Dems’ “Green” Agenda Puts American Families in the Red

Democrats’ New “Green” Regulations and Billions Spent on “Green” Programs Have Destroyed Jobs and Wasted Money

• As the scandal surrounding now-bankrupt Solyndra’s receipt of a $535 million Obama loan guarantee grows, new revelations from journalist Ron Suskind’s book indicate that top White House economist Austan Goolsbee warned Obama that his trademark “green jobs” push would not produce major jobs growth, but Obama went ahead anyway.
• These revelations are all the more jarring as the White House continues its unflinching devotion to the green orthodoxy, laying out plans to throw yet more taxpayer money at its failed “green” initiatives.
• Meanwhile, the “green” regulatory push by Obama’s EPA continues to destroy jobs all over the country.

BACKGROUND 

As the scandal surrounding now-bankrupt Solyndra’s receipt of a $535 million taxpayer loan from the Obama administration grows, new revelations from journalist Ron Suskind’s book indicate that top White House economist and early Obama advisor Austan Goolsbee warned Obama that his trademark “green jobs” push would create only “modest” numbers of jobs at best, but Obama went ahead anyway: 

SOLYNDRA EXECS TO PLEAD THE FIFTH AND REFUSE TO TESTIFY: “Two top executives at Solyndra LLC said they would invoke their Fifth Amendment rights and decline to answer questions at a House hearing Friday, heightening the Washington intrigue over the failed solar-panel maker.” (Ryan Tracy and Evan Perez, “Solyndra Executives to Plead the Fifth,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/21/2011)

FORMER SOLYNDRA EMPLOYEES SAY $535 MILLION LOAN FROM TAXPAYERS RESULTED IN “QUESTIONABLE SPENDING BY MANAGEMENT” FROM THE GET-GO:“Former employees of Solyndra, the shuttered solar company that exhausted half a billion dollars of taxpayer money, said they saw questionable spending by management almost as soon as a federal agency approved a $535 million government-backed loan for the start-up.

“A new factory built with public money boasted a gleaming conference room with glass walls that, with the flip of a switch, turned a smoky gray to conceal the room’s occupants. Hastily purchased state-of-the-art equipment ended up being sold for pennies on the dollar, still in its plastic wrap, employees said.” (Carol Leonnig, “Solyndra Employees: Company Suffered from Mismanagement, Heavy Spending,” The Washington Post,9/21/2011) 

SOLYNDRA EXECS WERE “SPENDING MONEY LEFT AND RIGHT”: “‘After we got the loan guarantee, they were just spending money left and right,’ said former Solyndra engineer Lindsey Eastburn. ‘Because we were doing well, nobody cared. Because of that infusion of money, it made people sloppy.'” (Carol Leonnig, “Solyndra Employees: Company Suffered from Mismanagement, Heavy Spending,” The Washington Post, 9/21/2011)

FORMER WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIST AUSTAN GOOLSBEE WARNED OBAMA FROM THE OUTSET THAT HIRING FROM HIS GREEN JOBS PROGRAM WOULD BE “MODEST” AT BEST: “Nearly two years before, Goolsbee had told Obama, then an underdog candidate, that hiring from a clean-energy initiative would be modest. But now the White House was offering official pronouncements and fanfare, presenting the president and his top officials, for six thousand jobs?” (Ron Suskind, “Lost and Found,”Confidence Men, p. 366) 

These revelations are all the more jarring as the White House continues its unflinching devotion to the green orthodoxy, laying out plans to throw yet more taxpayer money at its failed “green” initiatives:

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION “DOUBLING DOWN ON ITS SUPPORT” FOR “MORE LOANS LIKE THE ONE TO SOLYNDRA”: “The Obama administration is doubling down on its support for renewable energy, stressing that it will move forward on more loans like the one to Solyndra, the California-based company that announced its bankruptcy late last month. In fact, as many as 14 new loan guarantees from the Energy Department — nine of which are for solar projects — could be finalized by the end of the month.” (Andrew Restuccia, “Fury Over Solyndra Loan Threatens to Sunset Solar Investments,” The Hill, 9/18/2011)

APPARENTLY NOT JOKING: OBAMA LABOR SEC. HILDA SOLIS CLAIMS THAT “RETRAINING” BUS DRIVERS TO USE HYBRID BUSES COUNTS AS “GREEN JOB CREATION”: ” ‘What makes driving a hybrid bus a green job and driving another bus that’s not a hybrid bus not a green job?’ asked Connie Mack, Republican of Florida. ‘Driving a bus is driving a bus, right?’

“Ms. Solis replied, ‘the vehicles that are built there are green buses, they are fuel efficient.’

“But further discussion clarified that the driver of the ordinary bus also had a ‘green job,’ because all mass-transit workers fit the definition of a green job as they provided ‘services that benefit the environment.'” (Matthew J. Wald, “Republicans Attack on Handling of Stimulus Money and Green Jobs,” The New York Times, 9/22/2011) 

“GREEN JOBS IN OBAMA’S SPEECH IF YOU DIG FOR THEM”: “Green jobs, green jobs, green jobs – where were the green jobs in the Obama jobs plan speech delivered to Congress last night? A glance at the plethora of material put out by the White House doesn’t immediately suggest green jobs, which the President glazed over last night, were on his agenda. If you look, and listen, closely though, you do see some green poking out of the $447 billion American Jobs Act.” (Nino Marchetti, “Green Jobs in Obama’s Speech if You Dig for Them,” Reuters, 9/12/2011) 

SOLYNDRA GAVE “GREEN JOBS” TERM “A BIT OF A BLACK EYE,” BUT “THE GREEN JOBS ARE [STILL] THERE IN HIS JOBS PACKAGE”: “So why didn’t he call them green jobs specifically? Solyndra, wacky green jobs reporting in the mainstream media and other factors give that phrase a bit of a black eye at the moment to some. The green jobs are there in his jobs package, however, and now Congress takes up the larger mantle of whether it wants to pay the President’s economic price for this jobs plan.”(Nino Marchetti, “Green Jobs in Obama’s Speech if You Dig for Them,” Reuters, 9/12/2011) 

BIDEN DOUBLED DOWN ON “GREEN JOBS”: “‘If we shrink from deciding whether we are going to lead in the area of alternative energy, renewable energy, then we will be making the biggest mistake that this nation has made in its history,’ Biden said during his keynote speech at the fourth-annual National Clean Energy Summit at the Aria hotel-casino.” (Cristina Silva, “Biden Calls for New Clean Energy Policy for U.S.,” Associated Press, 8/30/2011)

ENERGY SECRETARY STEPHEN CHU JOINS IN: WE NEED MORE “NATIONAL INVESTMENTS” IN GREEN JOBS “DURING TIME OF DISTRESS”: (Cristina Silva, “Biden Calls for New Clean Energy Policy for U.S.,” Associated Press, 8/30/2011)

HOUSE DEMS THROW TEMPER TANTRUM OVER DISASTER RELIEF FUNDING BECAUSE IT OFFSETS WITH CUTS TO SUBSIDIES FOR ELECTRIC CARS. “Disaster funding became a key point in the budget battle after Republicans released a plan late Wednesday stripping $1.5 billion from a program advancing electric and hybrid cars in exchange for providing $1 billion in emergency aid to states reeling from natural catastrophes.

“The plan angered Democrats, who are defending clean energy initiatives tainted by the collapse of a government-sponsored solar manufacturer, Solyndra, last month.”(Evan Lehmann, “Parties Clash on Disaster Funding as House Seeks Clean-Tech Cuts,” The New York Times, 9/16/2011)

Meanwhile, the “green” regulatory push by Obama’s EPA continues to destroy jobs all over the country: 

NEW STUDY: NEW AND PENDING EPA RULES WILL DESTROY 1.65 MILLLION JOBS:“Over the period from 2012 to 2020, about 183,000 jobs per year are predicted to be lost on net due to the effects of the four regulations. The cumulative effects mean that over the period from 2012 to 2020, about 1.65 million job-years of employment would be lost.” (“Potential Impacts of EPA Air, Coal Combustion Residuals, and Cooling Water Regulations,” NERA Economic Consulting, September 2011) 

EPA DESTROYED 500 JOBS IN TEXAS BY SHUTTING DOWN FACTORIES WITH NEW RULE: “Texas energy company Luminant announced on Monday new burdensome Environmental Protection Agency regulations are forcing it to close several facilities, which will result in about 500 job losses.

“The company will be idling — stopping the usage of — two energy generating units. It will also cease extracting lignite from three different Texas mines.” (Matthew Boyle, “EPA Regulation Forces Closure of Texas Energy Facilities, Eliminates 500 Jobs,” The Daily Caller, 9/12/2011)

WHITE HOUSE “STRONGLY OPPOSES” GOP EFFORT TO MAKE EPA STOP DESTROYING JOBS: “The White House Wednesday said it strongly opposes a House bill that would delay several Environmental Protection Agency rules on air pollution, setting up another showdown over Republican-led efforts to postpone the agency’s agenda.” (Ryan Tracy, “White House Opposes House Bill to Delay EPA Rules,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/21/2011)

EPA’S ESTIMATE OF GREEN JOBS “CREATED OR RETAINED” BY STIMULUS SHRANK TO JUST 7,140 JOBS. THE PRICETAG? $1 MILLION PER JOB AND $7.2 BILLION DOWN THE DRAIN. “President Obama’s green jobs agenda has become a victim of its own red tape. Several internal reports show that state-level projects have stalled for years due to federal regulations favored by labor and green groups — big boosters of the green jobs push.

“The reports offer a peek into the dysfunction within the White House’s green jobs initiative. In 2009, Obama dedicated $7.2 billion of stimulus funds to build “clean tech” jobs. He vowed to create 5 million jobs over the next decade.

“So far, that effort has ‘created or retained’ just 7,140 jobs, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s about $1 million per job. The number is actually down from last year, when the EPA claimed 16,605 green jobs.” (Sean Higgins, “Davis-Bacon Clogs Green Jobs,” Investor’s Business Daily, 8/30/2011)

4,257 NEW REGULATIONS IN THE WORKS, OVER 200 WILL COST MORE THAN $100 MILLION ANNUALLY—15% MORE REGULATIONS THAN LAST YEAR. “Appropriate and responsible regulations play an important policymaking role. Yet the Obama administration has turned rule-making into an assault on American businesses and the jobs they create. Right now, 4,257 new regulations are in the works, 219 of which will cost over $100 million annually — 15 percent more than last year.” (Editorial, “How Obama’s Rules Hold Back Chicago Business,” The Chicago Sun-Times, 8/30/2011)