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Buried in the 700-plus page energy bill currently under debate in the U.S. Senate is a provision that provides hundreds of millions of dollars worth of federal loan guarantees for a power project apparently to be built by four former Enron executives, the interest group Public Citizen revealed Monday in a release to RAW STORY.
One of the former executives is Thomas White, who was Enron's head of retail and energy trading in California during the energy crisis. White later served as Secretary of the Army under President Bush.
Title XIV of the Senate energy bill provides federal loan guarantees for "a project to produce energy from coal … mined in the western United States using appropriate advanced integrated gasification combined cycle technology that minimizes and offers the potential to sequester carbon dioxide emissions and … shall be located in a western State at an altitude greater than 4,000 feet."
Public Citizen's says this loan would benefit just one company: Houston-based DKRW Energy. The firm, named after the four Enron executives that founded it -- Jon Doyle, Robert Kelly, H. David Ramm and White -- formed a subsidiary to develop a $2.8 billion coal gasification project in Wyoming.
The DKRW facility meets all the criteria required in the legislation: The coal will be supplied from Arch Coal mines neighboring the power facility; it will stuff carbon dioxide emissions into oil wells; and the facility will be located in a western state (Wyoming) at an altitude above 4,000 feet.
Public Citizen slammed Congress for allegedly subsizing former Enron execs.
"Has Congress learned nothing from the Enron bankruptcy and the fallout from the company's fraudulent behavior?" said Tyson Slocum, research director for the energy program. "The fact that the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is willing to back these former Enron executives with taxpayers' money is truly unsettling."
The federal loan guarantee makes taxpayers responsible for repaying the loan if the company defaults, or if the project ends up not being economically feasible after its construction.
If an energy company receiving such a loan guarantee defaults, the bank "shall have the right to demand payment of the unpaid [loan] amount from the Secretary" of Energy.
The Senate Committee on Energy and Resources has approved the bill, which is scheduled for Senate action as early as this week. The provision is not in the already-approved House bill.
Public Citizen believes that the former Enron executives are seeking government guarantees because they have had a difficult time attracting private capital.
Just beautiful. Not only was Thomas White the head of the Enron Division which created the fake energy shortage in California (thus defauding more then $100 billion from California citizens) but this guy was even to slimy even Donald Rumnsfield fired him as Army Secretary. To top it off White made $12.1 million by selling his Enron stock just days before it became worthless but he, of course, denies he was envolved in insider trading dispite the fact that he was one of the most senior Enron executives.
That Republicans are still feeding this filth public tax dollars just disgusts me.
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