The Solyndra hearings

As you know the House Energy and Commerce Committee is conducting hearings into the loan provided by the Department of Energy to the now bankrupt Solyndra.  This Friday Solyndra’s CEO, Brian Harrison, and its CFO, W.G. Stover, were expected to testify.

Although Messrs. Harrison and Stover will appear before the Committee as scheduled, we will not hear anything useful.  Their lawyers sent a letter to the Committee yesterday advising that their clients would be invoking their rights under the Fifth Amendment, and would refuse to answer any question.

Given the pending criminal investigation into Solyndra, this is probably a very smart move. 

But, there is something else that the Committee is also looking into.  The Department of Energy is now “fast-tracking” nine more “green energy” loans in an attempt to get them through the system by September 30. 

Why, you ask?

Well, all funding for these loans ceases as of October 1, and any unspent money cannot be spent.  After that date we would need another funding bill from Congress to continue the program, and, that is not likely to happen.

‘Given the apparent problems with the due diligence on the Solyndra transaction, the Committee is interested in learning more about the timelines of these deals and the due diligence conducted to close them on such a short timeline, said a letter sent to the feds by Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Any guesses as to what will happen to these loans?

 

Posted in ,

SoundOffSister

The Sound Off Sister was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and special trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Criminal Division; a partner in the Florida law firm of Shutts & Bowen, and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, School of Law. The Sound Off Sister offers frequent commentary concerning legislation making its way through Congress, including the health reform legislation passed in early 2010.

10 Comments

  1. Dimsdale on September 21, 2011 at 10:56 am

    Pleading the Fifth.? That pretty? much tells you all you need to know about this deal: coverup.
    ?
    Fast tracking more “loans” to beat the deadline smacks of an imperial administration desperate for votes, either by convincing the base that they are “green”, or just buying them the Chicago way.



  2. andy@american on September 21, 2011 at 11:19 am

    Guess we are learning what the “green” in green energy is really about.



  3. Brenden 2 on September 21, 2011 at 11:22 am

    So where did the money go?
    Can we expect to get any back?

    How much of this money was then re-drected back to the DNC or the Obama Campaign after the loans were approved?? ?



  4. Anybody but Obama on September 21, 2011 at 12:28 pm

    Solyndra applied for a second loan of $469 million right after breaking ground on their plant expansion. I wonder if that got fast tracked and funded, could be the reason for using the Feds to raid the offices.



  5. Plainvillian on September 21, 2011 at 8:18 pm

    I guess we could say these ‘green’ loan guarantees come fast and furious.



  6. ricbee on September 21, 2011 at 11:27 pm

    Their refusal to testify should mean little as all the records are seized. If they do not go to jail it will be a terrible miscarriage of justice.



    • NH-Jim on September 23, 2011 at 4:43 pm

      I don’t know, Ricbee, I seem to hear the gnashing sound of paper shredders!



  7. phil on September 22, 2011 at 7:54 am

    How about Bobo?? Will he plead the fifth, too?? After all, that’s where the buck stops.



  8. Lynn on September 22, 2011 at 8:19 am

    Let’s see, the Department of Energy is supposed to wean us of our dependency on foreign oil and they are doing what???? Sort of brings a whole new meaning to” Newspeak”.



  9. JBS on September 22, 2011 at 3:20 pm

    Records? What records? Money? What money?
    Can we expect it back? Ha!
    The Obama regime is making this country look sooooo bad. People around the world, along with many Americans,? must be looking at this in wonder and shaking their heads. I am.



featured-solar-everglades

The website's content and articles were migrated to a new framework in October 2023. You may see [shortcodes in brackets] that do not make any sense. Please ignore that stuff. We may fix it at some point, but we do not have the time now.

You'll also note comments migrated over may have misplaced question marks and missing spaces. All comments were migrated, but trackbacks may not show.

The site is not broken.