CGC Asks Visiting U.S. Cabinet Officials To 'Work Together to Solve the Energy Crisis in Alaska and Beyond'

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, June 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In a full-page ad in the Anchorage Daily News yesterday, the Coalition for Green Capital (CGC), a national green bank that received $5 billion in funding from the federal government last year, warned that "the nation needs more energy" and asked three Cabinet members visiting Alaska to "work together to solve the energy crisis in Alaska and beyond."

The ad was in the form of an open letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin.

It cited CGC's network partner Spruce Root, a Community Development Financial Institution in the southeastern Alaska. "Investments in such partners are multiplied many times with private capital," the ad said.

CGC, however, has faced obstacles. The EPA earlier this year tried to terminate CGC's contract under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, awarded under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and has frozen the organization's account at Citibank. CGC has challenged the termination in federal district court and won a preliminary injunction, which is now under appeal.

"We shouldn't be at cross purposes. CGC has common ground with Administrator Zeldin's Powering the Great American Comeback initiative, and we want to move as fast as we can," said the ad placed by the CGC, which over more than a decade has developed a network of green banks and community lenders.

The ad explained the current energy crisis this way: "The grid is a century old, demand is soaring, capacity can't keep up, and Americans are suffering as their utility bills rise. For Alaskans, it's worse. Many communities will never have a grid connection. They're using expensive and unreliable diesel and paying three to five times the national average for electricity."

CGC has a solution to financing projects needed to eliminate the crisis, said the ad: "Distributed, smaller-scale projects are often the cheapest and fastest way to add power. That's why Congress asked us to help finance them."

The organization called on the three Cabinet officials to work with CGC and bring public and private capital together work together "to unlock capital and enhance U.S. energy infrastructure."

About Coalition for Green Capital

The Coalition for Green Capital (CGC) uses public-private investing to unlock clean air, clean water, clean jobs and affordable power for all Americans. Green banks are a proven finance model that uses public capital to mobilize private investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other decarbonization technologies. For over a decade, the Coalition for Green Capital has led the Green Bank movement, working at the federal, state, and local levels in the U.S. and countries around the world. For more information, visit: https://coalitionforgreencapital.com.

Contact
James K. Glassman: [email protected] (202-344-5777)
Or Elizabeth Heaton: [email protected] (202-445-9858)

SOURCE Coalition for Green Capital