May 18, 2009 10:02AM # Energy Mismanagment By [Chris Edwards](https://www.cato.org/people/chris-edwards) --- SHARE Try as they might, supporters of big government spending cannot make federal programs work very well. The Department of Energy, for example, has been [plagued by mismanagement, cost overruns, and scandals for decades](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/energy/boondoggles). Today, the [*Washington Post* reports](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/17/AR2009051702254.html?hpid=topnews) on the poor performance of DoE’s environmental clean-up programs. As I reviewed in the linked essay, these enormously costly programs have been plagued by mismanagement for at least 25 years. Last week, [Lou Dobbs lambasted DOE’s National Ignition Facility ](http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0905/11/ldt.01.html)in California for its huge cost overruns (Hat Tip: Harrison Moar). I summarize these costly projects and other DoE boondoggles [here](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/energy/boondoggles). With bipartisan support for increases to energy subsidies, we can expect a raft of bipartisan boondoggles developing over coming months and years. ##### Related Tags [Energy and Environment](https://www.cato.org/research/energy-environment), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Department of Energy](https://www.cato.org/department-energy), [Downsizing Government](https://www.cato.org/downsizing-government) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).