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  • Department of Energy

    Morning Bell: White House Wants to Keep Gas Prices High

    With the national average of gas prices hitting $3.65 a gallon, nearing $6 in some parts of the country, and poised to head even higher, America’s families are wondering when the bleeding at the pump will stop. But for Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu, those steep prices aren’t even a … More

    Money Loser + $100 Million Subsidy = Money Maker?

    When is a solar energy company a loan flipper instead of a solar energy company? How about when the value of its loan subsidies vastly exceeds the value of its solar project? A case in point is First Solar’s sale of its Antelope Valley Solar Ranch 1 (AVSR1) to Exelon. … More

    Loan Guarantee Report Neglects Central Question: Why Loan Guarantees?

    The White House released its much-awaited Report of the Independent Consultant’s Review with Respect to the Department of Energy’s Loan and Loan Guarantee Portfolio. Unfortunately, the report’s conclusions were doomed from the beginning, because it fails to ask an important, fundamental question: Why do we have the loan guarantee program … More

    Serious Problems Exist with Government’s Energy Research Program

    The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is a program designed to fund high-risk, high-reward projects that the private sector would not embark upon on its own. ARPA-E has as its mission reducing energy imports, increasing energy efficiency, and reducing energy-related emissions, including greenhouse gases. The program … More

    Obama’s Green Jobs Program “Infused with Politics at Every Level”

    In a damning report, The Washington Post details its investigation of President Barack Obama’s much-hyped green jobs program. Its findings? Politics, not policy, underpinned the White House’s calculations. From The Post report: Meant to create jobs and cut reliance on foreign oil, Obama’s green-technology program was infused with politics at every … More

    In Pictures: Energy Department’s Renewable Energy ‘Investments’

    The Washington Post put together a handy infographic examining the distribution of $36 billion in Energy Department financing for renewable energy companies. Solar power generation companies were the largest beneficiaries of DOE’s “investments,” with twelve companies having received a third of the financing under the program.

    A $230,000 Taxpayer-Funded ‘Green Jobs’ Website, but No Jobs Listed

    How’s this for a waste of taxpayer money? According to Energy& Environment News, the Department of Energy is paying $230,000 for a website to promote career paths in the green energy sector–and it has, ironically, prohibited the listing of actual jobs in the industry. Here’s the report: The Department of Energy … More

    Kennedy Jr. Gets Taxpayer Cash for “Green” Company

    Americans have heard all about how the Obama Administration gave a $535 million loan guarantee to the now-bankrupt solar company Solyndra, but details are emerging about others who have won a windfall on the taxpayers’ dime. The latest example? President John F. Kennedy’s nephew, Robert Kennedy, Jr., who secured a $1.4 … More

    White House Subpoenaed, Stimulus Loans Under Investigation

    Two new chapters in the Solyndra scandal were written today, one involving a potential bailout of the company and the latest regarding Congress’s move to subpoena the White House for related communications. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General is “is investigating more than 100 potential instances of … More

    Morning Bell: Uncle Sam Is No Venture Capitalist

    It’s yet another inauspicious announcement the Obama Administration didn’t want you to hear. Late on Friday, the White House announced that it ordered an independent review of loans made by the Department of Energy to energy companies after months of weathering criticism for its $528 million loan to the now-bankrupt … More