Two US Republican Senators, Dan Coats and Pat Toomey, have sent a letter to the US Department of Energy (DOE) questioning the $730 loan they offered Severstal North America earlier this year for its production of advanced high strength steel's (AHSS) for the automotive industry. President Obama has issued new fuel economy guidelines earlier this year that will require cars to be more lightweight, and thus will need lighter steel.
The two Senators have joined California Representative Darrell Issa in questioning the decision-making process that led the DOE to approve the loan. Issa insisted that the steelmaker had ample funds for its AHSS upgrades, while Toomey and Coats claim that there is already "substantial excess capacity today" of the AHSS and HDG AHSS, and want clarification as to why a $730 million federal loan was warranted in the first place.