The Department of Veterans Affairs last month scrapped a $77 million leftover green energy program from the Biden administration that would have put solar-powered charging stations for electric vehicles at VA medical centers and other facilities.
In a Nov. 19 release, the VA made clear its opposition to federal funding for green energy programs in general and charging stations in particular, although the Trump administration in August was forced under court order to release up to $5 billion approved by Congress for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure, or NEVI, program to build a nationwide network of charging stations along major highways.
“In Joe Biden’s VA, the department was distracted by woke social-justice programs and green-energy boondoggles, but those days are long gone,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a VA release. “VA exists to serve veterans, and we’re making sure all of our resources go toward that noble purpose.”
The VA has yet to decide how all of the $77 million will be redirected, but Collins said that three projects have already been targeted, beginning with $10 million for upgrading VA’s Friendship House residence in Oklahoma City; $21.3 million for the MRI ward at the Providence, Rhode Island VA Medical Center; and $13.8 million to upgrade the radiation oncology unit at the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VAMC in Jackson, Mississippi.
The move to scrap the charging stations brought the VA more in line with President Donald Trump’s long-held claims that green energy programs are a wasteful concessions to climate change alarmists. He has consistently maintained that clean energy sources, such as solar and wind, cost more and don’t work as well as fossil fuel options.
Shortly after taking office last January, Trump issued an executive order — “Unleashing American Energy” — rejecting what he called former President Joe Biden’s “preposterous” emphasis on electric vehicles and calling for the elimination of regulations favoring electric vehicles over gas-powered trucks and cars.
Despite Trump’s stance, all branches of the military maintain long-standing clean energy programs, including the Army’s plan to field a fleet of non-tactical, all-electric vehicles by 2035 and efforts to put solar-powered charging stations on bases.
In a February 2023 release by the Fort Hood Army base in Texas, Kristina Manning, then-Real Property Planning Division chief at the Fort Hood Directorate of Public Works, noted, “Like many things, Fort Hood is on the cutting edge for the Army on the fielding of EV and charging stations.
“Providing charging stations for personal use supports our People First stance and contributes to the quality of life for our soldiers and families by having charging options available for EV owners,” Manning said. “These charging stations are free because they are solar and do not use any electricity from the grid.”
In the ongoing battle over climate change initiatives, Trump used the world stage in September to double down on his views that environmentalists have it all wrong.
“This climate change. It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion,” Trump said in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. “All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. They were made by stupid people that have cost their countries fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success. If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail.”
But at a White House Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump insisted that he was not opposed to electric vehicles, but rather “insane” mandates for the public to buy them.
“I like electric cars, I like all cars,” Trump said, adding that the public should have the option to buy gas-powered vehicles.
Still, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in August begrudgingly said that federal funding would resume for the NEVI program initiated by the Biden administration.
“If Congress is requiring the federal government to support charging stations, let’s cut the waste and do it right,” Duffy said in a release.
Duffy claimed that the Biden administration failed to deliver EV chargers as promised, but “Our revised NEVI guidance slashes red tape and makes it easier for states to efficiently build out this infrastructure.”
“While I don’t agree with subsidizing green energy, we will respect Congress’ will and make sure this program uses federal resources efficiently,” he said.
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