Are You Making The Most Of DOE Loan And Grant Opportunities?
DOE is handing out billions in grants and loan guarantees. And, as you might expect, there have been some bumps along the way. The watchdog GAO reports: "DOE's [loan guarantee program] has treated applicants inconsistently, favoring some and disadvantaging others."
So how is it that some companies are favored and others not? Well, take the case of Solyndra. According to Jim McTague in Barron's, Solyndra has already been awarded $535 million in taxpayer-b
acked federal loan guarantees. Its application for another $469 million in loan guarantees is pending. Solyndra "was supposed to be the cornerstone of Obama's vaunted green-energy future, but now is a king-size political embarrassment....[it] last month cancelled (sic) a $300 million initial public offering because auditor PricewaterhouseCoooper said its operating losses and negative cash flow raise doubts about its ability to continue as a going concern." However, according to David Freddoso in the Washington Examiner, "Solyndra has hired people that people in Washington listen to, spending $140,000 on lobbyists in just the first quarter of this year....The company's issues: the stimulus, the second stimulus, an energy subsidy bill and the cap-and-trade bill." Thus the funding flows.
To be clear, the DOE is no worse, and arguably much better, than most other Federal and State government agencies with respect to the distribution of loan guarantees and grant funds. And, Solyndra does bring new solar panel technology to the table. Even so, the McTague and Freddoso articles (and you should read both in their entirety) usefully demonstrate what corporate executives and their advisors must do to compete effectively for taxpayer dollars.
