at brightsource we are proud of our company and the project.e opportunity to address the subcommittee and welcome any questions you may have. >> thank you. i thank the gentlemen. i thank all of you for your testimony. mr. woolard, do you agree with mr. kats and mr. kucinich that the 1705 program is working and has worked well? yes or no. >> i believe that the project works very well for project financings where you have a large utility -- >> and do you think it worked well in your particular case? i think on page 5 of your testimony, and i'm quoting, the doe's process was extremely thorough and marked by thoughtful analysis, so you thought it worked well in your situation -- how much money did you get? >> i fully agree with that statement. we got $1.6 billion. >> thorough and thoughtful analysis is your statement here. and is -- do you believe think of the, do you believe you were receiving the loan guarantee, there was political influence involved in that decision, or was it based completely on the merits of the project and your particular com

>> the brightsource and other loan guaranty recipients were critical. pg&e could not meet the rps standard. >> what would happen in the dough continue to drag out the due diligence? >> pge and e was significant risk with the regulators because they wouldn't -- >> would they have had sanctions from the state if they didn't meet renewable energy standards. >> i believe so. >> brightsource was awarded conditional commitment in february 2010 and loan guaranty more than a year later in april 2011, correct? >> correct. >> after all that doe due diligence do you believe your doe loan was awarded on its merits or because of a conversation pg&e's ceo had with the president? >> i believe it was all done on its merits. it was very thorough process. it started back in 2006 actually. >> mr. ahern, the majority recent report refers to first solar's loan guaranty a scheme first characterized by failure to prove innovativeness. in march 2011, arizona governor brewer praised first solar projects stating presence in arizona has been a great effort in driving our renewabl

s evaluation of brightsource's loan guarantee application? >> brightsource and other loan guarantee recipients were critical to gene could not meet the standard. >> what happened if the d.o.e. continue to drag it out, try got the due diligence? >> pg&e was at significant risk with the regulars because they wouldn't have been able -- >> would they have faced sanctions from the state if they didn't meet the renewable energy standards of? >> i believe so. >> ultimately brightsource, one of the commitments in figure 2010, and a loan guarantee more than a year later april 2011, correct? >> correct. >> after all that d.o.e. due diligence do you believe your d.o.e. loan was awarded on its merits, or because of a conversation, pg&e wco had with the president? >> i believe it was all done on its merits, a very thorough process and a server backend 2006 action. >> mr. ahearn, -- in march 2011, however, arizona governor brewer praise first solar's project stating the company's quote present in there so has been a great engine and driving out when nobody

john woolard is the president and ceo of brightsource energy. if he would stand and raise your right hand. get this done here. do you swear the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? if so, answer affirmative. let the record show that all witnesses and to the in the affirmative. thank you all for being here. you guys understand the rules. you have five minutes. we will be a little lenient but close to five as you can read we do want to get the questions and the goal is to try to get out of here by noon if we can. i have something i have to be two at 12:00. so we will go right down the line. we will go right down the line. we will start with mr. nelson. he will get your five minutes. you are recognized. >> thank you. green energy policy includes two parts -- support for basic resource but developing new green and technologies and making loan guarantees to promote the adoption of grain energy technologies. supporting research is an important role of government but the loan guarantee program is

this is from natalie schafer from brightsource, and it says the team is at the white house, the vice president's office at 10:00 tomorrow. so why at the white house and one at the vp meeting if it's not politically influenced? why not just deal we? >> i believe -- why not just deal with the. march 8, 2011? >> so we had, whenever a correspondent on who we talked to the members of senate about policy. we talked to carol browner sometimes in the administration in the white house about broader policy issues spent so you can see why, israel e-mail so it comes up, okay, there's no political influence been shown, we're not trying to go that way but we are going to go to the wise enemy with the vice president, but this is really just a briefing, just to keep them abreast of what's going on? >> we met with lindsey graham and others as well. >> i understand the. i people come to my office every day, too. i know this is like having a root canal without novocaine, i understand it but it comes down to this is taxpayer money. and because of what mr. lemole -- mr. mulvaney said. i get told in the s

that's solyndra and brightsource.cans need to be consistent and say we're not going to send ex-im loans to even bigger companies who are even more profitable. if it is wrong for the government to choose winners and send your money to corporations, we should say it's wrong and we should vote against this. anybody remember the president threatening to increase taxes on corporate jets? ex-im bank going to increase the loans for corporate jets tenfold. my amendment will stop the charade. my amendment will stop sending taxpayer dollars overseas to countries who we already are borrowing money from. it makes no sense -- the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: mr. president, this amendment is simply another attempt to gut the export-import financing that u.s. manufacturers use to increase sales of their product around the globe. the amendment would prohibit u.s. exporters from using the financing to any country that owns

to solyndra, brightsource and others. republicans have been correct in criticizing the president for trying to pick the winners and losers in the energy production. yet now a majority of the republicans are poised to vote for their own set of taxpayer-subsidized loans through the export-import bank. in fact, they want to increase the export-import loansly nearly 50% and pick the winners and losers thousand in the export business -- now in the export business. the horse traders may disdain consistency, but the american people value principled and consistent opposition to deficit financing. the american people know hypocrisy when they see it. the american people know corporate welfare when they see it. the export-import bank in fact provided an $^18 million to a steel mill in china. our steel industry has been in decline for decades, and i would loan $18 million to our competitors? who in their right mind would subsidize our chinese competitors with loans? it makes no sense. do you think of anything more insulting than loan