Critic of Obama clean-energy loans lobbied Energy Department

WASHINGTON -- The Republican lawmaker leading the charge against an Obama administration loan guarantee program for clean-energy companies wasn't always so skeptical of government attempts to boost the green economy.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., the chairman of House Energy and Commerce Committee, previously lobbied the Department of Energy to lend money for at least four energy projects in his home state through the same loan program. But after last month's bankruptcy of the solar panel manufacturer Solyndra — the first company to win a DOE clean-energy loan funded through Obama's $825 billion stimulus plan — Upton was among the Republican lawmakers who decried the Department of Energy loan guarantee program for "picking winners and losers."

Now, Upton is suggesting that the DOE program — which has about $7 billion in conditional loan commitments to green firms that are due to be finalized by the end of this week — may amount to "risky investments for American taxpayers." Upton and Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., wrote to Energy Secretary Steven Chu last week and urged him not to rush to finalize several loans that are required by statute to be closed by Friday.

House Energy subcommittee staff are scheduled to meet today with Energy Department officials to discuss the outstanding loans.

"In this time of record debt, I question whether the government is qualified to act as a venture capitalist, picking winners and losers in speculative ventures and shelling out billions of taxpayer dollars to keep them afloat," Upton said at a hearing earlier this month.

In the aftermath of Solyndra's collapse, Upton and other Republicans have noted that a foundation tied to an Obama fundraiser was a major investor in the Fremont, Calif.-based company and questioned whether politics played a role in Solyndra winning the loan guarantee. As the result of an ongoing Energy subcommittee investigation, the White House was forced to release a series of e-mails that suggested administration officials were eager to see the deal finalized, so Vice President Biden could attend a 2009 groundbreaking ceremony for Solyndra.

But in the past, Upton, like many of his Republican colleagues, voted in favor of energy policy laws that created the loan guarantee program and lobbied the Energy Department to back loans for firms in their state.

Backed loan guarantees

In 2005, when Republicans controlled Congress and the White House, Upton voted for an energy law that included a loan guarantee program to help support companies looking to develop renewable energy projects as well as nuclear and coal. And in 2007, Upton backed legislation that created the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program, targeting manufacturers and suppliers looking to retool U.S. factories to build high-fuel economy vehicles.

The ATVM Loan Program has proved to be a boon for Michigan. In July, a Michigan steel manufacturer, Severstal Dearborn, won a $730 million loan guarantee from the Energy Department. One year earlier, Upton was among Michigan lawmakers who wrote to Chu calling for "prompt completion and consideration of loan applications" from Michigan companies.

"For America's auto industry to continue its global leadership into the 21st Century, we must foster the American manufacture of fuel-efficient vehicles for the mass market," according to the July 1, 2010, letter that Upton co-signed.