As with most everything related to House Republicans' 17-month-long probe of the Department of Energy's loan guarantee program, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is suspicious of the bill that represents the culmination of the investigation.

The "No More Solyndras Act," unveiled by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) yesterday, includes a sunset provision that would require that no new loan guarantee be issued for any application submitted after Dec. 31, 2011 (Greenwire, July 10).

Markey yesterday said he is suspicious that Upton and his colleagues picked that date in an effort to protect the nuclear industry, which has pending applications, but that the legislation shows little regard for the fate of the solar industry and other renewable energy sectors.

"As a matter of fact, I'm so suspicious my eyebrows are actually arching up and hitting the ceiling," Markey said. "I'm suspicious only because that has been the agenda of Republicans since the day they took over [the House] a year and a half ago."

A staunch opponent of nuclear power but a supporter of DOE's efforts to promote renewables using loan guarantees, Markey questioned why Republicans are allowing some applications to proceed if they are so against the loan program.

Although a DOE spokesman yesterday would not say which companies had pending loan applications as of Dec. 31, two applicants are known because they have reached the stage at which DOE has issued a conditional commitment to the companies. Those two companies are both nuclear companies, a fact that raised Markey's suspicion.

When asked why the draft legislation had the December date, Stearns said yesterday that "this is draft legislation," that staff selected the deadline, and that the date could change.

DOE is currently working on finalizing a $2 billion loan guarantee for Areva Enrichment Services LLC to support uranium enrichment at the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The department is also hammering out the final details of a $8.33 billion loan guarantee for the construction and operation of two new nuclear reactors at a plant in Georgia sponsored by Georgia Power Co. and several other partners.

Both nuclear projects have been moving forward as part of the so-called Secion 1703 program. DOE's authority for issuing new loans under the Section 1705 program, through which Solyndra received its funding, expired Sept. 30, 2011. But the agency still has funding available and authority to grant new loans under the 1703 program, which supports clean-energy projects.

The 1703 loan program was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and required applicants to front some of the costs of the loan. The 1705 loan program, which was created in 2009 and funded by the government stimulus, offered more generous loan terms than the original program and has been criticized for not requiring companies to put their own "skin in the game."

Stearns said that the end date in his legislation could be changed to coincide with the September ending date for the issuance of new 1705 loans. But that date would still allow the two nuclear projects to move forward, since they received their conditional commitments in 2010.

Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas), a proponent of both the loan program and nuclear power, yesterday said he finds some parts of the No More Solyndras Act beneficial. He said he would support the provision in the bill to restrict DOE from using the controversial technique of subordination to bail out faltering loans.

But Green said he would not support the measure if it cut off DOE from issuing any new 1703 loans.

Green pointed out that the 1703 program was originally created under a GOP-controlled Congress, supported by several current Energy and Commerce Republicans and signed by a Republican president.

"That was really a bipartisan bill, unlike some of the things we're seeing now," he said. "There's bad investments that are going to be made, but we also have a lot of good investments that have been made under these provisions. ... Now they want to pull it all up."

For its part, DOE continues to argue that the rewards of the loan program outweigh the risks.

"As we have consistently said, there is a degree of risk inherent in helping new, innovative technologies get off the ground. Congress recognized that risk [in 2005] by putting aside $10 billion in loan loss reserves," DOE spokesman Damien LaVera said yesterday.

"But this administration believes that just because there is risk here, that doesn't mean we should throw up our hands and cede the jobs of the future to China, Spain or anywhere else," he said.

The No More Solyndras bill is set to be heard before a joint Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing tomorrow morning.