Today, House Republicans crowed over the bankruptcy of Solyndra, a company with an innovative thin-film solar technology granted a $535 million loan guarantee under the 2005 Energy Policy Act. Massive investments by the Chinese government drove down the price of polysilicon and pushed Solyndra into bankruptcy at the beginning of this month, despite annual revenues of over $100 million a year. The company is now under investigation by the FBI, likely because of assurances made to Congress by its top officials that Solyndra was in good financial health.
At a hearing today, Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee questioned administration officials about the loan guarantee, and pontificated in general that government investment in clean technology was a bad idea. Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), Koch Industries' man in Congress, also asked questions at the hearing even though he is not a member of the subcommittee. These Republicans, unsurprisingly, are heavily funded by the fossil-fuel and nuclear industries:
$11 MILLION FOSSIL-FUEL TEAM QUESTIONS SOLARCareer contributions from the energy and natural resources sector. Figures from the Center for Responsive Politics."The solar industry is truly dependent on subsidies," subcommittee Chair Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) said at the conclusion of the hearing. Stearns did not express similar outrage about the hundreds of billions of dollars that have gone into subsidizing the oil, gas, coal, and nuclear industries. None of the Republican members of the panel worried about the $11 million in subsidies they have received from the fossil-fuel and nuclear industries in campaign contributions.
As Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) noted at the hearing, "We know we'll never have a hearing on the oil industry or the nuclear industry in this committee." He questioned $41 billion in taxpayer subsidies for the oil industry and a massive nuclear loan guarantee given to Southern Company. Watch:
See also: Dave Johnson has a comprehensive takedown of the "Phony Solyndra Solar Scandal."
Brad Johnson is the editor for ThinkProgress Green at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Brad holds a bachelor's degree in math and physics from Amherst College and master's degree in geosciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the co-author of Technomanifestos, a history of the Information Revolution, and the founder of HillHeat.com, which covers climate policy in our nation's capital. We've just upgraded our comments section! Read more about this change here.View the original article here
This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
