House Republicans are pressing the Obama administration for more information about a solar-panel company that received a $400 million loan guarantee, then went bankrupt and is now the focus of a criminal investigation.
The committee pursuing documents on Colorado-based Abound Solar is the same that investigated the half-billion taxpayer loan to Solyndra, whose bankruptcy rocked the Obama administration. Two more Department of Energy-backed companies have since filed for bankruptcy, with Abound Solar being the latest.
Lawmakers are now questioning whether the administration might have known about serious problems with the company’s solar panels before it was guaranteed the loan in December 2010 under the stimulus program.
“Abound is the third company that has received a DOE loan to go bankrupt,” the House Committee on Energy and Commerce told Energy Secretary Steven Chu in a letter Wednesday. “The committee seeks to better understand what DOE knew about problems with Abound’s solar panels prior to finalizing its $400 million loan guarantee.”
The Energy Department halted the funding just nine months after approving the loan guarantee, but not before the company had pocketed $70 million in funds.
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