The Biden administration is being ridiculed for its hypocrisy as it touts “energy savings” in federal buildings that are nearly empty of workers — and wastes billions of taxpayer dollars.
Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm recently celebrated the Biden administration’s efforts to achieve net-zero emissions from 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 regarding the rule. “Just as we help households and businesses across the country save money by conserving energy, we are doing the same in our own federal buildings.”
But Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, criticizes Granholm for not sharing the whole truth.
She says federal buildings continue to hemorrhage energy and money as many government employees continue to work from home while the lights stay on.
Senators 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 where they spend taxpayers’ money.
Department of Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm implements new rule banning federal buildings from having energy sources burning fossil fuels on site, saying Biden administration ‘practices what we preach’
Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, however, said the move was 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 saving energy, instead of spending more money, you could stop paying to heat, cool, light and operate the ghost town of vacant buildings all around 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 renovate federal buildings dependent on fossil fuel sources, when virtually no government employees actually work from those locations.
“This seems more like another excuse to spend taxpayer dollars on a Green New Deal jobs program, since the Biden administration is wasting money and energy running empty office buildings everywhere Washington, DC as bureaucrats continue to work from home,” she wrote.
The Iowan has long advocated for federal employees to return to office work after it was revealed in December that all government agency offices had not exceeded 50 percent capacity in months.
In fact, many agencies like Housing and Urban Development, the Social Security Administration and the Small Business Administration all 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 offices have been a scourge in Washington, DC, since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic
“According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), no department or agency currently uses even half of the available office space in its headquarters buildings,” Ernst wrote, adding: “Your department only uses 25% of its building. ‘
She also notes how the Public Building Reform Board (PBRB) – an independent federal agency created to reduce government property inventory and therefore costs – found that only eight people per day travel to the Department of Energy’s headquarters in Washington.
“Recognizing that this number appears to be incorrect, the (PBRB) has contacted the department for clarification,” Ernst wrote to Granholm. “They are still waiting for a response from the DOE, maybe because there is no one at home!
The letter also mentions another PBRB analysis that found that occupancy of government buildings in Washington, D.C., is at 26 percent of 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 per-person carbon emissions from heating and cooling nearly empty buildings, not to mention energy costs, are indefensible,” a PBRB analysis concludes.
Ernst asked Granholm to send the PBRB updated data on how many Department of Energy employees arrive at the office each day.
Ernst previously revealed in December that no federal agency had used more than 50% of its office space between January and March 2023.
“Camouflaged new government spending as 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.”
“This is the real green new deal for taxpayers,” she added.
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