Energy Department defends use of stimulus dollars

The Department of Energy (DOE) official overseeing the agency’s distribution of billions of dollars in stimulus funding on Friday struck back at critics who say DOE is moving too slowly.

Matt Rogers — who advises Energy Secretary Steven Chu on stimulus spending — took to DOE’s blog Friday afternoon to make the case that stimulus funding has created tens of thousands of jobs.

“Sometimes the media is quick to criticize the pace of Recovery Act spending in the energy sector. Here’s a key fact that is often overlooked: more than 90 percent of the Department of Energy’s $32 billion in Recovery Act funds has been allocated to clean energy projects around the country, creating tens of thousands of direct jobs and even more along the supply chain — doing everything from installing wind turbines and solar panels, to manufacturing electric car batteries, to making homes more energy-efficient,” he wrote.

The department’s inspector general recently issued a pair of reports that gave mixed reviews on the pace of spending under the stimulus. One report this month found that DOE has distributed about $2.7 billion of $3.2 billion in energy efficiency and conservation block grants provided in last year’s stimulus. Yet grant recipients had used only 8.4 percent of the $3.2 billion after more than a year.

But Rogers said on DOE’s blog that even the commitment of funding creates jobs from the get-go. Here’s the rest of his post:

Focusing on the amount that has been “paid out” or “reimbursed” misses the impact that these funds have had in creating jobs from the moment projects were selected for funding. When you hire a contractor to remodel your house, people are hired and materials are purchased at the beginning of a project. The economic stimulus activity starts then, not when the work is done and the contractor has been paid for it.

The Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant program, for example, has already resulted in 4,000 innovative projects around the country, benefiting local communities. Not only are carpenters, electricians and others already hard at work, but families will be saving hundreds of dollars a year on their utility bills while also saving energy. This is precisely what the Recovery Act was meant to do — put people to work now while making a down payment on a clean energy future.