Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) isn't buying the White House's promise to conduct an independent review of a controversial energy loan guarantee program in the wake of Solyndra debacle, so he called today for a separate audit that would be overseen by Congress.

Sensenbrenner introduced the "Federal Accounting of Renewable Energy Act" this afternoon on the same day that the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to subpoena the White House for documents that Republicans say are being kept from the panel's ongoing probe of the failed solar energy company that received half a billion dollars in federal loans (Greenwire, Nov. 3).

SPECIAL REPORT

Solyndra, a solar manufacturer that was given a $535 million loan guarantee and touted by the White House as a model for the clean energy economy, has filed for bankruptcy. E&E examines how it got there and what it means. Click here to read the report.

Sensenbrenner's bill would require independent audits of all renewable energy loan guarantees as well as independent reviews for all future loans. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) introduced similar legislation in the Senate.

Last week, the White House sought to take back some control over the widening Solyndra controversy by announcing that it had asked Herb Allison, a former top Treasury official, to conduct a review of the Department of Energy's loan program to assess the health of the agency's portfolio of investments and find ways to protect against another Solyndra (E&ENews PM, Oct. 28).

The White House move has already been panned by conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity, which sent out a release yesterday noting its lack of confidence in Allison, "the same bureaucrat who formerly oversaw" the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

"I doubt their thinly-veiled attempt at image management will be a sufficient cure for the diseased loan guarantee program," Sensenbrenner said in a statement today. "Congress should act quickly to ensure that taxpayer money is protected in both past and future loan guarantees.

"My legislation will ... ensure DOE is choosing only qualified applicants, not just political partners."

Sensenbrenner's legislation was praised by Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.), who serves on the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee that has been probing the Solyndra deal. "I like Jim's idea of a truly independent non-partial review of that program," Terry said.

Terry said that because the congressional probe has shown that White House staffers at the highest levels were deeply involved in making decisions about what companies received loans, whoever the White House picks to review the program "is going to be their agent, not independent."

But Democrats asked today what Sensenbrenner's legislation would accomplish beyond the work Congress is already doing to review Solyndra and the DOE loan guarantee program.

"It sounds like he doesn't trust the committees of Congress," Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said. "We have been looking into it in our committee, and there are other committees that have some jurisdiction, so I don't know why we need a whole new" audit.

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) called the bill "a waste of time, energy and money."