At a Friday visit to the Golden, Colorado, campus of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar characterized the bankruptcies and delays that have plagued the solar manufacturing sector as “just minor (and expected) blips for the industry.” Salazar told Denver’s alt-weekly Westword, “Any time you’re dealing with an …
Another stimulus-backed green energy company has filed for bankruptcy, further fueling criticism of Energy Department programs that backed highly-risky investments on the taxpayer dime. Like Solyndra and a number of other green energy investments made under this administration, Abound Solar had a very poor credit rating, but enjoyed a wealth …
Nuclear power plants produce almost 80 percent of the emission-free energy in the nation, and cooling towers—though often misunderstood—are an essential part of what makes that possible. Despite their being perfectly safe and far removed from anything radioactive, for many people cooling towers conjure up images of toxic waste, environmental …
Real men wear pink. Real women wear fur. And real market-based policy doesn’t include special interest subsidies. Sadly, lots of legislation fails the real free market test. So it is with one of Washington’s favorite energy sources du jour: energy production tax credits (PTC). Sadly, anti-market policies like the expansion …
Some highly-connected venture capital firms are upping their investments in green energy companies after those companies received taxpayer backing. A pair of top investment firms have increased their stakes in two companies that benefited from federal “investment.” By 2010, solar company Solexel had received investment from some of the most politically-connected venture …
President Obama and his surrogates have repeatedly insisted that federal backing for green energy companies like Solyndra is somehow superior to private equity investing, since federal bureaucrats are concerned with more than enriching investors. But “investors” in an Obama presidency – i.e. his top supporters – have reaped the benefits …
Congressional investigators are probing potential cronyism in a pair of federal green energy programs, including the Energy Department loan program that guaranteed a $535 million loan to now-bankrupt solar company Solyndra. In a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sent on Tuesday, embedded below, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), chairman of …
President Obama will make a push for wind energy subsidies on Thursday at the Iowa production facilities of a politically connected wind turbine manufacturer with ties to his administration. The appearance could serve to reinforce perceptions of cronyism in the administration’s “green jobs” push. At the manufacturing facilities of TPI …
A congressional hearing on May 16 exposed further details on just the kind of political maneuvering that was going on between the Obama Administration and beneficiaries of Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantees. Emails revealed during the hearing are the tip of the iceberg in a corrupt federal funding process …
