Obama’s Not-So-Green Thumb

While Democrats Wage War on Traditional Energy Sources, Report Shows Democrats’ Crony Capitalism Also Hurt Green Energy Development 

• A recent House Oversight report on the stimulus loan program Democrats used to fund Solyndra finds that the Democrats’ attempts at crony capitalism actually hurt the very green companies Democrat claimed they were trying to help by “creating an excess supply of solar panels,” leading to the “outright shuttering” of some of these firms.
• The bankruptcy of Solyndra and the financial troubles of other solar companies after receiving stimulus funds provides a cautionary tale about the failure of the Democrats’ stimulus spending spree to produce any kind of positive impact on new energy development.
• This is just the latest evidence of the Democrats’ none-of-the-above energy agenda. The Democrats’ green casino has proved incompetent at encouraging new energy sources while Democrats wage war on traditional energy sources.

A recent House Oversight report on the stimulus loan program Democrats used to fund Solyndra finds that the Democrats’ attempts at crony capitalism actually hurt the very green companies Democrat claimed they were trying to help by “creating an excess supply of solar panels,” leading to the “outright shuttering” of some of these firms:

DOE SPENT TAXPAYER DOLLARS BACKING “MULTIPLE SOLAR” COMPANIES AND “ADDED TO A HEATED GLOBAL COMPETITION” THAT WAS “ALREADY CREATING AN EXCESSIVE SUPPLY OF SOLAR PANELS”:“DOE should have averted some of the risks it created in its portfolio by diversifying its investments across renewable energy technologies.  DOE’s investment in multiple solar manufacturers added to a heated global competition that was already creating an excessive supply of solar panels.  These manufacturers were forced to compete both against each other and other solar companies worldwide.  As a result, the average selling price per watt for solar panels has continued its decline.” (“The Department of Energy’s Disastrous Management of Loan Guarantee Program,” U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 3/20/2012)

MANY SOLAR COMPANIES “CAN ONLY SURVIVE THROUGH CONTINUED PROVISION OF SUBSIDIES” PAID FOR BY TAXPAYERS: “Despite Solyndra’s fall, there remains excessive competition in the manufacturing of solar panels. Just this past month, both Abound Solar and First Solar cut solar panel production globally, reflecting this excessive supply and heated competition. While U.S. solar generation projects can take advantage of falling panel prices to offset a share of the impact of reduced power prices, it appears solar manufacturers that suffer both supply and demand shocks can only survive through continued provision of subsidies. Unfortunately for these manufacturers, there is growing evidence that the subsidies are drying up.” (“The Department of Energy’s Disastrous Management of Loan Guarantee Program,”U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 3/20/2012)

“RATINGS AGENCIES FULLY INFORMED THE DOE” OF RISKS OF “EXCESSIVE GLOBAL COMPETITION”: “The ratings agencies fully informed the DOE of their expectations for falling panel prices due to excessive global competition.” (“The Department of Energy’s Disastrous Management of Loan Guarantee Program,” U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 3/20/2012)

“APPARENT CURE TO THE OVERSUPPLY IS THE OUTRIGHT SHUTTERING OF A LARGE SHARE OF SOLAR PANEL MANUFACTURERS”—SUBSIDIZED BY TAXPAYERS: “Both Germany and the U.S. appear to be phasing out subsidies over the coming years, and this should eventually help reduce the excessive supply; however, it does so at the expense of the subsidized solar firms. In other words, the apparent cure to the oversupply is the outright shuttering of a large share of solar panel manufacturers worldwide.” (“The Department of Energy’s Disastrous Management of Loan Guarantee Program,” U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 3/20/2012)

CRONY CAPITALISM? WASHINGTON POST AUDIT FINDS $3.9 BILLION IN TAXPAYER MONEY WENT TO “21 COMPANIES WITH CONNECTIONS TO FIVE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION STAFFERS AND ADVISERS”: “During the next three years, the department provided $2.4 billion in public funding to clean-energy companies in which Wagle’s former firm, Vantage Point Venture Partners, had invested, a Washington Post analysis found. Overall, the Post found that $3.9 billion in federal grants and financing flowed to 21 companies backed by firms with connections to five Obama administration staffers and advisers.” (Carol Leonnig and Joe Stephens, “Venture Capitalists Play Key Role in Obama’s Energy Department,” The Washington Post, 2/14/2012)

The bankruptcy of Solyndra and the financial troubles of other solar companies after receiving stimulus funds provides a cautionary tale about the failure of the Democrats’ stimulus spending spree to produce any kind of positive impact on new energy development:

$535 MILLION LOST ON NOW-BANKRUPT SOLYNDRA: (Jim Snyder and Brian Wingfield, “Solyndra $535 Million Loan Guarantee Mostly Lost to Taxpayers, Chu Tells Lawmakers,” Bloomberg, 11/17/2011) 

ABOUND SOLAR HALTED PRODUCTION, LAID OFF WORKERS AFTER $400 MILLION STIMULUS LOAN: (Todd Woody, “Abound Solar, Recipient of $400 Million Federal Loan Guarantee, Halts Production,” Forbes, 3/1/2012) 

OBAMA-BACKED AMONIX LAID OFF 200 WORKERS EARLY THIS YEAR, RECEIVED $5.9 MILLION TAX CREDIT IN 2010: (Neil Munro, “More Solyndra-Style Failure: Obama-tied Amonix Lays Off Most of Company,” The Daily Caller, 1/30/2012)

BEACON POWER GOES BANKRUPT AFTER $43 MILLION OBAMA STIMULUS LOAN: (Tom Hals and Roberta Rampton, “Beacon Power Bankrupt; had U.S. backing like Solyndra,” Reuters, 10/31/2011)

BRIGHTSOURCE ENERGY GOT $1.6 BILLION LOAN GUARANTEE, NOW FACING FINANCIAL STRUGGLES AFTER CANCELLING ITS IPO: (Dana Hull, “BrightSource Shelves IPO, Walks Away from Public Markets,” The San Jose Mercury News, 4/18/2012)

This is just the latest evidence of the Democrats’ none-of-the-above energy agenda. The Democrats’ green casino has proved incompetent at encouraging new energy sources while Democrats wage war on traditional energy sources:

DEMOCRATS’ WAR ON DOMESTIC DRILLING:

130,000 JOBS: THE LONG-TERM JOBS IMPACT OF THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE BLOCKED BY OBAMA: “Many of those 20,000 jobs on the construction of the pipeline would have been filled by skilled union members. Eventually, the completed pipeline was expected to result in as many as 130,000 jobs, many of them on the upper Texas Coast, where the heavy oil would be refined into 700,000 barrels of oil daily.” (Editorial, “Keystone Pipeline is the Wrong Call,” The Houston Chronicle, 11/11/2011)

NATIONAL JOURNAL ANALYSIS: “U.S. ECONOMY MISSED OUT ON CREATING UP TO A QUARTER-MILLION JOBS” IN 2011 BECAUSE IT “LACKED [ENERGY] INFRASTRUCTURE”: “The U.S. economy missed out on creating up to a quarter-million jobs this year because it lacked the infrastructure to capitalize on a rare divergence in global oil prices, a National Journal analysis shows.” (Jim Tankersley, “A Crude Hit to the Recovery,”National Journal, 11/29/2011)

1/2: THE RATE AT WHICH OBAMA IS ISSUING NEW DEEP-WATER DRILLING PERMITS RELATIVE TO THE HISTORICAL AVERAGE: “According to the Greater New Orleans Gulf Permits Index for January 31, over the previous three months the feds issued an average of three deep-water drilling permits a month compared to the historical average of seven.”(Editorial, “‘Stupid’ and Oil Prices,” The Wall Street Journal, 2/24/2012)

1/3: THE RATE AT WHICH OBAMA IS ISSUING NEW SHALLOW-WATER DRILLING PERMITS RELATIVE TO THE HISTORICAL AVERAGE: “Over the same three months, the feds approved an average of 4.7 shallow-water permits a month, compared to the historical average of 14.7.” (Editorial, “‘Stupid’ and Oil Prices,” The Wall Street Journal, 2/24/2012)

IHS STUDY: OBAMA ADMIN SLOWWALKING PERMITS AFTER MORATORIUM OFFICIALLY ENDED: “A study by the business-consultant firm IHS found that the federal government issued 51 new drilling permits in the year following the lifting of the drilling moratorium. That was down from 157 annual permits approved before the regulations took effect.” (Bill McMorris, “Obama’s Energy Slowdown,” The Washington Free Beacon, 3/13/2012)

GULF BUSINESSES FRET THAT “PERMITORIUM” REMAINS IN PLACE:“They’re calling it a ‘permitorium’ caused by stricter regulations that are allowing gulf drilling, but at a snail’s pace, in both deep and shallow water.”(Katie Moore, “New Study: Small Businesses Hit Hardest by Drilling Delays,” WWL TV, 1/31/2012)

“HIDDEN VICTIMS” OF OBAMA DRILLING PERMITORIUM ARE SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES, ACCORDING TO GREATER NEW ORLEANS INC. REGIONAL ECONOMIC ALLIANCE: (“The Impact of Decreased and Delayed Drilling Permit Approvals on Gulf of Mexico Business,” GNO Inc., 3/1/2012) 

50% OF GULF OF MEXICO BUSINESSES HAVE LAID OFF WORKERS DUE TO MORATORIA: (“The Impact of Decreased and Delayed Drilling Permit Approvals on Gulf of Mexico Business,” GNO Inc., 3/1/2012)

46% OF BUSINESSES HAVE MOVED ALL OR SOME OF THEIR OPERATIONS OUT OF THE GULF OF MEXICO: (“The Impact of Decreased and Delayed Drilling Permit Approvals on Gulf of Mexico Business,” GNO Inc., 3/1/2012)

DEMOCRATS’ WAR ON COAL:

NEW EPA REGULATIONS WOULD “END THE CONSTRUCTION OF CONVENTIONAL COAL-FIRED FACILITIES IN THE UNITED STATES”: “The Environmental Protection Agency issued the first limits on greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants Tuesday, a move which could end the construction of conventional coal-fired facilities in the United States.” (Juliet Eilperin, “EPA Imposes First Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants,” The Washington Post, 3/27/2012) 

“THIS STANDARD EFFECTIVELY BANS NEW COAL PLANTS”: “Industry officials and environmentalists said in interviews that the rule, which comes on the heels of tough new requirements that the Obama administration imposed on mercury emissions and cross-state pollution from utilities within the past year, dooms any proposal to build a coal-fired plant that does not have costly carbon controls.

“ ‘This standard effectively bans new coal plants,’ said Joseph Stanko, who heads government relations at the law firm Hunton and Williams and represents several utility companies. ‘So I don’t see how that is an ‘all of the above’ energy policy.’” (Juliet Eilperin, “EPA Imposes First Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants,” The Washington Post, 3/27/2012)

13% OF COAL POWERED ENERGY BEING SHUT DOWN BECAUSE OF NEW RULES: (Juliet Eilperin, “EPA Imposes First Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants,” The Washington Post, 3/27/2012)