The chief watchdog office for the Department of Energy is expanding its probe of the Biden administration's $400 billion energy loan program ahead of the presidential election, according to a government contracting notice.
According to the notice, which was first reported by Bloomberg Law this week, the inspector general has hired a Houston-based energy law firm for "legal support" in reviewing the DOE's loan decisions.
The news comes a month after Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.) called on the inspector general to investigate conflicts of interest involving DOE Loan Programs Office director Jigar Shah, who oversees the Biden administration's $400 billion energy loan program. The Washington Free Beacon has reported on several companies with prior financial or professional connections to Shah that have been approved for billions of dollars in loans.
Last October, DOE inspector general Teri Donaldson told lawmakers that her office launched a review "looking at conflicts of interest particularly in the Loan Programs Office." Her announcement followed a Free Beacon report that a trade group founded by Shah had been acting as an intermediary for companies seeking loans from his office.
The new government contracting notice reveals that the inspector general's review remains open and active ahead of the November election.
Donaldson's office is bringing in a legal team led by Robert Rabalais, a Houston energy lawyer and former partner with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, to help with "assessing the policies and procedures for loan applicants' due diligence submissions" and "evaluating a selected number of LPO loans and guarantees to assess compliance with, consistency in application of, and the effectiveness of LPO policies and procedures," according to the contracting notice.
Barrasso and Republican lawmakers have raised concerns about several large DOE loans approved by Shah's office.
These concerns include the DOE's $1.6 billion conditional commitment to Plug Power, a financially troubled hydrogen fuel company. Prior to joining the Biden administration, Shah loaned $100 million to Plug Power through Generate Capital, an investment firm that he founded, the Free Beacon reported.
The company repaid that loan to Generate Capital at a 9 percent interest rate last December, while it was in negotiations with Shah's office for the federal funding.
"I respectfully request that you investigate DOE's conditional commitment to Plug Power and specifically examine any potential impropriety on the part of Director Shah and the LPO more broadly," Barrasso wrote in a letter to Donaldson in June.
Before joining the Biden administration, Shah also founded a trade group called Cleantech Leaders Roundtable. That organization has set up numerous events between Shah and companies seeking loans from his office.
In October, the DOE loan office approved a $3 billion loan to Sunnova Energy, a solar company that has been accused of selling multi-decade solar contracts to elderly dementia patients. One of Sunnova's board members, Anne Slaughter Andrew, was also a board member of Cleantech Leaders Roundtable at the time of the loan approval.
The DOE recently announced a conditional $400 million loan to Eos Energy, a battery company whose board includes a longtime friend of Shah's, the Free Beacon reported this month.
One of Biden's presidential initiatives has been rebuilding the DOE Loan Programs Office. The office essentially went dormant after a 2011 scandal involving a $500 million loan to politically connected solar company Solyndra, which went bankrupt shortly after receiving the money. Since becoming president, Biden has steered a reported $400 billion to the office through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other spending packages.
The Loan Programs Office is expected to ramp up its loan announcements ahead of the election.