On December 10, 2018, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) submitted a letter urging Congress to investigate the reason for which DOE has not spent all of its 2018 fiscal year funding for clean energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D). In the letter to Congress, NRDC expresses concerns that certain DOE Administration officials may be purposefully hindering clean energy RD&D funding from innovative businesses focused on clean energy. The analysis of public data reveals that 79 percent of DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) funds for clean energy RD&D has not been spent from the 2018 fiscal year budget. In addition, 14 percent of the funds have not been spent by DOE’s EERE. According to NRDC, “[t]he consequences of the funds remaining unspent with no apparent plan for utilization is not only an insult to congressional direction but undermines U.S. businesses and entrepreneurs in developing the next generation of clean energy technologies.”

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