SAN FRANCISCO — Wells Fargo HSBC Trade Bank has loaned a total of $28 million to two U.S. companies that are producing environmental benefits in Panama and India.

Wells Fargo provided $25 million to The Robbins Co., a Solon, Ohio-based manufacturer of underground-construction machinery that will help build an irrigation tunnel beneath a wildlife refuge in India.

The underground tunnel will be built in lieu of a pipeline through the Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and will provide water to more than 500 villages in a drought-stricken region. The loan was backed by Ex-Im Bank, which awarded Robbins its 2007 Small Business Environmental Exporter of the Year award.

Wells Fargo loaned the other $3 million to Gunderboom Inc., an Anchorage, Alaska-based aquatic-engineering firm, to recover hardwoods from forests that were flooded to build the Panama Canal.

The underwater recovery project will produce approximately 400 million board feet of lumber while protecting the aquatic ecosystem.

"Wells Fargo HSBC Trade Bank is proud to support the export of goods and services that protect our environment," said Sanjiv Sanghvi, president and chief executive officer of the Wells Fargo HSBC Trade Bank. "We believe this is an area of great opportunity for U.S.-based companies."

Wells Fargo HSBC Trade Bank is a partnership between San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. and London-based HSBC Holdings Plc, one of the largest banking groups in the world. The two banks operate more than 10,000 offices in over 80 countries and territories.