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House GOP Snookers Public Again: “No More Solyndras” Bill Allows $90 Billion of Solyndras

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Four groups – Taxpayers for Common Sense, Heritage Foundation, National Taxpayers Union and the Competitive Enterprise Institute – warned today that a number of energy boondoggles would remain in the federal pipeline under the No More Solyndras Act.

While the “No More Solyndras Act” would limit federal loan guarantees for future energy projects, it would allow dozens of major projects already in the federal pipeline to move forward. The four groups are concerned that a number of the “zombie” projects that would be allowed to live could be, in fact, even more costly to taxpayers than the widely publicized Solyndra loan-guarantee failure. So instead of being a fix for what ails the federal loan guarantee program, the No More Solyndras Act would countenance exactly the opposite of what its name suggests: the prospect of more Solyndra-like loan guarantee defaults, on an even larger financial scale.

Ryan Alexander, president, Taxpayers for Common Sense, said:

Despite some merits, ‘The No More Solyndras Act’ has a glaring loophole that should have it redubbed the ‘Even More Solyndras Act.’ The bill protects roughly 50 projects in the pipeline, including one that could cost taxpayers 15 times more than we lost on Solyndra. Lawmakers need to stop the program from putting taxpayers on the hook for billions in loan guarantees instead of passing bait and switch legislation.

Andrew Moylan, vice president, National Taxpayers Union, said:

The ‘No More Solyndras Act’ is an important effort to protect taxpayers against future losses from reckless energy loan guarantees, but it doesn’t do nearly enough to address boondoggles that were approved under the same failed regime that lost over $500 million on the Solyndra bankruptcy. While it takes the vital step of preventing new loan guarantees and improving transparency, Americans could still be on the hook for struggling multi-billion dollar projects. The House should amend the bill to strengthen provisions dealing with loan guarantee applications already in the pipeline to ensure that these ‘zombie’ projects don’t draw any more blood from taxpayers.

William Yeatmen, energy policy analyst, Competitive Enterprise Institute, said:

The No More Solyndras Act has a major flaw. The bill would end the Energy Department’s clean energy bank, which is great and is why we support it, but the fact is it sunsets the program too late to stop most of these subsidies from going out the door. Despite the bill’s weakness, it has engendered bipartisan opposition. These days, unfortunately, it seems that the only thing that both political parties can agree on is the merit of pork barrel politics.

Jack Spencer, senior research fellow, nuclear energy policy, Heritage Foundation, said:

The No More Solyndras Act begins to protect taxpayers from future bad bets the government makes with market-distorting loan guarantees. While setting a definitive end date to the program is important, this will not remedy the problem of loan guarantees still lurking out there. The legislation could be strengthened by ensuring that the risk of any loan that moves ahead is objectively determined and not skewed for or against any technology or project. It’s also important for the legislation to make sure the training wheels come off as soon as possible by requiring that the loan be privately refinanced once the project begins operations. To be clear, however, the federal government needs to get out of the commercial finance business altogether. The bottom line is that there is no set of protections that can make a loan guarantee program good, you can only stop the bleeding. No more Solyndras helps stop the bleeding.

Read more from this story HERE.

GOP to Pass ‘No More Solyndras Act’ when Congress returns

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House Republicans will pass a bill next week that suspends new loans for clean-energy companies under the Department of Energy program that loaned nearly $530 million Solyndra, the failed solar panel producer that Republicans have targeted as an example of government waste.

Under the “No More Solyndras Act,” H.R. 6213, any similar applications for government loans made in 2012 could not be accepted, and any applications submitted before 2012 could only be approved after a Treasury Department review of the proposed financial terms of the loan.

In addition, any loans approved would have to be reported in full detail within 60 days. Any violation of the bill would subject related officials to penalties, including a fine of at least $10,000 and up to $50,000.

The bill finds that the Obama administration pursued a “green jobs” agenda with the use of $90 billion in program funding in the 2009 stimulus bill, in addition to $47 billion in loan guarantees from various appropriations bills that can be used under the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

The stimulus bill also created a new loan program for commercial technology, and Solyndra was one of several companies that benefited from this new program. Solyndra and two other recipients of the same program have since declared bankruptcy.

Read more from this story HERE.

Undercover Video: NY union bosses – “$112 million in green jobs is ‘bulls__t’, but we’ll take the money”

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If you want to understand the idiocy of green jobs, this is a must-see video.  A word of warning: you’re going to hear “bulls__t” a dozen or so times, but that’s because the union bosses are talking about green jobs where people can get paid for doing digging holes and filling them back in.  It gets really good at 3:18, so stay with it.

Photo credit: aflcio

$6.2 Mil To Train Poor Minorities For “Green Jobs”

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The federal agency that’s spending a fortune to bring “environmental justice” to poor and minority communities around the U.S. has just dropped an additional $6.2 million to train low-income residents for “green jobs” in one city alone.

It’s all part of the Obama Administration’s costly crusade to help underserved populations obtain the same degree of protection from health and environmental hazards as their wealthy counterparts. Here’s how it works; the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gives money to leftwing groups—including some dedicated to helping illegal immigrants—that teach black, Latino and indigenous folks how to recycle, reduce carbon emissions through “weatherization” and participate in “green jobs” training.

In the last few months alone the EPA has doled out nearly $10 million for environmental justice causes that include a multi million-dollar study on how pollution, stress and social factors affect “poor and underserved communities.” A New Jersey nonprofit (Lazos America Unida) that advocates on behalf of the “Mexican immigrant community” and a Missouri farm workers’ group that will increase awareness about the dangers of sun and heat exposure in migrant populations were among the recipients of that grant.

As if this weren’t bad enough, the EPA keeps wasting taxpayer dollars on these dubious causes. The latest allocation of $6.2 million will go to 21 “community groups” that will “recruit, train and place unemployed, predominately low-income residents in polluted areas” in Atlanta. Uncle Sam’s investment will “create good, green jobs that protect the health of local families and residents and prepare communities for continued economic growth,” according to Obama’s EPA chief, Lisa Jackson.

Program participants will master valuable skills such as “environmental site sampling” and “green building techniques” as well as “construction and demolition debris recycling” and “energy auditing and weatherization.” Graduates will use their skills to improve the environment and people’s health while supporting economic development in their communities, according to the EPA. Ideal candidates are “hard to place residents that live in the disadvantaged communities that will benefit the most through these projects.”

 Read More at Judicial Watch