Green Energy
Solyndra officials kept obsessive watch over their press coverage while still sending glowing progress reports to the Obama administration — even as the solar manufacturer edged closer to going belly-up. The media-massaging — revealed in emails released Wednesday — was especially frenzied before and after President Barack Obama’s May 23, 2010, trip to Solyndra’s California headquarters as the company sought to tamp down questions about its troubled finances, the U.S. solar industry's ability to compete with China, and unionized workers who had to take a day off without pay during the visit.
Solyndra spokesman David Miller also did his share of glad-handing with the White House aides handling Obama's trip.
"If you tire of the White House life and ever decide you want to move out with your best friends in [California] let me know,” Miller emailed to White House special assistant Johanna Maska the day after the visit. He added that “we could find you a great corporate gig very quickly."
Maska, promoted this April to director of White House press advance, didn't take Miller up on the offer.
Gunwalker: Issa Says Fast & Furious Goes All The Way To The White House; 3 More Murders Linked To Gunwalker Weapons
According to officials familiar with the situation, [Gen. William] Shelton’s prepared testimony was leaked in advance to the company. And the White House asked the general to alter the testimony to add two points: that the general supported the White House policy to add more broadband for commercial use; and that the Pentagon would try to resolve the questions around LightSquared with testing in just 90 days. Shelton chafed at the intervention, which seemed to soften the Pentagon’s position and might be viewed as helping the company as it tries to get the project launched, the officials said.
“There was an attempt to influence the text of the testimony and to engage LightSquared in the process in order to bias his testimony,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) said in an interview. “The only people who were involved in the process in preparation for the hearing included the Department of Defense, the White House, and the Office Management and Budget.”
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US Gov't approves 4 more solar energy loan guarantees worth nearly $5B on Friday From Will at The Other News: The U.S. Energy Department approved four more solar energy loan guarantees worth nearly $5 billion on Friday just hours before a controversial...
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Crony Socialism: Obama Gives $737 Million to Solar Firm Linked to the Pelosi Clan From Will at The Other News:It’s as if Solyndra never happened. The Obama Administration is giving $737 million to a Tonopah Solar, a subsidiary of California-based SolarReserve....
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HOUSE TO PROBE OBAMA ACTIONS ON SOLYNDRA, LIGHTSQUARED Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Tuesday that his committee plans to investigate government loan programs to private corporations in light of allegations of improper dealings between the White House...
- The Bankruptcy Of Obama's "green Economy"
From Will at The Other News: Congressional Investigator: More Solar Bankruptcies to Come.(Heritage).A top congressional investigator said on Tuesday that he believes more companies that benefitted from the stimulus bill’s renewable energy loan guarantee...
- Your Stimulus Dollars At Work: $535 Million Given To Solar Power Panel Manufacturer In Fremont, Ca - Company Goes Bust
A $787 Billion Stimulus, and we have nothing to show for it. I expect that more and more stories like this one will be forthcoming in the next year. This could very well be the kind of story that will sink Obama: Solyndra, Inc. was supposed to have showcased...
Green Energy
Wow! Obama is Up Shit Creek
In 2009, Solyndra CEO Said Obama and Steven Chu Were Personally "Instrumental" In Securing Half-Billion In Loans
From Solyndra's own website, which I hereby report to AttackWatch for spreading lies.SOLYNDRA OFFERED $535 MILLION LOAN GUARANTEE BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Fremont, CA, March 20, 2009 – Solyndra, Inc. announced today that it is the first company to receive an offer for a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Solyndra, a Fremont, California-based manufacturer of innovative cylindrical photovoltaic systems, will use the proceeds of a $535 million loan from the U.S. Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank to expand its solar panel manufacturing capacity in California.Now, Politico reports the lede, but they do not highlight it. Let me do that for you.
“The leadership and actions of President Barack Obama, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and the U.S. Congress were instrumental in concluding this offer for a loan guarantee,” said Solyndra CEO and founder, Dr. Chris Gronet. “The DOE Loan Guarantee Program funding will enable Solyndra to achieve the economies of scale needed to deliver solar electricity at prices that are competitive with utility rates. This expansion is really about creating new jobs while meaningfully impacting global warming.”
Solyndra officials kept obsessive watch over their press coverage while still sending glowing progress reports to the Obama administration — even as the solar manufacturer edged closer to going belly-up. The media-massaging — revealed in emails released Wednesday — was especially frenzied before and after President Barack Obama’s May 23, 2010, trip to Solyndra’s California headquarters as the company sought to tamp down questions about its troubled finances, the U.S. solar industry's ability to compete with China, and unionized workers who had to take a day off without pay during the visit.
Solyndra spokesman David Miller also did his share of glad-handing with the White House aides handling Obama's trip.
"If you tire of the White House life and ever decide you want to move out with your best friends in [California] let me know,” Miller emailed to White House special assistant Johanna Maska the day after the visit. He added that “we could find you a great corporate gig very quickly."
Maska, promoted this April to director of White House press advance, didn't take Miller up on the offer.
Solyndra Employee: "Everyone Knew The Plant Wouldn't Work"
An ex-Solyndra employee calls in to the Mark Levin radio program: "While we were out there, while we were building it – cause it is a half a billion dollar plant – everyone already knew that China had developed a more inexpensive way to manufacture these solar panels. Everyone knew that the plant wouldn’t work. But they still did it. They still built it."Gunwalker: Issa Says Fast & Furious Goes All The Way To The White House; 3 More Murders Linked To Gunwalker Weapons
Obama's Green Jobs Program a Boondoggle As a General Matter, Says... The Washington Post
They don't say boondoggle. But the numbers the report do say it.
A $38.6 billion loan guarantee program that the Obama administration promised would create or save 65,000 jobs has created just a few thousand jobs two years after it began, government records show. The program — designed to jump-start the nation’s clean technology industry by giving energy companies access to low-cost, government-backed loans — has directly created 3,545 new, permanent jobs after giving out almost half the allocated amount, according to Energy Department tallies.This is more than a half million dollars per job. Actually, it's more than that, because the WaPo calls these jobs "permanent." I think they are what is more accurately called "Solyndra permanent."
Report: Obama Administration Asked Air Force General To Alter Congressional Testimony To Help Firm Owned By Democratic Donor
Now the Pentagon has been raising concerns about a new wireless project by a satellite broadband company in Virginia called LightSquared, whose majority owner is an investment fund run by Democratic donor Philip Falcone. Gen. Shelton was originally scheduled to testify Aug. 3 to a House committee that the project would interfere with the military’s sensitive Global Positioning Satellite capabilities, which control automated driving directions and missile targeting, among other things.According to officials familiar with the situation, [Gen. William] Shelton’s prepared testimony was leaked in advance to the company. And the White House asked the general to alter the testimony to add two points: that the general supported the White House policy to add more broadband for commercial use; and that the Pentagon would try to resolve the questions around LightSquared with testing in just 90 days. Shelton chafed at the intervention, which seemed to soften the Pentagon’s position and might be viewed as helping the company as it tries to get the project launched, the officials said.
“There was an attempt to influence the text of the testimony and to engage LightSquared in the process in order to bias his testimony,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) said in an interview. “The only people who were involved in the process in preparation for the hearing included the Department of Defense, the White House, and the Office Management and Budget.”
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US Gov't approves 4 more solar energy loan guarantees worth nearly $5B on Friday From Will at The Other News: The U.S. Energy Department approved four more solar energy loan guarantees worth nearly $5 billion on Friday just hours before a controversial...
-
Crony Socialism: Obama Gives $737 Million to Solar Firm Linked to the Pelosi Clan From Will at The Other News:It’s as if Solyndra never happened. The Obama Administration is giving $737 million to a Tonopah Solar, a subsidiary of California-based SolarReserve....
-
HOUSE TO PROBE OBAMA ACTIONS ON SOLYNDRA, LIGHTSQUARED Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Tuesday that his committee plans to investigate government loan programs to private corporations in light of allegations of improper dealings between the White House...
- The Bankruptcy Of Obama's "green Economy"
From Will at The Other News: Congressional Investigator: More Solar Bankruptcies to Come.(Heritage).A top congressional investigator said on Tuesday that he believes more companies that benefitted from the stimulus bill’s renewable energy loan guarantee...
- Your Stimulus Dollars At Work: $535 Million Given To Solar Power Panel Manufacturer In Fremont, Ca - Company Goes Bust
A $787 Billion Stimulus, and we have nothing to show for it. I expect that more and more stories like this one will be forthcoming in the next year. This could very well be the kind of story that will sink Obama: Solyndra, Inc. was supposed to have showcased...