Well, I am ashamed to admit that I had no previous knowledge of the Solyndra scandal. Even though I am a devout NPR listener. This is a political scandal…one that could drum up conspiracy theories. The mysterious disappearance of $535 million dollars….
The Roots:
Solyndra, previously known as Gronet Technologies, was founded by Chris Gronet in 2005. This cute lil’ go green or go home company aimed to provide solar panels where they were missing. Which was in 2005, many solar panels.
And then came the Political Involvement:
During the oh so green George Dubya days…… oops! The Energy Policy act of 2005 was passed under the Bush administration. There were clear signs that energy was becoming an issue, thus the president adopted this Act. The Department of Energy was granted the right to provide loans to up- and–coming GREEN companies in America. Sure enough the applications poured in! One of which was from Solyndra. Years passed and the application was handed around to be examined and explored. In 2009 the energy committee announced that Solyndra had many a good idea and was built from impressive goals. But, there was not enough information to fully commit to a loan. There appeared to be too many cracks in the concept presented by Solyndra.
What did investment entail?:
4,000 jobs during a tough time!
Solar panels galore! Sounds convincing.
In March 2009 the loan was guaranteed and approved.
What HAPPENED?! :
Hope for a greener America was deflated and mocked. Solyndra filed for bankruptcy in August, 2011- firing 1,100 workers and stopped all manufacturing. That’s it. No comments. No explanations.
THEN CAME THE FLOOD OF SPECULATIONS: Was the bill rushed because of democratic investors in both the Obama campaign and Solyndra? And many other forms of fodder for the flames of stupidity.
UHMMM, where did that moolah go?! That taxpayer moolah:
Nobody really knows. There has been speculation that the company bought all sorts of new and shiny goodies for production use. $535 million bucks worth? How can that be? Apparently, Solyndra began to be careless with her cash flow. Naturally the FBI and U.S. Treasury Department took control and delved into an investigation. Solyndra’s president thereafter resigned and insisted that the company be taken over by bankruptcy specialists.
This seems to be a case of good intentions and unfortunate results. Sparked by a generous, almost unlikely gesture from the Bush administration in 2005, Solyndra could have been a robust and sustainable fire cultivated by both Republican and Democrats. Truly the mystery of money is what gets the American people going. The thought of pure intentions backed up by dirty money evokes images of fraud and confusion.Mistakes are made and risks are taken. Unfortunately, the Solyndra scandal is a blemish on the growing and hormonal Green America. We must prevail!
LINKS FOR THE CURIOUS!
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/opinion/the-phony-solyndra-scandal.html?_r=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra_scandal
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