Fox News reported that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found 679 renewable energy initiatives to be overlapping -- but the GAO only stated that 679 was the number of such initiatives that existed in 2010; further, the GAO explicitly stated that it could not evaluate whether the programs overlapped.

In the GAO's 2013 annual report, which seeks to identify wasteful and overlapping federal government programs, the office determined that “23 agencies and their 130 subagencies implemented 679 renewable energy initiatives in fiscal year 2010.”

Fox's Special Report, however, claimed that all 679 of these programs were duplicative and wasteful. Host Bret Baier reported: “Fox has obtained the results of a new GAO report finding 162 areas of duplication or wasteful spending, adding almost $100 billion a year on top of a larger amount from two previous reports. Renewable energy programs topped them all with 679 overlapping programs.”

This characterization is actually contradicted by the report itself. While the report found that a handful of wind initiatives may have “provided duplicative support,” the GAO specifically stated that the office “could not comprehensively assess the potential for overlap or duplication” among the renewable energy initiatives:

Although GAO examined characteristics, such as energy source and recipient type, for the nearly 700 renewable energy initiatives identified in its February 2012 report, GAO could not comprehensively assess the potential for overlap or duplication among the initiatives because existing agency information was not sufficiently complete to allow for such an assessment.

Fox's falsehood echoes a release from Republican Senator Tom Coburn that also claims 679 renewable energy initiatives were found to be duplicative.