The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is doing some great work finding and squashing wasteful government spending, and granted they have a target-rich environment to work in. One fruitful place for the DOGE wunderkind to cast their optics would be in some of the phony-baloney Green New Deal spending that the Biden administration sneaked into the fraudulently-named "Inflation Reduction Act," which did nothing to reduce inflation but did pour a lot of American taxpayer money into Green New Deal flapdoodle.
Case in point: The Biden administration spent $160 million on a Canadian company, Lion Electric, to build electric buses for American school districts as part of their $5 billion "Clean School Bus" program, the goal of which was appeasing climate scolds. And now, Lion Electric is folding, according to a review of the bankruptcy documents by the Washington Free Beacon.
The Biden administration awarded Canadian electric bus company Lion Electric nearly $160 million to manufacture hundreds of battery-powered buses for school districts nationwide as part of its sweeping climate agenda. In recent weeks, Lion has initiated bankruptcy proceedings, laid off all employees tasked with building its buses, and paused manufacturing operations.
Lion's financial demise leaves dozens of school districts—including those in California, Montana, North Dakota, Iowa, Alabama, and Maryland—questioning whether they will receive the buses the Biden administration promised them. Lion has yet to deliver $95 million worth of electric buses to 55 districts across the country, according to federal data reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.
Those school districts can probably stop asking questions. There aren't going to be any electric buses - at least, not from Lion Electric. The Biden administration was consistent in one sense: they never saw a rat hole they wouldn't pour American taxpayers' money into, and this was another one. But things have changed in Washington, and the current inhabitant of the Oval Office won't be as free with our money. Also, President Trump doesn't much care what the climate panic-mongers think.
See Related: Climate Grifters Cry DOOM As Pres. Trump Turns Off Their Cash Spigot
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The Free Beacon has more:
The situation puts a renewed spotlight on the Biden administration's behemoth climate programs, raising questions about whether the recipients of billions of dollars in green spending were properly vetted—or whether federal officials looked the other way when doling out funds to Lion, which had financially struggled for years.
It also underscores a familiar dynamic surrounding such programs—green energy companies like Lion are dependent on government funding and often fail even after winning lucrative government contracts. In the case of electric school buses, 67 percent of the planned electric school buses in the United States have been funded by the federal government, according to an analysis conducted by the World Resources Institute.
All of this is being done, remember, to appease the Green New Deal sorts, ranging from AOC to John Kerry - yes, John Kerry of the yachts, mansions, and private jets. Spending taxpayer money like this is an absurdity on its face, and the Biden administration, for four years, poured money down not only the electric-bus rat hole but countless others, in the name of "climate change." And, yes, I'll drop in my usual qualifier: Yes, the climate does change; it always has, it always will, and it has been growing slowly warmer, with some dips and spikes, since the last Ice Age. The key is whether we can somehow, via policy, determine where the planet's thermostat should be set, or figure out a way we can set it there. Hint: We can't. And there's no good reason to sacrifice our modern, technological lifestyle trying to do so.
But that doesn't stop leftist politicians from throwing billions of our dollars at the issue - and into failing companies.
The Trump administration, of course, has a different viewpoint on all this. Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin has some pointed comments about the Biden administration's wasting taxpayer dollars.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, has promised to conduct broad reviews of past green energy spending. In a statement to the Free Beacon, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin noted an undercover video published by Project Veritas in December that showed Biden official Brent Efron admitting the EPA frantically pushed billions of dollars to favored industries and groups before leaving office.
"They knew they were wasting hard-earned American taxpayer dollars," Zeldin said. "Given documented problems from press reports and the Office of Inspector General, the American people deserve answers. I am committed to delivering for them."
A Canadian electric bus manufacturer that @EPA had awarded $160M in tax dollars is now filing for bankruptcy.
— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) February 7, 2025
$95,000,000 in buses across 55 school districts remain undelivered!
My lawful duty to the American taxpayer is to END every last penny of waste and abuse at the EPA. https://t.co/ZeXj0EATG9
It would be nice, for once, to see someone - anyone - held accountable for such a waste of taxpayer money, not just in this case but in many other similar boondoggles.
At the climate website Watts Up With That, scribe Charles Rotter (as usual) has a pretty good bead on this:
Lion Electric’s collapse follows a familiar pattern of government-funded green energy disasters:
- Biden administration throws taxpayer money at a politically favored company.
- Company was already financially unstable but gets millions anyway.
- Company burns through cash, fails to deliver, then collapses.
- Taxpayers and local communities are left with nothing but empty promises.
We saw it with Solyndra. We saw it with Proterra. And now, we’re seeing it with Lion Electric.
The difference this time? Lee Zeldin and House Republicans aren’t letting Biden off the hook.
Joe Biden, of course, can't really answer for this mess now. Honestly, he probably only had a dim idea of what was going on at the time. The decisions to pour money into Lion Electric were almost certainly not made by befuddled old Joe Biden but by whatever mysterious cabal of staffers and "advisors" who were running the White House during Biden's Weekend at Bernie's presidency. But at least we can be pretty sure that boondoggles like this won't happen in the next four years. And if the climate scolds cry about that, well, then they do, that's all.
