Washington (Platts)--13Aug2007

A group of 18 US senators has urged the White House to support robust
loan gurantees for innovative new energy technologies, a document shows.

     Senator Pete Domenici, Republican-New Mexico, led the group's push for 
Department of Energy loan guarantees for up to 100% of the loan amounts needed
to deploy those technologies. 

     Under proposed regulations DOE is crafting for the program, loan
guarantees would be limited to 90% of the face value of the loan, a limitation
not required by the federal law that created the program.

     In a letter sent to President Bush Friday, the bipartisan group of
senators said that numerous investment bankers and other financial experts
have said that DOE's planned 90% limit "renders the program a nullity."

     They also said that DOE's proposed $9 billion cap for the program in
fiscal 2008 was too small to provide any meaningful assistance to a broad
array of energy projects.

     Nuclear industry officials have said they would need nearly three times
that amount for new reactors in FY-08. 

     The senators made their plea a week after Domenici received a letter from
Stephen McMillin, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, in 
which McMillin said OMB is prepared to support a final regulation for the 
program that would give DOE the discretion to guarantee loans for up to 100%
of the loan value.

		--Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com