Today the House continued its investigation of the failed Department of Energy loan guarantee to the solar start-up Solyndra. Today Treasury officials were brought in to discuss the renegotiated loan guarantee and taxpayers right to recoup assets in the event of project default. Both the original statute and DOE regulations do little to ensure taxpayers will not lose (and lose big) on DOE loan guarantees.
While the question on the legality of the Solyndra deal remains uncertain, the answer to the question on whether or not taxpayers were adequately protected is a resounding NO. No because the loan guarantee came from a program that offers inadequate taxpayer protection, hands out billions in loan guarantees in a closed-door process, and, despite criticism from the Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office, has operated with little to no oversight.
Whether anything illegal happened specifically in the Solyndra case is yet to be determined, but one thing is clear: taxpayers will lose if lawmakers continue to ignore the problems with the larger Title XVII loan guarantee program.
For more information on this troubled DOE loan guarantee program, click here.
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