The Biden administration’s energy loan czar has close ties to lobbyists whose clients have raked in hundreds of millions of dollars from his office, according to lobbying records.
Holland & Knight lobbyist Taite McDonald, who describes Department of Energy Loan Programs Office director Jigar Shah as a “longtime friend,” serves as an adviser to Cleantech Leaders, a trade group that Shah founded before joining the government. Since Shah took the helm at the LPO, McDonald has led “more than two dozen projects through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Programs Office,” according to her corporate biography, with one client, Kore Power, securing an $850 million loan in June.
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The news comes as the DOE inspector general has been investigating allegations of conflicts of interest at the Loan Programs Office. Lawmakers have also been probing potential ethics issues after the Free Beacon reported that a trade group founded by Shah has been acting as a gatekeeper for companies seeking loans from his office.
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McDonald’s roster of lobbying clients tripled in 2020 in the months leading up to President Joe Biden’s election, according to disclosure records. While her previous clients were in industries such as cybersecurity and cannabis, most of her newer clients are in the energy sector.
Americans for Public Trust, a government watchdog group, said Shah’s connections with industry lobbyists should prompt more scrutiny.
“The Biden administration has failed to show what guardrails, if any, have been put in place to safeguard billions in taxpayer money from apparent revolving door relationships,” said APT’s executive director Caitlin Sutherland. “Americans deserve accountability and assurances that green energy lobbyists are not being given preferential treatment by Shah or anyone else at the Department of Energy.”
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Click here to read the full report in the Washington Free Beacon.
