigation.
Renee Stone served in senior leadership positions at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is under the Department of Commerce. She now works as vice president of climate for the Audubon Society, where she helps “mobilize its 1.3 million bipartisan members to advance pragmatic federal and state climate solutions and renewable energy policies.”
During the Biden administration, the bird-conservation nonprofit received nearly $4 million for three different grants for habitat restoration projects. Monica Medina, who once held senior roles at NOAA, is now a distinguished fellow at Conservation International. The organization received a $9 million grant in 2023 for an ecosystem restoration project in Hawaii. 
Chetan Hebbale, who was a policy advisor for the White House, went on to work for the Nature Conservancy as policy advisor on climate and conservation finance. The nonprofit was awarded over $6 million for various programs while Biden was in office. 
Offshore wind promoters
Susan Ruffo, who was managing director of international initiatives with Oceans Conservancy between 2017 and 2019, later went on to work for NOAA and other federal agencies. The Biden administration, through NOAA, granted Oceans Conservancy nearly $6 million in two grants.
The Biden administration was aggressive in its pursuit of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind. A few of the projects the administration initiated are currently under construction, and the Trump administration has been trying to roll back that effort ever since Trump took office. 
Oceans Conservancy is a vocal proponent of Biden’s offshore wind program. Besides receiving funding from the Biden administration, it also received support from Orsted, the offshore wind developer. 
Keene said these relationships don’t “pass the smell test” and need a closer look. “I think it says a lot about the stewardship of tax dollars under the Biden administration. If you were an organization that agreed with the administration politically, they weren’t afraid to cut you a check. That’s a problem for the taxpayer,” Keene said. 

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