Posts Tagged by Green Energy
A123 Systems Going Bankrupt: Another Green Energy Dud!
| March 30, 2012 | Posted by Beth Shaw under Energy, Issues |
A123 Systems
Today’s failed environmentally friendly stimulus program is A123 Systems, hailed by former Democratic Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm as a federal stimulus ‘success story. Nancy Pelosi called it a ‘great example of how Recovery Act funding is helping American companies.’ Nearly $300 million of Obama Recovery Act Funds and $135 million in tax credits and subsides used to keep jobs and money in Pelosi’s state.
So how’s this Obama tax-payer funded money working out for us? Well, it’s on the verge of bankruptcy. Another Solyndra? Is there any end to the Obama funded eco-friendly businesses that just aren’t working? At what point do we learn that utilizing the resources that are abundantly available to us in this country are not only the answer to our energy problems but also the answer to our economic and employment problems?
From Michelle Malkin:
How’s the return on government investment? This green dud will have taxpayers seeing red. A123′s official company motto is “Power. Safety. Life.” But the firm’s reality is “Out of power. Endangering safety. Clinging to life.”
Earlier this week, the company announced a recall of malfunctioning battery packs manufactured in Livonia, Mich. A123 makes the products for Fisker, Chevrolet and BMW electric cars. Consumer Reports flagged the potentially hazardous defect caused by faulty calibration earlier this month. The recall will cost upward of $55 million.
A Deutsche Bank analyst wrote: “We no longer have enough confidence that (A123) can raise sufficient capital (without massive equity dilution) and/or continue to augment their book to future business. Recent quality issues may lead to concerns over (A123′s) ability to manufacture with quality at high volumes, potentially leading to customer defections or at least difficulty in procuring new contracts.”
When it rains, it pours. The dead battery debacle follows news of 125 layoffs in November due to diminished vehicle production by top client Fisker Auto. That troubled company (which A123 has itself dumped $20.5 million of stock equity and cash into) admitted faulty wiring problems with its electric cars.
While Michigan workers lost their jobs, Massachusetts executives burned through $155 million in cash this year and the company stock plummeted to just over $1. A123 lost a net $172 million over the first three quarters of 2011 and has yet to see a profit. Like Solyndra’s top brass, A123 managers have been living high on the hog and partying it up with Democratic Party bigwigs.
The Michigan-based Mackinac Center reports that in February, “A123′s Compensation Committee approved a $30,000 raise for (Chief Financial Officer David) Prystash just days after (its primary customer) Fisker Automotive announced the U.S. Energy Department had cut off what was left of its $528.7 million loan it had previously received.”
Prystash’s hike was 8.5 percent, taking his base salary from $350,000 to $380,000. One A123 vice president, Robert Johnson, received a 20.7 percent pay increase that saw his salary grow from $331,250 to $400,000. Another vice president, Jason Forcier, vice president of the automotive solutions group, climbed from a $331,250 base salary to $350,000.
Analyst Paul Chesser of the D.C.-based National Legal and Policy Center raises pointed questions about the timing of the pay raises: “Were their actions intended as greater protection for their executives in the case of a sale or bankruptcy of the company?” Inquiring House GOP investigators looking into the Obama Department of Energy’s big green boondoggles should want to know.
And taxpayers should want to know more about the cozy ties between A123 and the White House and Democratic politicians. A123 Systems CEO David Vieau showered Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee and key Democrats on Capitol Hill with nearly $17,000 before receiving the stimulus injection. A123 enviro-boodle also flowed to Mass. Sen. John Kerry and Rep. Ed Markey. Betting on “smart grid” cronyism has been a bonanza for the well-connected — and a big, bad bet for taxpayers.
Bill Daley Is Gone After He Ordered Investigation Into Obama’s Green Energy Loans
| January 13, 2012 | Posted by Beth Shaw under Energy |
Bill Daley is the second of Obama’s Chief of Staff’s to leave his position in less than a year. In fact, there have been four to leave in the past three years. Rumor has it that Bill Daley resigned because his more business friendly attitude was in stark contrast to the Obama administration’s hardline environmentalism which is anything BUT business friendly. It is certainly NOT an attitude that is conducive to job creation within the United States.
Last year, both Barack Obama and EPA officials were attempting to impliment tough new ozone standards – standards that many American manufacturers were warning would decimate an already unstable industry during a time of recession. According to a Politico report, it was Bill Daley who managed to shift the president’s decision to not favoring the stricter ozone regulations. How he managed to do so remains unknown.
Another Politico report indicated the following approximately two months ago:
The White House has ordered an independent review of all Energy Department loan guarantees in response to Solyndra’s collapse.
Chief of staff Bill Daley tasked former Treasury Department official Herb Allison to lead the 60-day review into more than two dozen loan guarantees approved since the start of the Obama administration
It should be noted that Herb Allison, the son of an FBI agent and a veteran of the Vietnam War, is also a Republican – and Bill Daley chose him to head up the investigation into the failed Obama green loans program.
And now Bill Daley is gone from the Obama White House…
Cameron J. Potter: Former CFO of ‘Green’ Group Pleads Guilty to Skimming Federal Funds
| September 15, 2011 | Posted by Beth Shaw under Issues |
Cameron J. Potter is a former CFO of ‘green’ group who has plead guilty to skimming Federal funds. Read more abut it below and see his mugshot photo.
We are always told that the ‘green’ in the greenies movement is all about the good green Earth, but one scandal after the next in the ‘green’ movement is exposing that the ‘green’ in the green movement stands for an entirety different green. The green of hard cold cash.
And all these ‘green’ groups seem to be getting their riches from our tax dollars through the Federal government. Take Cameron J. Potter, former CFO of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy for instance. He’s just plead guilty of fraud.
The former chief financial officer for an organization devoted to promoting green energy admitted Tuesday he succumbed to the allure of another green — cash money.
Cameron J. Potter pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips to bilking the Department of Energy of more than $400,000 intended for legitimate use by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy to promote renewable energy sources, typically dubbed “green energy.”
Potter, 31, was employed as the chief financial officer for SACE when, in 2006, he concocted a scheme to siphon off money awarded the advocacy group by the DOE for his own personal gain, Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Dale told Phillips.
“He created false invoices and submitted those invoices to SACE for payment,” Dale said.
Stephen Smith, the alliance’s executive director, said today that he and senior managers uncovered the scam more than two years ago, fired Potter and notified federal authorities.
According to a plea agreement brokered between Dale and defense attorney Donald A. Bosch, Potter admitted to a scam that spanned three years. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering as part of the plea.
Dale said Potter set up accounts through PayPal, an online banking service, which bore names similar to businesses SACE typically used to carry out various consulting services. He then crafted invoices for work never performed and paid them through the SACE’s American Express account.
“Potter then electronically transferred the stolen funds from his PayPal accounts to his own bank account,” Dale said.
Dale listed in the plea agreement a 2007 purchase by Potter using the purloined money of a 1998 Lexus as evidence of the money laundering count.
As part of Tuesday’s plea, Potter agreed to give up any money left in both his personal bank accounts and retirement accounts that were funded with his ill-gotten gain.
Bosch told Phillips that Potter is a “permanent resident of Australia” and may face deportation as a result of his conviction in the embezzlement case. Dale said it’s not clear yet whether Potter was a legal resident of the United States during the embezzlement scheme.
SACE is a constant critic of the Tennessee Valley Authority and its coal-fired generation of electric energy.
Potter remains free on bond pending sentencing in January.
Solyndra Scandal Continues to Grow: White House Favors, Stimulus Bailout, Low-Interest Loans, Bankruptcy
| September 7, 2011 | Posted by Beth Shaw under Energy, Issues |
The Solyndra scandal continues to grow with revelations of White House favors using tax-payer funded loans and bankruptcy. Meanwhile, the Obama Administration continues to stonewall answering any questions about how and why the solar-energy company, who had made significant contributions to the Obama campaign, was given special favors for loans when they had been rated sub-par for loan requests by the Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank prior to Obama becoming President.
Solyndra was given over half a billion in loans at far less than its competitors. George Kaiser, a major investor in Solyndra, Obama’s poster-child for green jobs, and frequent visitor to the White House is to get his investment back before tax-payers are reimbursed for the half a billion dollar loss in the Solyndra collapse. In addition, 1,000 more people are out of work due to the company’s collapse.
From ABC News:
The $535 million loan to Solyndra Inc., issued by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank, included a quarterly interest rate of 1.025 percent, the government bank reported in July. Of 18 Energy Department loans cited in the bank’s report, Solyndra’s rate was lowest. Eight other Energy Department projects, each also backed by the Federal Financing Bank, came with rates three or four times higher, the report shows.
That treatment is in keeping with the history of the loan to the California solar panel maker, an arrangement inked in September 2009 with great fanfare — and touted, not long after, during a factory visit from the president. Monthly government bank reports filed since then reveal Solyndra’s rate as the lowest for any energy-related project in nearly every report; in every case its rate was well below that of most energy projects, which ranged from cutting-edge electric car makers to wind and solar ventures. …
Solyndra’s most prolific financial backer is George Kaiser, an Oklahoma oil billionaire who was a bundler of campaign donations for Obama’s 2008 race. Kaiser’s Argonaut Ventures and its affiliates have been the single largest shareholder of Solyndra, according to SEC filings and other records. The company holds 39 percent of Solyndra’s parent company, bankruptcy records filed Tuesday show.
Under terms of the bankruptcy filing, investors including Argonaut — which led a $75 million round of financing for Solyndra earlier this year — will stand in line before the federal government and other creditors.
When Solyndra announced that round of fundraising this February, it noted that the DOE had refinanced terms of the $535 million loan to extend the payment period. Under an “inter-creditor agreement” cited in the bankruptcy filing, the investors in the $75 million financing are considered first lien holders. That leaves Obama officials to confront the prospect of waiting behind private companies.
It seems it time for the Obama administration to start answering some questions about the Solyndra scandal.
UPDATE: The FBI is now investigating Solyndra.
You can read more on the Solyndra scandal, here, here, here, here, here.
