by Rona Fried
How Obama's Green Energy Agenda is Killing Jobs is the title of Darrell Issa's (R-CA) Congressional oversight hearing, taking place today.
Issa is Chief of Investigations for the House GOP and the lead investigator of what's turning into the Solyndra scandal, named after the young solar company that had the nerve to go bankrupt after receiving a federal loan guarantee under the American Recovery Act (Stimulus Bill).
Solyndra filed bankruptcy on Sept. 6 after receiving $535 million in US loan guarantees since 2009.
Republicans pounced on the bankruptcy, says the Hill, arguing the Obama administration rushed to approve the loan guarantee without subjecting it to adequate oversight.
The Dept of Energy (DOE) points out that although it's inevitable that some companies that receive government support will fail, the reality is that out of the $2 billion the agency's handed out, Solyndra is the only company to do so.
What happened to Solyndra?
Solyndra's solar panels are installed at over 1000 facilities worldwide. It was widely lauded for its unique, cylindrically shaped CIGS solar modules designed for large commercial rooftop installations. Sales revenue rose 2000% in three years and venture capital firms invested $1 billion.
Young solar companies are having a very difficult time gaining traction because of crushing price competition from China. Established, profitable firms are also having a hard time, but it's especially difficult for vulnerable companies - Evergreen Solar and SpectraWatt also announced they would close this month.
Solyndra was forced to sell its panels at half the cost in an attempt to compete on price, so it's not surprising they couldn't hang on.
Prices for solar panels have plummeted 42% over the past year because of intense pressure from Chinese producers. While that's great for consumers, it's very hard on manufacturers.
They were also hurt by the global credit crunch, which makes it hard for customers to finance solar projects.
By the end of last year, DOE restructured the terms of its deal with Solyndra after recognizing its financial difficulties. DOE tried to reduce the chance that taxpayer money would be lost.
Behind Issa's Investigation
The Solyndra investigation is just another Climate-Gate - an opportunity for the GOP to undermine efforts to transition away from fossil fuels to a green economy.
David Roberts puts it well in his blog:
For a mix of financial and ideological reasons, the U.S. conservative movement hates clean energy. They don't believe in climate change, they love fossil fuels and fossil-fuel campaign donations, and they think, or want the U.S. public to think, that clean energy is weak, unreliable, marginal, and dependent on government subsidies. They have been trying to make that case for a long while.
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.
Watching this unfold, I keep thinking back to "Climategate." When it first broke in 2009, Dem lawmakers just ignored it, because it was obviously dumb. This left the field entirely open to a massive attack from the right, coordinated among ideological media, staffers, and lobbyists. By the time five separate investigations cleared the scientists of all wrongdoing, the damage was done. Now we're seeing the same script play out again. The side that wins is the side that plays to its audience's existing preconceptions with a simple message repeated over and over and over again in multiple venues.
Issa Not So Innocent
Indeed, Issa sent a letter to DOE Sec't Chu personally asking the agency to give a loan for a California electric car maker in his home district.
He signed another letter to Chu promoting a loan for a battery maker based in California. It said, "An Energy Department clean energy grant could create over 2,300 jobs nationwide" ... and the "grant program is a "huge step forward" to improving the environment, eliminating dependence on foreign oil and creating a modern "green collar" U.S. workforce," reports Bloomberg.
Yet, Issa's purpose in holding the hearing is to investigate whether the DOE approved Solyndra and other clean energy loans based on "corruption" - special treatment associated with political or financial influence.
In fact, the DOE did work as quickly as possible to select companies to receive loans under the Stimulus Bill, because it was criticized for being too slow and for having too much red tape.
