The Department of Energy’s inspector general has called for an emergency halt to the Biden administration’s $400 billion energy loan fund, citing a “significant risk of fraud” and lapses in oversight. The Loan Programs Office (LPO), which has been rushing to approve billions in green energy loans, faces criticism for failing to enforce conflict-of-interest rules.
Inspector General Teri Donaldson’s memo warns that the LPO has not identified or tracked relationships between loan applicants and federal contractors. “The LPO does not track the information necessary to identify conflicts of interest,” Donaldson wrote, raising alarms about $22 billion in pending loans set to close before Biden leaves office.