Posts Tagged ‘green jobs’
White House email warned of risky Solyndra venture; worried about potential political damage with 2012 coming up
WASHINGTON POST: A White House official fretted privately that the Obama administration could suffer serious political damage if it gave additional taxpayer support to the beleaguered solar-panel company Solyndra, according to newly released e-mails.
The firm had burned through millions of dollars and in January still tottered near collapse. The official wanted the government’s top budget official to warn Obama’s energy secretary about the risk, according to the e-mails.
Failed Solyndra spent $1.9 million lobbying Obama
NEW YORK TIMES: The 1,100 full- and part-time employees who were abruptly laid off two weeks ago aren’t the only ones whose paychecks have been affected by the sudden and dramatic failure of bankrupt solar energy company, Solyndra Inc.
Because for its brief lifespan, Solyndra proved to be pretty good for the lobbying community.
According to records filed with the Clerk of the House and a search of disclosure forms compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, Solyndra spent nearly $1.9 million on lobbying activities over a period of 43 months from 2008 to 2011.
About $1 million of that was earned by the company’s two in-house lobbyists, Joseph Pasetti and Victoria Sanville, over an 18-month period from 2010 until this year. But Solyndra has also had several big-name lobbying shops on its payroll, including established powerhouses Dutko Worldwide and Holland and Knight, which began representing the then-fledgling company in 2008.
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White House scrambles to end $9 BILLION in federal loan guarantees to renewable energy companies
This “green jobs” scheme just isn’t working out as planned. Taxpayers hold the bag.
NATIONAL JOURNAL: The Obama administration is in a race against the clock to close by month’s end more than a dozen renewable-energy loan guarantees totaling $9 billion. Of that, just over $3 billion would come directly from the federal government’s coffers.
The administration now has two weeks to finalize the process amid an escalating political battle over a federally backed solar company spiraling into bankruptcy and facing an FBI probe. President Obama once praised the company, California-based Solyndra, as “the true engine of economic growth.”
At a House hearing Wednesday, there was bipartisan concern about risking more taxpayer dollars on renewable energy projects that ultimately fail. While Republicans’ rhetoric was more heated, Democrats agreed it is a critical issue.
“Taxpayers have over $500 million at risk as a result of Solyndra’s bankruptcy,” said House Energy and Commerce ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif. “We need to understand what happened and how we can avoid future losses.”
In 2009, Solyndra was the first company to receive a federal clean-energy loan guarantee as part of the stimulus package. The Fremont, Calif.-based maker of solar photovoltaic systems then received photo-op visits from Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Energy Secretary Steven Chu, all touting the job-generating potential of solar and other renewable energy industries. But on Aug. 31, Solyndra shuttered operations, laying off its 1,100 workers while seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Under the Recovery Act that Obama signed into law in February 2009, the Energy Department’s loan guarantee office was given roughly $6 billion to help cover the financing of renewable energy companies applying for loans both with the Treasury Department’s Federal Financing Bank and with private lenders, such as banks. Congress has since peeled away about half of that for other purposes and left the department with just $2.4 billion for the renewable loan guarantee program.
That $2.4 billion allocated to the Energy Department pays for each renewable energy project’s “credit subsidy,” a fee worth usually around 10 percent of a loan and which helps defray costs if the loan fails. The Energy Department doesn’t disclose the credit subsidy rate of loans the government guarantees, so it’s unclear how much of that $2.4 billion remains.
Solyndra among five Obama stimulus firms to go bankrupt. Three of the firms were “green jobs” alternative energy firms.
FOX NEWS: Solyndra, the solar panel company whose highly publicized failure and consequent investigation by federal authorities has flashed across headlines recently, isn’t the only business to go belly up after benefiting from a piece of the $800 billion economic stimulus package passed in 2009.
At least four other companies have received stimulus funding only to later file for bankruptcy, and two of those were working on alternative energy.
Evergreen Solar Inc., indirectly received $5.3 million through a state grant to open a $450 million facility in 2007 that employed roughly 800 people. The company, once a rock star in the solar industry, filed for bankruptcy protection last month, saying it couldn’t compete with Chinese rivals without reorganizing. The company intends to focus on building up its manufacturing facility in China.
RAW VIDEO: Watch buffoon Obama praise Solyndra, which the FBI now believes was a criminal enterprise.
QUESTIONS: Is the purpose of the FBI raid to cover up the scandal and bury it? Or will we actually find out what happened to our tax money?
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FBI raids homes of Solyndra Execs . . . Obama sat in on meetings, touted Solyndra (now bankrupt) as model for Obama’s “green jobs” economy
Where did the $535 million in stimulus money go? Who has it?
The FBI wants to know.
ABC NEWS: Federal agents have expanded their examination of the now-bankrupt California solar power company Solyndra, visiting the homes of the company’s CEO and two of its executives, examining computer files and documents, iWatch News and ABC News have learned.
Agents visited the homes of CEO Brian Harrison and company founder Chris Gronet and a former executive, according to a source who agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity because of the legal sensitivity of the situation.
Gronet, reached at his home Friday morning, did not dispute that his home was visited by federal agents a day earlier.
“I’m sorry,” Gronet said, “you probably understand full well that I cannot comment.” The third executive could not be immediately reached.
FLASHBACK: Watch buffoon Obama praise Solyndra:
QUESTIONS: Is the purpose of the FBI raid to cover up the scandal and bury it? Or will we actually find out what happened to our tax money?
