Jeff Bingaman: “I do not believe there was substantial testimony on the issue of loan guarantees. Frankly, this is a proposal we…”

“I do not believe there was substantial testimony on the issue of loan guarantees. Frankly, this is a proposal we included to make the point to the Senate that some type of risk sharing might well be possible if this project was going to be viable, if the construction of a pipeline was going to be viable. As I understand it, the ranking member of the committee is in favor of pursuing a different course. I am certainly working with him jointly to see if there is any other way to reduce the risk involved to the companies, if they decided to go ahead with a pipeline. I can understand there are different points of view about whether or not that would be an appropriate thing to do. We will have an opportunity for a debate on that, I am sure, if the bill finally does contain some kind of financial incentive or support provision like that. If the Senator from Oklahoma is opposed to that loan guarantee, he ought to propose to delete it. That is certainly an option.”