Grantees Still Working to Spend Last Year’s EECBG Funds

Washington, Sept. 1 – A recent report from the Department of Energy illustrates just how hard it can be to get an ambitious new grant program off the ground, particularly when state and local governments are hamstrung by tight budgets and personnel shortages. Even economic stimulus grants designed to save jobs and get the economy moving can create new headaches for the cities, counties and states they are intended to aid.

The 20-page report, issued by DOE’s office of inspector general, describes the 18-month struggle to implement the department’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program since it was first funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009. Of the $2.7 billion in formula grant funding distributed through the new program, which funds energy efficiency and conservation measures such as building retrofits, the OIG found that grantees have only spent 8.4 percent as of August 2010, resulting in only 2,265 jobs created or saved.