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Panel divides over whether DOE loan guarantees have succeeded or picked winners
Summary
Witnesses and members debated LPO’s historical record and whether it has produced net returns and economic benefits or distorted markets; independent researcher Dr. Ryan Young urged more study while former DOE counsel Sam Walsh and Southern Company’s John Haygood defended the program’s record.
At a House Science Subcommittee hearing, witnesses sharply disagreed over whether the Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office has met congressional goals and whether it primarily finances projects that would not have obtained private financing.
Dr. Ryan Young, senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, testified that Title 17 and related loan programs have “largely failed to meet [their] objectives,” arguing that government-backed loans can distort markets and that published evidence on “additionality” — whether LPO-funded projects would not have been financed otherwise — is weak and needs more study.
In contrast, Sam Walsh, former general counsel at DOE,…
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