E2-Wire

OVERNIGHT ENERGY: House Dems push back on GOP Solyndra attacks

by Andrew Restuccia and Ben Geman - 10/03/11 11:16 PM ET

But the memo might have inadvertently offered Republicans more ammunition as they continue their investigation into the Solyndra bankruptcy.

The memo, for example, bolsters GOP criticism of the Energy Department’s handling of the loan guarantee.

{mosads}Republicans have increasingly turned their attention to the role that Energy Secretary Steven Chu played in greenlighting the loan guarantee and then restructuring the agreement in February as the company struggled to stay afloat.

Top Republicans on the committee’s investigative panel have called on Chu to testify on his role in approving the Solyndra loan guarantee.

Officials at the White House Office of Management and Budget raised concerns about Solyndra’s financial standing in a series of spring 2010 emails. But the Energy Department downplayed concerns about Solyndra at the time, insisting that the company had so far complied with the terms of the loan guarantee.

In a separate incident, the Energy Department reassured top White House officials in May 2010 that Solyndra’s financial outlook was stable amid concerns that President Obama should not visit the company’s manufacturing facility.

Obama ultimately visited the Solyndra facility on May 25, 2010. Republicans later pounced on the visit — during which Obama praised Solyndra — once the company declared bankruptcy.

You can read more in Tuesday’s print edition of The Hill and online (here and here).

NEWS BITES:

Bingaman doesn’t plan Solyndra hearing … : Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said Monday that he doesn’t have any plans to hold a hearing about the controversial loan guarantee for the bankrupt solar company Solyndra.

“We don’t have a plan to do that at this point,” he told reporters in the Capitol Monday evening. “You have got several investigations going already and obviously we will monitor what comes out of those, but I haven’t scheduled a hearing.”

House Republicans have launched aggressive probes of the $535 million loan guarantee, and some are more broadly are using Solyndra’s demise to attack Obama administration green-energy loan programs.

Bingaman, who helped craft the 2005 energy law that first authorized Energy Department loan guarantees, said the Solyndra issue shouldn’t be used to attack federal financing to boost green technologies.

“I think there are clearly a bunch of people here in Congress who don’t support the idea that the government should partner with industry to help ensure that the U.S. has these types of projects,” Bingaman said. “I think it made good sense as national policy then and I think it still does.”

… but Murkowsi pushes for broader loan guarantee hearing: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), the top Republican on Bingaman’s panel, said she’s hopeful the committee will convene a broader hearing on Energy Department loan guarantees.

Murkowski said she supports having loan programs for advanced energy technologies but has concerns about Energy Department implementation of the program, which was expanded through a stimulus law program that ended last week with a flurry of new loan guarantees.

“I do want to know that the structures within DOE are good and sound, that everybody really knows what they are doing,” Murkowski told reporters on Capitol Hill. “I want to know that we have a loan guarantee program that actually works.”

Bill Wicker, a spokesman for Bingaman, said in an email that a hearing is possible.

“The committee has had several hearings on the DOE loan guarantee program — at least three that I recall. It is possible we could hold a fourth,” he said.

“In fact, at Bingaman’s direction, committee staff right now is trying to scope a hearing on the topical issues that the loan guarantee program, and successor programs like [a proposed Clean Energy Deployment Administration], are designed to address, such as financing, international competitiveness, ‘valley of death,’ etc.,” he said.

But Wicker also appeared to suggest that Bingaman hopes to steer clear of the high-profile political battles that are raging around Solyndra.

“It will not be a Solyndra hearing per se — we’re the Learning Channel, not the E! Channel,” he said.

A French ‘fracking’ controversy: Concern over the natural-gas drilling method known as “hydraulic fracturing” isn’t limited to the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

The French government on Monday canceled all three exploration permits on shale-gas fields after oil major Total SA and U.S.-based Schuepbach Energy LLC — which hold the rights — maintained their intention to drill the potential fields using hydraulic fracturing, a controversial technique that was banned in the country earlier this year.

In a joint statement, France’s energy minister, Éric Besson, and environmental minister, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, said that the three permits, which represent all of the country’s potential shale-gas fields, had been cancelled after the companies submitted a mandatory report about their drilling techniques in which they maintained their plans to use hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

ON TAP TUESDAY:

— The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will examine a report on shale-gas development, and fracking in particular, by a panel of Energy Department advisers.

— A subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing called “Nutrient Pollution: An Overview of Nutrient Reduction Approaches.”

— The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on the president’s national oceans policy.

— A subcommittee of the House Science Committee will hold a hearing called “Quality Science for Quality Air.”

— The Alliance to Save Energy is holding an energy-efficiency summit. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) will deliver a keynote address. Later, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Energy Secretary Steven Chu will participate at an awards dinner.

— Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell is hosting an energy summit in Alexandria, Va. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), as well as Gov. Haley Barbour (R-Miss.), are slated to speak.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…

Here’s a quick roundup of Monday’s E2 stories:

— White House threatens to veto bills to delay EPA air rules
— Obama doesn’t regret Solyndra loan
— Bush-era loan chief ‘probably would have made the same decision’ on Solyndra
— GOP leaders ask Obama to support House EPA bills
— GOP rep.: Energy Secretary Chu needs to testify on Solyndra
— Emails show divide between OMB, Energy Department over Solyndra
— Officials warned White House about Obama visit to Solyndra plant
— Gingrich: ‘I would have fired Secretary Chu’ over Solyndra loan guarantee
— Obama campaign: Public opposes GOP on environment
— Gov. Christie climate stance wins cheer from former SC rep.
— Green group says TransCanada, State Dept. emails show ‘pro-pipeline bias’