Bankrupt solar energy company Solyndra, a favorite target of the GOP, may have lied to receive favorable treatment from the Obama administration, which propped up the now-defunct firm with federal loan guarantees.
The Energy Department’s Office of the Inspector General on Wednesday released the results of a four-year investigation that says the company was less than forthcoming in providing supporting documents in applying for $535 million in federally backed loans.
The inspector general’s report suggests the company may have intentionally misled the agency to get the financing. Soon after receiving the financing, the company went bankrupt, which the administration blamed on the Chinese flooding the market with cheap solar panels. But the investigation points to the way the company was run as the likely culprit.
“The investigative record suggests that the actions of certain Solyndra officials were, at best, reckless and irresponsible or, at worst, an orchestrated effort to knowingly and intentionally deceive or mislead the department,” Energy Department Inspector General Gregory Friedman said in an Aug. 24 report that was issued Wednesday.
The inspector general also suggested in his report the department may be to blame as well in approving the loan. Friedman’s report says the agency’s review of the application was “less than fully effective.”
The report comes a few days after the White House announced it was giving the Energy Department an additional $1 billion in loan guarantee authority to help develop the next generation of solar panels and distributed power systems in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s landmark Clean Power Plan.
The Clean Power Plan was finalized Aug. 3 and places states on the hook to reduce about one-third of their greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The plan also calls for jumpstarting the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy through an incentive program for states that gives them additional credit if they use solar and wind to comply with the EPA plan.
Solyndra became a favorite target of Republicans during the president’s first term and lingers as an example of government overspending and fiscal irresponsibility.
The GOP also uses the bankrupt company to point out the inherent problems with President Obama’s clean energy ambitions and the use of economic stimulus funding to push his environmental agenda.
President Obama’s 2009 stimulus bill added billions of dollars to promote energy infrastructure improvements to help integrate more low-emission technologies, while providing subsidies and expanded loan and grants programs for renewable energy companies to become commercially competitive.
Solyndra went bankrupt just two years after it received its first loan guarantee, which sparked outrage among Republicans. After scores of hearings, the company dropped from the radar screen.
Later, the Justice Department started its own investigation, which it recently said resulted in no criminal charges being filed.
