The Biden administration is being ridiculed for its hypocrisy as it touts ‘energy savings’ in federal buildings that are nearly empty of workers and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars.
Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm recently celebrated the Biden administration’s efforts to achieve net-zero emissions in federal buildings by establishing a rule banning the use of fossil fuels on site.
“The Biden-Harris administration is practicing what we preach,” Granholm said in a statement about the rule. “Just as we help homes and businesses across the country save money by conserving energy, we are doing the same in our own federal buildings.”
But Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, criticizes Granholm for not sharing the whole truth.
She says federal buildings are still losing power and cash as many government employees continue to work from home while the lights stay on.
Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Gary Peters, D-Mich., introduced a telework transparency bill in April to better track federal data on remote workers and better inform decisions about how they spend employees’ money. taxpayers.
Department of Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm is implementing a new rule banning federal buildings from having energy sources that burn fossil fuels on site, saying the Biden administration is “practicing what we preach.”
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, however, has said the measure is hypocritical because the buildings are mostly empty of workers and the ploy is a way to spend more money on green initiatives.
“If the administration is serious about practicing what it preaches about energy conservation, instead of spending more money, it could stop paying to heat, cool, light and operate the ghost city of empty buildings across Washington, DC,” Ernst wrote. in a Monday letter to Granholm obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com.
Ernst argued in his letter that the new rule would cost taxpayers money to retrofit federal buildings that rely on fossil fuel energy sources, while almost no government employees work from those locations.
“This sounds more like another excuse to spend taxpayer money on a Green New Deal jobs program, as the Biden administration is wasting money and energy operating empty office buildings across Washington, DC while bureaucrats continue to work from home “, wrote.
The Iowan has long been advocating for federal workers to return to office work after it was revealed in December that all government agency offices have not been above 50 percent capacity in months.
In fact, many agencies such as Housing and Urban Development, the Social Security Administration and the Small Business Administration had utilization of 10 percent or less.
Federal agencies spend about $2 billion a year to operate and maintain federal office buildings and more than $5 billion a year on leases.
Empty office space has plagued Washington, D.C., since the COVID-19 pandemic ended
“Not a single department or agency is currently using even half of the available office space in its headquarters buildings, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO),” Ernst wrote, adding: “Your department is using only the 25 percent of your building.” ‘
It also notes how the Public Buildings Reform Board (PBRB), an independent federal agency created to reduce the inventory of government property and therefore costs, found that only eight people per day enter to the Department of Energy headquarters in DC.
‘Recognizing this number seems faulty, the [PBRB] “I contacted the department for clarification,” Ernst wrote to Granholm. ‘They are still waiting for a response from the DOE, maybe because no one is home!’
The letter also mentions another PBRB analysis that found occupancy in Washington, D.C., government buildings is at 26 percent capacity or less.
According to the letter, the PBRB claims that “the amount of money spent per person per year” to maintain these federal office buildings “is at absurdly high levels.”
“The carbon emissions per person from heating and cooling nearly empty buildings, not to mention the energy costs, are indefensible,” a PBRB analysis concluded.
Ernst requested that Granholm send PBRB updated data on how many Department of Energy employees come to the office each day.
Ernst previously revealed in December that not a single federal agency had more than 50 percent utilization of office space between January and March 2023.
“Camouflaging new public spending in green does not save money or energy,” Ernst wrote.
“You can go green without going red by reducing the size of unused and unnecessary government buildings.”
“That’s the real green new deal for taxpayers,” he added.