Energy Department | featured news

Ten Energy Department workers were subpoenaed for their private e-mails late last week as part of a congressional probe of a controversial Obama administration clean energy loan program, and five were served at their offices by a federal marshal.

The Energy Department was in such a rush three years ago to issue a loan to solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC that it gave the Treasury Department only a day to review the deal, according to a government report released Wednesday.

The official inquired frequently about the progress of the loan even after he had disclosed that his wife’s law firm represented the company and promised to recuse himself.

Jonathan Silver, the executive director of the Energy Department's Loan Programs Office, stepped down from that position amid scrutiny from congressional Republicans over loans granted to the now-bankrupt energy firm Solyndra. Energy Secretary Steve Chu told the Post that the departure had been planned.

The Energy Department plans to give $156 million in grants on Thursday after it has been under scrutiny for arranging $528 million in loans to Solyndra, a company that went bankrupt.

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in California drops 4 cents to $3.90. Nationally, the average declines 6.1 cents to $3.652, up 91 cents from a year earlier. Pump prices fell again during the last week in California and nationwide, the Energy Department said Monday, but an analyst warned that the decline may level out substantially above last summer's averages.