Watchdog group wants DOE probe for possible public records violation

A nonprofit watchdog group is calling for an investigation of Energy Department (DOE) emails that might have been used to shield evidence of a faltering loan program from the public.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) wants to know whether DOE directives to use personal email accounts to discuss official business violated public records laws. Personal email accounts are considered outside the purview of the Federal Records Act, a law that can be used to obtain government correspondence for investigations and other matters.

The DOE program in question awarded now-bankrupt solar-panel maker Solyndra a $535 million federal loan guarantee.

“Complying with the Federal Records Act is not optional,” CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said Tuesday in a statement. “In light of all the questions about DOE’s loan program, it is important to know those responsible for doling out large taxpayer-funded loans have nothing to hide. These latest revelations about DOE increase public skepticism about a program already mired in controversy.”

The push follows a Washington Post story earlier this month that showed Jonathan Silver, the former head of the energy stimulus loan program, advised staffers not to use personal email addresses for office business because they could get subpoenaed. Days later, Solyndra went bankrupt.

Silver said in a July House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending hearing that he sometimes used a personal email account for long messages that his BlackBerry had trouble processing.

Silver said in a statement earlier this month he "intended to advise my DOE colleagues to use their official email for official purposes and personal email for personal purposes. It was never my intention to avoid the requirements of the Federal Records Act."

DOE Spokesman Damien LaVera told The Hill on Tuesday that, "In the rare cases where the Department has found that some employees may have used their personal email accounts to discuss official business, the Department has voluntarily provided them when requested by congressional investigators."

— This post was updated at 3:55 p.m.