Last week the House of Representatives passed the Energy and Water spending bill that provides funding for the Department of Energy's (DOE) Title 17 loan guarantee program. This is the same DOE Loan Guarantee program that has been in the news for months because it is where the defaulted loan for the solar manufacturer, Solyndra, originated. Taxpayers stand to lose about $500 million on that failed project, but the price tag for the program stands to be much higher if it continues operating. Much larger projects are in line for loan guarantees including an $8.3 billion nuclear reactor in Georgia and a $2 billion uranium enrichment facility in Idaho. Even if these projects didn't have financial and technical troubles of their own (which they do) they would be going through an overall program that is structurally flawed and guaranteed to lose taxpayers billions more.
Many Members of Congress have highlighted the problems with the Solyndra loan, but have failed to support a full repeal of the program. We can’t pick and choose projects we like, and hope their fate is different—the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program has failed us once, and will fail us again.
It's time to end the spin and politicking. Stop DOE loan guarantees for ANY energy project or taxpayers will continue to lose big.
Letters & Testimony
Oppose Ag-Only Farm Bill: Spends More Than Senate Bill; Changes Make Subsidies Permanent
July 11, 2013
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