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Good Money After Bad

Posted by LOGAN PENZA in At TMV.
Sep 28th, 2011 | 6 responses

Not content to lick its wounds from the growing scandal over government loans to the defunct Solyndra company, the Obama administration is doling out more taxpayer-backed loans to “green energy” schemes.

One would hope that the Administration has at least learned something from the Solyndra scandal and done more thorough due diligence investigating whether these new schemes actually have any hope of working, but the near-total opacity of the process for selecting the technologies and companies that will be favored makes that faith difficult to sustain.

It is ironic that this generates so little concern after nearly 8 years of hysterical hyperventilating about the Bush Administration’s consultations with oil company executives in shaping its energy strategy, but such double standards among the media and blogosphere are so common nowadays as to not even be “news” at all.  The real concern may be the degree to which these continuing handouts “investments” continue to undermine public confidence in the ability of government to effectively and efficiently promote alternative energy development.

Ultimately, if targeting these handouts investments continues to be based in part on the degree to which the recipients at least appear to be politically well-connected, they will continue to feed growing public belief that government promotion of research is inevitably corrupt and self-serving.  For anyone who really does hope that we can start seeing some serious progress on alternative energy research instead of more hopeless wheel-spinning, we can only hope that the Obama Administration is being less foolish and corrupt as this news makes it appear.



6 Responses to “Good Money After Bad”

  1. rudi says:
    September 28, 2011 at 6:59 pm

    LOL Love the site and it’s tags:
    Labels: Barack Obama, corrupt Democrats, miserable failure

    It’s a power generation plant, doubt there will be many full time jobs at a passive green solar plant.

    At least it’s cheaper than $17 billion for the Tampa nuke plant.
    http://cltampa.com/tampa/progress-energy-plans-nuclear-power-plant-north-of-tampa/Content?oid=2033638

    Despite the distance, the plant will affect Tampa Bay residents in at least one aspect: our wallets. Starting next spring, we’ll fund the $17 billion project with a 25-percent rate hike in our Progress Energy electricity bills.

    You can’t see Progress Energy’s proposed nuclear plant site from the road. Trees block the view from every side. According to spokeswoman Jessica Lambert, Progress Energy bought 3,100 acres to buffer the plant from the rest of the county.

    “We’re building in the center of that property,” she says. “Nobody will be able to see the cooling towers.”

    The closest population center is Inglis, a tiny town consisting of little more than a few restaurants, a Dollar General and five churches. The town’s only claim to fame is a 2001 proclamation banning Satan from city limits.

    In a small fishing town like Inglis, the bait shop is like the barbershop. Every day, the white-haired owner of Hook-Line and Sinker Bait Shop, Jerry Homa, talks with locals about the weather, which fish are biting and the future.

    “I think most people support it,” he says about the nuclear plant. “Except the older people who have been here 30 or 40 years. They don’t want the change. They’re afraid of change.”

    Homa cautiously supports the nuclear plant, too. Area jobs are scarce, he points out. Besides, the warm water discharge from the plant will help fishing in the wintertime.

    Down the road at the town’s gas station, a clerk named Lindy sums up her neighbors’ opinions in three words: “People need work.”

    If approved, Progress Energy estimates up to 3,000 people will work on the plant’s construction. Another 2,000 positions may be created through auxiliary jobs like new housing and restaurants. After construction, Progress Energy will employ 800-900 workers.

    But nobody mentions many of those jobs will require specialized training and college degrees. Only 10 percent of Levy County residents hold a four-year degree.

  2. DaGoat says:
    September 28, 2011 at 7:54 pm

    Another link to a crap opinion website, too bad since there are plenty of better ones to choose from on this topic.

    Moving towards non-traditional sources of energy has to happen and it is appropriate for the government to take a leadership role. Part of that has to be making sure tax dollars are being spent wisely and not just throwing money at speculative ventures. Whether this is throwing good money after bad remains to be seen, but you would think the recent Solyndra debacle might have spurred the Obama administration to move a little more cautiously.

  3. rudi says:
    September 28, 2011 at 8:29 pm

    @DaGoat
    This link to Reason looks at the cronyism from BOTH parties.
    http://reason.com/archives/2011/09/26/solyndra-and-the-gop

    Republicans have been celebrating the bankruptcy of taxpayer-funded solar energy company Solyndra as a scandal that will taint the Obama administration and its “green jobs” push. But it’s not just Democrats who are entangled in this one.

    Solyndra’s director of government relations since October 2010 was Victoria Sanville. According to her Linked In profile, she had spent the previous seven years working as a congressional staffer for three Republican congressmen, John Sweeney, Peter Roskam, and Michael Graves.

    Another Washington-based Solyndra government-relations professional was Joseph Pasetti; his Capitol Hill experience came as an aide in the office of Alfonse D’Amato, a Republican senator from New York.

    Solyndra’s registered outside lobbyists at the Glover Park Group included Alex Mistri, who worked from 2005 to 2008 as special assistant to President George W. Bush, a Republican. Before that, he was chief of staff to congressman Bill Shuster, a Republican.
    …

  4. DaGoat says:
    September 28, 2011 at 10:45 pm

    Rudi I really don’t care if it was a bi-partisan waste of money. just that it was a waste of money. Whoever is making the decisions needs to tighten things up.

  5. ShannonLeee says:
    September 29, 2011 at 5:19 am

    “Part of that has to be making sure tax dollars are being spent wisely and not just throwing money at speculative ventures. Whether this is throwing good money after bad remains to be seen, but you would think the recent Solyndra debacle might have spurred the Obama administration to move a little more cautiously”

    well said

  6. CStanley says:
    September 29, 2011 at 11:32 am

    Those who are complaining about the linked source may want to read the NYT piece on these grants and loan guarantees.

    It does sound (at least at first blush) that these might be more intelligent investments of taxpayer dollars – the loans are going to production facilities, not manufacturers as in Solyndra where the govt bet our money on the wrong technology (and with poor managers to boot.)

    But the rush job is still eyebrow raising, and for those who won’t refuse to read a right wing source,

    The take home point there is that the $737M loan trail leads to an investor whose brother is married to Nancy Pelosi. Cronyism or coincidence…YMMV.

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