The U.S. Department of Energy said it is restructuring, revising or eliminating more than $83 billion in loans and conditional commitments issued under the Biden administration.
The U.S. Department of Energy said it is restructuring, revising or eliminating more than $83 billion in loans and conditional commitments issued under the Biden administration.
The Loan Programs Office offered a total of $104 billion under President Joe Biden, much of which came from the Inflation Reduction Act, the 2022 law that was passed using reconciliation to get around Republican filibusters in the Senate. President Donald Trump’s DOE lambasted the loans as part of the “Green New Scam” and has transformed the loans office into the “Office of Energy Dominance Financing.”
“Over the past year, the Energy Department individually reviewed our entire loan portfolio to ensure the responsible investment of taxpayer dollars,” Secretary Chris Wright said in a Jan. 22 statement announcing the move. “We found more dollars were rushed out the door of the Loan Programs Office in the final months of the Biden administration than had been disbursed in over 15 years. President Trump promised to protect taxpayer dollars and expand America’s supply of affordable, reliable and secure energy.”
DOE has eliminated $9.5 billion in funding that was going to wind and solar, replacing it with investments in natural gas and uprates at nuclear power plants.
Of the $104 billion in Biden administration loan obligations, DOE has withdrawn or is in the process of de-obligating nearly $30 billion, with an additional $53 billion in revision.
The new Office of Energy Dominance Financing has more than $289 billion in available loan authority, which is accessible to more types of projects after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The funding level makes it the biggest energy lender in the world, DOE said.
The office is targeting six sectors: nuclear, fossil fuels, critical minerals, geothermal, the electric grid, and manufacturing and transportation, according to a blog post by its senior adviser, Gregory Beard.
The office closed three loans toward the end of 2025 totaling $4.1 billion, including a loan to Constellation Energy to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant; one to an American Electric Power subsidiary to strengthen its transmission system; and another to Wabash Valley Resources to use a coal plant to produce fertilizer.
This year the office will prioritize projects that contribute to energy security, grid reliability and affordability, Beard wrote.
