As I noted earlier, the Obama administration officials testifying on the $535 million loan guarantee to bankrupt solar panel manufacturer Solyndra are attempting to place responsibility for the flawed due diligence work on the Bush administration.
Rep. Cliff Stearns, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce committee’s oversight panel that is investigating the Solyndra loan guarantee, questioned testimoney by Jonathan Silver, director of the Department of Energy, by noting an email that was sent at the end of the Bush administration calling a loan to Solyndra premature.
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Here was a description of the email from the committee’s background memo:
The Solyndra application was presented to a DOE Credit Committee on January 9, 2009. While the Credit Committee stated “that the project appears to have merit, there are several areas where the information presented did not thoroughly support a finding that the project is ready to be approved at this time.” Specifically, the Credit Committee noted that there was no independent market analysis “addressing the long term prospects for this company beyond the sales agreements already in place.” The Credit Committee also stated that “[t]here are questions regarding the nature and strength of the parent guarantee for the completion of this project.” The Credit Committee concluded that the “number of issues unresolved makes a recommendation for approval premature at this time,” and remanded the project to the Loan Programs Office for “further development of information.”
