House Republicans seek more documents in Solyndra probe
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican lawmakers alleged on Friday that the Energy Department used a loan guarantee to a massive rooftop solar project as part of a last-ditch effort to bail out Solyndra, a solar panel maker that later failed.
The Energy Department denied the claims. The White House has said House Republicans are distorting the facts in the interest of politics.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee asked Energy Secretary Steven Chu to provide internal documents about the relationship between Solyndra and “Project Amp,” the largest U.S. project to install solar panels on commercial rooftops.
“We have questions about Solyndra’s involvement in Project Amp, and what role Solyndra’s involvement played in DOE’s decision” to give the rooftop project a loan guarantee, U.S. Republican Representative Fred Upton, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and U.S. Republican Representative Cliff Stearns, who is leading the probe, said in a letter to Chu.
It’s the latest twist in the Republicans’ year-long probe into Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy in September 2011 despite receiving a $535 million government loan guarantee.
The California company’s failure has been an embarrassment for the White House after President Barack Obama visited the firm in 2010. His administration has promoted clean energy as one way to create jobs.
Republicans have used the failed investment in stump speeches and television attack ads to criticize Obama’s energy and economic policies. In their investigation, lawmakers have tried to show that the government should have cut its losses earlier in the project.
The Energy Department denied that a $1.4 billion loan guarantee given to Project Amp was tied to Solyndra.
“As has consistently been the case in the course of this committee’s year-long political investigation, critics of our effort to support innovative, job-creating clean energy projects will say anything to distort the record,” said Damien LaVera, an Energy Department spokesman.
SOLYNDRA BID TO SUPPLY PANELS
Project Amp is the largest project of its kind in the country, an effort to generate power for the grid from the roofs of warehouses in 28 states.
The buildings are managed by real estate company Prologis, and the project received financial backing from power company NRG Energy Inc and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Representatives for Prologis and NRG did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and Bank of America declined comment.
Solyndra bid to supply panels to an early phase of the project. The lawmakers said they have documents that
Article source: Source
Share and Enjoy
Comments Off
Leave a Comment
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
4 
1
