Renewable Energy Market Takes Another Financial Hit

The $26 billion bill President Barack Obama signed Tuesday may spell relief for teachers’ unions and other public-sector employees, but it’s the latest blow for renewable energy backers.

To help pay for the aid bill, lawmakers cut $1.5 billion from the Department of Energy’s renewable energy loan guarantee program. It’s the second time in roughly a year that Congress has raided the program to fund other priorities. Last summer, lawmakers cut $2 billion from the DOE’s renewable energy loan account to extend the highly popular Cash for Clunkers program. Congress has not repaid the agency that $2 billion, despite frequent promises by its leaders to do so. Taken together, the cuts have whittled the program’s budget down to $2.5 billion, less than half the $6 billion Congress appropriated in early 2009.

Read the full report from Wall Street Journal blogger Stephen Power in his “Washington Wire Blog”.

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