DOE unleashes blitz of end-of-the-year funding announcements

I can’t help but feel like someone high up in DOE recently looked at the calendar and had a panic attack: “OMG, didn’t we promise a lot more things by the end of the year!” (More on this in another post later today.)

So, in the last 24 hours, the DOE’s PR machine (too bad this group isn’t responsible for writing the checks) stepped on its accelerator:

• Secretary Chu Announces up to $184 Million Available for Advanced Vehicle Research and Development
• Salazar, Chu Announce Next Step in Nation’s March toward Renewable Energy Future; Joint Draft Environmental Study Identifies Public Lands Best Suited for Solar Development in the West
• DOE to Fund up to $50 Million to Demonstrate Innovative, Cost-Competitive Solar Energy Technologies
• Department of Energy Finalizes Loan Guarantee ($1.3 billion) to Support World’s Largest Wind Project: 845-Megawatt Wind Facility Will Create Hundreds of Jobs and Avoid Over 1.2 Million Tons of Carbon Dioxide Annually

And, just two days earlier, the agency announced:

• Department of Energy Closes $400 Million Loan Guarantee for State of the Art Solar Manufacturing in Indiana and Colorado; Abound Solar Manufacturing Project is Expected to Support More than 2,800 Jobs
• Secretary Chu Announces up to $30 Million for Research to Advance the Next Generation of Biofuels

Don’t get me wrong. This is all good. But its important to remember that DOE promised to spend $33 billion of Recovery Act money by Dec. 31. Back when that promise was made,  I can recall there was lots of unity about “the fierce urgency of now.” Also, cutting the project review bureaucracy, and too and such.

Maybe I am utterly naive but I truly thought the DOE would be making press release dumps like this every week!