Feds Gambling Taxpayers Money in Green Technology

All is Not Green in 'Alternative' Energy

November 2, 2011

CFact SoCal - How many solar companies need to go bankrupt before those in our government decide to stop gambling in this technology with tax payers money? The list of failed solar companies and electric car battery manufacturers is increasing with every passing month, finding taxpayers holding the not so “green” bag in more of these losses.

The mighty Intel Corporation, invested a lot of money in two solar companies, Evergreen Solar and Spectra Watt. Earlier this year…both went belly up.

In two other incidents, the Obama Administration used taxpayer dollars to invest in the California solar power company, Solyndra, followed most recently by Beacon Power. With DOE’s dollars to Beacon of only $43 million, compared to the $535 million to Solyndra, the taxpayer got a break. Yeah right…two companies receiving almost $600 million dollars is getting uncomfortably close to a billion dollars in wasted taxpayer money.

CFACTSoCal founder, Warren Duffy, predicts another green energy failure is but days away from hitting bottom. Ener1, car battery manufcturer, was at one time listed on NASDAQ as one of the top five companies showing numbers plausible for a loan guanatee from DOE’s stimlus funds. Last month, Ener1 was “delisted”.

Vice President, Joe Biden, appears to have developed an uncanny knack for touting alternative energy programs that suffer an untimely financial fate. Speaking during the ribbon cutting ceremony for the now bankrupt Solyndra, Biden earlier this year spoke at the Ener1 manufacturing plant in Indiana, boasting of this company helping to provide “one million electric cars on the road by 2015.”

According to a report from Autodata Corp., so far in 2011 America will have sold a grand total of 11,094 “plug-in” cars, the Nissan Leaf and Chev Volt. That is about one percent of the total number of cars sold in America this year. At that rate, trying to compete with overseas battery manufacturers and their production, shows government investment in this program, risky at best, with little, if any, chance of succeeding.

Two House committees have launched investigations into the government loan programs funding some of the bankrupt alternative energy companies. One is from the solicitor general’s office of the DOE and the second is from the White House.

The White House investigation is headed by former Merrill Lynch president, Herb Allison. Refresher…this is the guy who ran the mortgage giant Fannie Mae after it went bankrupt and was taken over by the government. Earlier, this same man oversaw the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program). That is like putting the fox to guard the chicken coup! At the rate of having Wall Street guys sweep in to review an investment mess is akin to asking Kim Kardashian to assist in marriage counseling. That is really the best the government has to put in charge of investigating? Should we wonder at the outcome of that report?

At the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, Energy Department Secretary, Steven Chu, will testify under oath. With the committee having additionally sought internal White House memos on these loans, a great deal of light may now be shed on just how these loans were issued and obtained.

Regardless of who is investing, at this stage of alternative energy programs, they seem powerless to turn a profit.

Flashback: Don’t Stop Believing

January 22, 2010

Fight for California - Some of you may have heard, and some may not have heard, but there is political news now in the making. Several weeks ago I decided to enter the race in the Republican primary to be the next Governor of the State of California. The reason for this is very simple. After spending this past year crisscrossing this state and traveling up and down the west coast it has become apparent that the entrenched bureaucracy in Sacramento needs new leadership. It is amazing to me that many politicians make excuses or cite legal reasons why nothing can be done to save our farmers and our economy. I cannot stand by another election and just hope for change.

So as we start 2010 I have formed a grassroots campaign staff. Currently it is comprised completely of volunteers. These are average Californians who are suffering under the oppression of the fat cat political machines that have become accustomed to destroying the wealth of our families, sending our jobs out of state, and constantly offering tax increase after tax increase to solve our problems. This nonsense must stop here and it must stop now.

It is time for California to elect one of the people for Governor. Someone who can bring together all of those individuals and businesses who continue to struggle under the weight of a overregulatory legislature that cares nothing for the people they serve, but only does the bidding of foreign interests who want to undermine our freedoms and eliminate our rights.

I’m not ignoring the problem. I’m going to solve it. By the time I’m finished California will be fully employed and prosperous again. Real estate values will increase, taxes will be lower, energy costs will go down, and the budget will be balanced. I will do this by returning to the limited government and fiscal responsibility that made us number one in education, number one in economic prosperity, and number one in leadership in this country. We will turn our water back on, restore our agricultural sector, strengthen our borders, increase the exploration and development of fossil fuels, and stay committed to our core family values. Please join my team to make California great again.

You can visit my campaign site naritelli2010.com for more details on the major issues facing our state and how I plan to solve them. It will not be easy but if we all work together we will turn this state around and return it to the greatness it once had under Ronald Reagan. We will reduce taxes and regulations across the board, bring jobs back to our state, and hold accountable those who have tried to undermine our freedoms with false science and environmental extremism.

I will not tolerate duplicity and deception in our legislature, nor in my own party. My current opponents have supported Al Gore and Barbara Boxer. They have funded the Democratic party and have not even voted in the last decade. The people of this state deserve better. The people of this state deserve a leader who will stand up for values and principles that made our country great. I ask all of you to give me a fair evaluation and choose me to be the next Governor of this great state.

God bless all of you and don’t stop believing!

Rand Paul: Environmental Extremists Run Government

November 14, 2011

Personal Liberty Digest - Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said that President Barack Obama’s Administration has allowed environmental extremists to take over political decisions and kill jobs.

The Senator’s statements were made in regard to legislation he has proposed to roll back an Environmental Protection Agency regulation that penalizes States for allowing air pollution to drift into bordering States, according to The Hill.

Paul also questioned the American Lung Association’s suggestion that pollution is behind a rise in asthma and said the $5 million in funding it takes from the EPA each year might be influencing the results of its studies.

The Senator also said that the push for electric cars did not make much sense from an environmental standpoint because 50 percent of electricity in the U.S. is coal-produced.

“[I] am afraid what has happened is we have opened up the White House and this administration to environmental extremists, the kind of people who say, ‘Well the polar bears are drowning,’” he said.

Paul said that this is not the kind of extremism that he wants to see driving policy in the United States.