At today's House hearing on the Solyndra loan guarantee, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton questioned Energy Secretary Steven Chu on the decision to approve financial backing of the now-bankrupt solar manufacturer.
Upton lamented the "red flags" that outside parties were raising about the viability of Solyndra in 2009 when the loan guarantee was issued, wondering if those concerns were "either ignored or minimized by senior officials."
However, during the exact same time period when the Solyndra loan guarantee was being reviewed, Upton asked the DOE to approve a loan guarantee to a Michigan-based solar manufacturer — just months after the company stopped production at its plant and two weeks after announcing it would lay off 400 workers.The company, Uni-Solar, manufactures flexible amorphous-silicon thin film solar materials that be applied to a variety of surfaces.
The Washington Post reports on Upton's letter to the DOE, co-written with a bi-partisan group of lawmakers, which asked the agency to consider backing Uni-Solar, even while its parent company, Energy Conversion Devices, was publicly facing problems:
ECD once looked so promising that President George W. Bush visited the company's headquarters in 2006 as he pitched new energy initiatives for the country.
By late 2009, however, the company was struggling. That December, ECD announced a restructuring plan to turn around the company, including laying off 400 employees.
Two weeks later, Upton and the other lawmakers sent their letter to Chu highlighting United Solar and three other clean-energy companies.
Upton has been a vocal critic of the loan guarantee program, criticizing the government for supposedly "picking winners and losers" and "playing venture capitalist." But before the Solyndra bankruptcy, Upton asked the DOEfor loan guarantees to a number of clean energy companies in Michigan, saying he wanted to develop "an aggressive strategy to diversify our economy through investments in growth sectors." One of them was for Uni-Solar, which had recently suspended manufacturing and announced mass layoffs.
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