Energy Department offers $1.6 billion loan guarantee to upgrade lines

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Energy said Thursday it has finalized a $1.6 billion loan guarantee to a subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest power companies to upgrade nearly 5,000 miles of transmission lines across five states, mostly in the Midwest, for largely fossil fuel-run energy.

AEP Transmission will upgrade power lines in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma and West Virginia, prima…