Part one of a three-part series. Scribe has obtained a copy of a Securities and Exchange Commission subpoena sent to Donald Karner, former CEO of Ecotality North America (formerly called eTec), the subsidiary of a company that recieved roughly $115 million in stimulus grants to manufacture charging stations for electric …
Congress is asking questions about a stimulus-backed electric vehicle company that received millions in taxpayer dollars even after the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into the company for insider trading. Ecotality, which manufactures charging stations for electric vehicles, was hit with an SEC subpoena in October 2010, a …
After months of financial turmoil, an Energy Department-backed lithium ion battery company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company, Ener1, received a $118 million grant from DOE in 2010 as part of the president’s stimulus package. The money, which went to Ener1 subsidiary EnerDel, aimed to promote renewable …
The White House’s Friday evening Solyndra document dump revealed a pair of interesting facts that should not be lost in the news cycle’s three-day-weekend lull. Neither is a smoking gun, but both will likely fuel the fire of an investigation the administration would rather see die out. According to internal …
A Senate appropriations panel will consider a measure that would prevent the Department of Energy from subordinating taxpayers to private investors in the repayment of federally guaranteed loans. The measure is the first legislative proposal created in response to the Solyndra scandal. Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) …
Taxpayers will likely shell out another $14.3 million in federal aid to the 1,100 people formerly employed by defunct solar company Solyndra. The Labor Department announced Monday that it had approved Trade Adjustment Assistance payments for those former employees, which may pay out about $13,000 for each. TAA is designed …
Government-backed solar companies have taken a beating over the last few months, with Solyndra garnering most of the attention. But since the solar company’s bankruptcy in late August, another sector of the “green economy” has moved to the edge of a financial cliff: the renewable electricity grid. Like Solyndra, a …
The Energy Department’s Inspector General has recommended that the loan guarantee program that financed Solyndra be placed on a department “watch list.” The IG’s report raises concerns over the “exposure to risk” created by the program, but stops short of recommending its repeal. Solyndra secured a $535 million loan guarantee …
Scribe has reported extensively on the tendency of large government spending projects to reward the politically connected. It’s a virtual constant of federal interventions in the market, and perhaps nowhere is it more evident than in the Obama administration’s “green jobs” push. Writing on National Review Online today, I detail …
In its push to get electric vehicles on the road, the Obama administration has partnered with a company in dire financial straits that is also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading. San Francisco-based green technology company ECOtality received roughly $115 million in two separate Energy …
