Tag Archives: Obama

Solyndra Fails, Does DOE Loan Guarantee Program as Well?

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Solyndra LLC, a recipient of U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantees filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware on September 6, 2011. The filing followed the firm’s suspension of operations and the lay off of 11,000 employees reports Tom Hals of Reuters. The report also states that, “The company has secured debts of $783.8 million, according to court documents.” In addition to the $535 million in federal loan guarantees, Reuters reports that, “Solyndra raised more than $700 million by selling preferred shares to venture capitalists, including Argonaut Ventures LLC of San Francisco, which owns about 39 percent of the company. Argonaut is also among the company’s first-lien lenders, meaning it will be the first to be repaid, ahead of the U.S. government.”

Conservative Outrage

News of the Solyndra bankruptcy quickly sparked ire in conservative circles. David Roberts of Grist writes that, “For a mix of financial and ideological reasons, U.S. conservative movement activists, operators, and politicos hate clean energy.” He further claims that, “What Solyndra gives them is a symbol, something to use as a stand-in to discredit not just the DOE loan program, but all government support for clean energy and indeed clean energy itself.”

A prime example of the conservative response is Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan’s Sunday afternoon tweet on the subject, “#Solyndra = Exhibit A in case against President’s failed econ policies. Crony capitalism at its worst.” Ryan’s comment was retweeted over 100 times. Candi posting as @louielouieee has this to contribute to the conversation, “Why is the @barackobama administration flipping the bird at taxpayers? #Solyndra #Acorn #Unions.” Along the same vein, @ConservativeLA opines that, “Martha Stewart went to prison, so why should the Obama Administration get a pass: tinyurl.com/4xafw3r #Solyndra #tcot.”

Slow Response From The Left

The left side of the twitterverse has been thus far relatively quiet on the issue. Kevin Drum of Mother Jones credits this lack of clear voice on the lack of “a clear attack line.” He notes that, “Liberals didn’t have the same luxury. At the time this story broke, none of us knew enough about Solyndra to really have any idea if the company itself was defensible, so a bit of hesitancy was inevitable.” Sunday afternoon, @EcoJive reminded followers that, “Bush admin pushed #Solyndra loan guarantee for two years http://ow.ly/6xBgj #solar #energy #eco #green #power #ff @EcoJive” Writing from Vancouver, @UrquhartMP writes, So out of 40 loans 1 fails and that’s a scandal? Sounds like success to me. #Solyndra”

Company Background

According to the company website,before shuttering operations, Solyndra developed and manufactured, “proprietary cylindrical modules incorporating copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film technology. Our panels employ cylindrical modules which capture sunlight across a 360-degree photovoltaic surface capable of converting direct, diffuse and reflected sunlight into electricity. In the industry sometimes panels are referred to as modules; at Solyndra, each panel is made up of individual modules.” The company’s product was well received. In March of 2010 The Wall Street Journal named it a top clean-tech company noting that it had “the capital, executive experience and investor know-how to succeed in an increasingly crowded field.”

Silicon Prices

While the right alleges all manner of sinister motives on the part of the Obama administration, Think Progress makes some connections between falling silicon prices and the eventual downfall of Solyndra.  The events leading up to the bankruptcy filings are displayed on this timeline.


(Source:Center for American Progress)

NBC’s Chris Hayes features the Solyndra ‘scandal’ on the premiere of his new show.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
(Source: MSNBC)

Massachusetts Democratic Representative Ed Markey talks about the affair during a hearing before the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

(Source: House Energy and Commerce Committee)

To further understand the rationale behind the federal loan guarantee program and how it works Richard Caperton of the Center for American Progress answers some questions.

 
(source: Center for American Progress Action Fund)

Twitter feeds used to prepare this article can be found on my Solyndra List.

President Obama Delays Clean Air Standards Until After 2013

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On Friday, September 30, 2011 President Obama withdrew the draft of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards for further scientific review. The Clean Air Act (amended 1990) requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (40 CFR part 50) for pollutants considered harmful to public health and the environment).” The decision by the White House was lauded on economic grounds and condemned on environmental and public health grounds.

Tighter Standards Bad for Business and Jobs

The Washington Times reports that the new standards “would have cost the U.S. businesses anywhere from $19 billion to $90 billion per year to comply with, a figure mentioned by the president earlier this week in a letter to Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.” In the same article House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said “it would have cost 7.3 million jobs by 2020.” A White House blog on Energy and Environment quotes Democratic Los Angles mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa as saying, “In our current economic climate, we must do everything we can to stimulate the economy short of taking a step back in the unprecedented environmental gains this administration has already made. This is the sort of balanced approach we need to create jobs and also improve the quality of air, health and life for countless Americans.”

Fox News John Stossel talking with Neil Cavuto about air quality. Source: Fox News as excerpted by Media Matters for America

Tighter Standards Net Health Gains Without Harming Economic Growth

The Center for American Progress(CAP) reacts with disappointment to the White House announcement saying in part, “Today’s announcement from the White House that they will retreat from implementing the much needed—and long-overdue—ozone pollution standard is deeply disappointing and grants an item on Big Oil’s wish list at the expense of the health of children, seniors and the infirm.” It goes on to say that the proposed standard would, “save 4,300 lives and prevent 7,000 hospital visits and tens of thousands of cases of asthma and other serious respiratory illnesses each year.”

In terms of economic impact CAP analysis indicates that negative economic impact from the 1997 standards update was negligible. Daniel J. Weiss, Arpita Bhattacharyya, and Raj Salhotra writing for Think Progress echo this view. They write, “Our analysis determined that contrary to industries’ predictions, the areas with smog levels exceeding the health standards for the first time experienced very similar economic growth to the nation as a whole. Employment rates were very similar to the national rate.”

Electric industry leaders(Peter Darbee, chairman,president and CEO,PG&E Corp.; Jack Fusco, president and CEO, Calpine Corp.; Lewis Hay, chairman and CEO, NextEra Energy, Inc.; Ralph Izzo, chairman, president and CEO, Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc.; Thomas King, president, National Grid USA,; John Rowe, chairman and CEO, Exelon Corp.; Mayo Shattuck, chairman, president and CEO, Constellation Energy Group; Larry Weis, general manager, Austin Energy) in a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal state that “Contrary to the claims that the EPA’s agenda will have negative economic consequences, our companies’ experience complying with air quality regulations demonstrates that regulations can yield important economic benefits, including job creation, while maintaining reliability.”

1997 ozone standards had little effect on national employment. Source: thinkprogress.org, Data: Bureasu of Labor Statistics

Mixed Message

In a Labor Day message recorded by EPA Administrator, Lisa P. Jackson highlights the health and economic benefits of environmental regulation. In her message Jackson talks about employment opportunities across industries afforded by these regulations.


US EPA Adminstator’s Labor Day Message. Source: U.S. EPA