Teri Donaldson
Inspector General, Department of Energy
Teri L. Donaldson started her career as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle Florida District. She served as general counsel for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Donaldson worked in the private sector and became a partner in a law firm helping clients with investigations, litigation, and corporate compliance. She became general counsel for the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, then became the first female inspector general of the Department of Energy.
In the News…
Energy Department Inspector General Teri Donaldson has been conducting an investigation into the Loan Programs Office (LPO). The investigation has been examining the awarding of hundreds of billions in green energy loans under the Inflation Reduction Act. She stated, “LPO is engaged in a very high-risk endeavor.“
The inspector general wrote to Under Secretary of Energy for Infrastructure David Crane, “The Department of Energy Loan Programs Office (LPO) is administering more than $385 billion in new loan authority without ensuring a regulatory and contractually compliant and effective system to manage organizational conflicts of interest.’ This poses a significant risk of fraud, waste, and abuse.”
She continued, “Congress issued this unprecedented volume of loan authority in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Inflation Reduction Act, and related legislation. The projects funded with this authority, which involve innovations in clean energy, advanced transportation, and tribal energy are inherently risky in part because these projects may have struggled to secure funding from traditional sources such as commercial banks and private equity investors.”
IG Donaldson wrote, “The Federal Government prohibits conflicts of interest to safeguard the taxpayers against self-dealing, collusion, and fraud by Government officials and Government contractors. In the private sector, each party has a ‘baked in’ economic incentive to watch, track, and account for its own dollars. That economic incentive does not exist in the public sector, where Federal dollars are more likely to be treated as ‘monopoly money.’ For this reason, implementing and overseeing robust conflict of interest protections is a critical role for Federal officials.”
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Inspector General Donaldson today? You can let her know at:
The Honorable Teri Donaldson
Inspector General
Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, DC 20585
