Solyndra: Officials Questioned Over Failed Solar Firm
The Fremont-based company closed down on Aug. 31.
By Nika Megino, Patch Staff
Sep 15, 2011 3:06 pm PT
Bay City News Service - The head of a congressional subcommittee alleged Wednesday that the Obama administration rushed a decision on a $535 million loan guarantee to Fremont-based solar panel maker because they wanted to announce it at a groundbreaking ceremony two years ago.
At a hearing in Washington, D.C., Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on oversight and investigations, said, "Solyndra was the first loan guarantee issued by the Obama administration using stimulus dollars and administration officials held out the glowing example of how stimulus dollars were creating jobs."
But, Stearns said, "Now 1,100 Solyndra workers are out of work, the firm is bankrupt and raided by the FBI and taxpayers are likely out of $535 million."
Solyndra announced on Aug. 31 that it is.
The but has not disclosed the reason for its action.
President Obama visited Solyndra on May 26, 2010, and said the company and its workers are "a testament to American ingenuity and dynamism."
Stearns said emails obtained by his subcommittee show that White House officials pressured budget officials to make a decision on Solyndra's loan guarantee because they were anxious to have Vice President Joe Biden announce the guarantee at a groundbreaking ceremony at the company on Sept. 4, 2009.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger attended the event and Biden participated via satellite from Washington, D.C.
Biden told the people who attended the groundbreaking, "By investing in the infrastructure and technology of the future, we are not only creating jobs today, but laying the foundation for long-term growth in the 21st century."
According to Stearns, a senior Office of Management and Budget official said in an email to Biden's office on Aug. 31, 2009, shortly before the ceremony, "We have ended up with a situation of having to do rushed approvals on a couple of occasions (and are worried about Solyndra at the end
of the week.)"
The budget official said, "We would prefer to have sufficient time to do our due diligence reviews and have the approval set the date for the announcement rather than the other way around."
But White House spokesman Jay Carney attributed the rush to scheduling decisions.
At a briefing with reporters Wednesday, Carney said, "What the emails made clear is that there was an urgency to make a decision about a scheduling matter."
Carney said, "It is a big proposition to move the president or to put on an event and that sort of thing. So people were simply looking for answers about whether or not we could move forward with that."
He said, "It had nothing to do with -- and there is no evidence to the contrary -- nothing to do with anything besides the need to get an answer to make a scheduling decision."
Carney said, "I would simply say that on the broader question here, the program through which those loan guarantees passed was created not by this administration, but by the previous Republican administration."
He said, "Even that administration understood the absolute need for America to compete in these cutting-edge technological industries."
But Stearns said that in January 2009, shortly before President Obama was inaugurated, a Department of Energy committee under former President Bush unanimously voted against offering a conditional commitment to Solyndra.
Brian Harrison, Solyndra's president and chief executive officer, and W.G. "Bill" Stover Jr., its senior vice president and chief financial officer, are expected to appear before the subcommittee next week. |
