An official from one of the nation’s largest utilities pressed House lawmakers Wednesday to support the Department of Energy’s loan program, which faces an uncertain future under President Donald Trump and the departure of more than half of its staff.
Jon Haygood, an assistant treasurer at Southern Co., told the House Science Energy Subcommittee that its subsidiary Georgia Power would likely not have been able to bring Plant Vogtle — the nation’s first constructed nuclear reactors in three decades — online without support from the office, which Trump sought to eliminate in his first term.
“Existing capital markets alone can’t efficiently finance the amount of infrastructure that utilities need to develop and deliver on the president’s energy dominance agenda. [Loan office] dollars accelerate that infrastructure development,” said Haygood, calling the program a “win, win, win.” Georgia Power has repaid $450 million in principal and approximately $1.15 billion in interest to the government, he added.
DOE loans have been a political football for years. After Trump’s victory, Republican lawmakers began pushing publicly for changes to how DOE distributes funds.
