President Obama gives a speech at the then-new Solyndra manufacturing facility in Fremont, Calif., last year.
A congressional investigative committee interrogated government officials Wednesday about why they supported giving a $535 million loan package to the recently failed California solar panel manufacturer Solyndra.
Republicans on the committee said they wanted to know why the Department of Energy and the Office of Management and Budget approved the loans in 2009, and further, why they then restructured the loans in February despite mounting evidence that the company was not financially sound.
The answer, officials said, was that investing in new technology is a high-risk business, but in the case of alternative energy, a risk worth taking. —BF
Los Angeles Times:
Solyndra, which was hailed by President Obama in 2010 as an innovative company that would use stimulus money to create jobs and lead the economic recovery, laid off most of its 1,100 workers Aug. 31 and announced it would cease operations. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sept. 6.
Two days later, agents with the FBI and Energy Department’s inspector general served a search warrant at Solyndra’s Fremont headquarters. The company’s failure and the criminal investigation have raised questions about the administration’s decision to pour billions of dollars into clean-energy programs.
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), the subcommittee’s chairman, pressed Energy Department loans director Jonathan Silver on Wednesday to explain how the agency could approve more than half a billion dollars in loans despite questions about the company’s financial health.
He also cited internal emails that he said show White House officials appeared to be pressuring Energy Department and the Office of Management and Budget to speed up approval of the Solyndra loans.
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Joe Stephens, the Washington Post reporter who broke the story, gave a great interview on Democracy Now this morning about the federal loan and the remaining uncertainties in the relationship between the White House and Solyndra: http://www.democracynow.org/
By Jim Yell, September 15, 2011 at 6:18 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I was listening briefly to news where Republican was talking about the outrage of Obama spending money on a failed green industry and all I could do was flinch.
A Repbulican concerned about wasted tax money? A Republican whose party aided and abetted President Bush in violating competitive bidding, which resulted not just in whole saile theft of tax money, but even death of US soldiers, and they are worried about a small amount of money wasted by Obama?
Let us be honest. The Republicans have no right to call Obama out, in view of their constant irresponsbile handling of power when they have it. We need a reorganization of politics and the dismantaling of the party system as it now exists in this country. They have lost any reason for the public to trust or relie on their opinions about anything.
By Nicholas, September 14, 2011 at 9:13 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Am I the only person who sees a bit of propaganda in this story? Since, as they said, it is ‘a risk worth taking,’ why should we deface the entire approach toward sustainability over one single crime? That seems to me to be the goal of this scheme which is determined to destroy the future which my children have already been condemned to.
Greenland’s Great Melt Is Pinned On Climate Change
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By logkAW, September 16, 2011 at 8:16 am Link to this comment
Joe Stephens, the Washington Post reporter who broke the story, gave a great interview on Democracy Now this morning about the federal loan and the remaining uncertainties in the relationship between the White House and Solyndra: http://www.democracynow.org/
Report thisBy Jim Yell, September 15, 2011 at 6:18 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I was listening briefly to news where Republican was talking about the outrage of Obama spending money on a failed green industry and all I could do was flinch.
A Repbulican concerned about wasted tax money? A Republican whose party aided and abetted President Bush in violating competitive bidding, which resulted not just in whole saile theft of tax money, but even death of US soldiers, and they are worried about a small amount of money wasted by Obama?
Let us be honest. The Republicans have no right to call Obama out, in view of their constant irresponsbile handling of power when they have it. We need a reorganization of politics and the dismantaling of the party system as it now exists in this country. They have lost any reason for the public to trust or relie on their opinions about anything.
Report thisBy Nicholas, September 14, 2011 at 9:13 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Am I the only person who sees a bit of propaganda in this story? Since, as they said, it is ‘a risk worth taking,’ why should we deface the entire approach toward sustainability over one single crime? That seems to me to be the goal of this scheme which is determined to destroy the future which my children have already been condemned to.
Report this