$737 million in green-tech loan to company connected to Pelosi family?
posted at 8:45 am on September 29, 2011 by Ed Morrissey
As Tina wrote yesterday, Americans still favor government subsidies to companies unable to otherwise compete in the green-tech industry. That may be especially true of Nancy Pelosi and her family, but not exactly for reasons of environmental improvement. Let’s start with this report from The Hill, via Gateway Pundit and Instapundit, on the latest approved green-tech loan from the Department of Energy:
DOE announced a $737 million loan guarantee to help finance construction of the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, a 110-megawatt solar-power-generating facility in Nye County, Nev. The project is sponsored by Tonopah Solar, a subsidiary of California-based SolarReserve.
The Energy Department said the project will result in 600 construction jobs and 45 permanent jobs.
Forty-five permanent jobs? That puts the cost per permanent job at over $16 million, a figure that could employ perhaps a hundred people had the capital remained in the hands of the private sector that produced it. Whatever else these green-tech loans are, they certainly are not job-creation stimulus.
But that’s not the best part. As both Gateway Pundit and American Glob discover, one of SolarReserve’s “investment partners” is Pacific Corporate Group, through its Clean Energy and Technology Fund. And PCG’s executive director is Ron Pelosi — brother of Nancy Pelosi’s husband. Suddenly, this deal makes a lot more sense than spending $737 million for forty-five jobs.
This surely is just a coincidence … in the same way that the push by the Obama administration to approve a loan to a failing Solyndra backed by one of his big campaign bundlers was just a coincidence. Recall Reason TV’s excellent video yesterday on the urban-renewal movement, in which governments seized property ostensibly to improve neighborhoods but parsed out the spoils to the politically connected ? That’s exactly what’s going on with this program, and with Barack Obama’s demands for more blank checks for stimulus. The only thing Obama’s stimulating is the pockets of his cronies.
Blowback
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More Potemkin villages!
Badger40 on September 29, 2011 at 8:50 AM
Pelosi is the “BEST” friend of barry so she must be rewarded.
tim c on September 29, 2011 at 8:51 AM
If the GOP congress isn’t on this like white on rice, instantly, they are obviously part of the problem and not the solution. The only way this could get this far is fearlessness on the part of the Corruptocrats.
Akzed on September 29, 2011 at 8:51 AM
And what should we do about this? A harshly worded rebuke, perhaps. Or an “Obamateurism?”
Prison sentences and impeachment are warranted for this kind of behavior, except in the minds of polite “conservatives.”
MrScribbler on September 29, 2011 at 8:54 AM
Where is Darrell Issa? He needs to move while the guns are still smoking, or evidence will be “lost” and witnesses will learn their lies.
horatio on September 29, 2011 at 8:54 AM
Would this be part of Hope or part of Change, because I’m having trouble remembering what it was that PBHO promised back in the day.
Bishop on September 29, 2011 at 8:55 AM
I’m thinking 4th or 5th cousin once removed is the closest sllowable relation that should be in the mix for getting the goodies from the Senate or House. That way the smell won’t kill most Americans.
mkm19602000 on September 29, 2011 at 8:55 AM
darwin-t on September 29, 2011 at 8:56 AM
Pelosi and Reid may be the most corrupt legislative leaders in our history. When incompetence is this obvious, what else could you expect from Congress but total failure as we are seeing. Add an incompetetent narcissist as a president and the total collapse of life as we know it becomes more inevitable than it has ever been. We are being attacked from within by a mental disorder known as liberalism. When leadership has no concept of reality, rock bottom becomes a logical conclusion.
volsense on September 29, 2011 at 8:56 AM
A new scandal every month, I’m thinking Issa is having a difficult time finding hours in the day to investigate everything.
Bishop on September 29, 2011 at 8:56 AM
Of course they are part of the problem. The entrenched power that runs the GOP wants this cash for their friends and benefactors. A true Republican reformer in the White House is the very last thing they want. If they can’t have one of their own, they’d rather have Obama.
Extrafishy on September 29, 2011 at 8:59 AM
What does it say about the Left that they believed either this would go unnoticed by the press and accepted by the public?
Cindy Munford on September 29, 2011 at 9:00 AM
Nancy in the swamp she promised to drain. Oh, boy, another Dem scandal. 2012 is shaping up to be a bad year for the Dems. I can’t wait.
JimK on September 29, 2011 at 9:00 AM
And Nixon resigned.
faraway on September 29, 2011 at 9:02 AM
But there is absolutely no evidence that funds were awarded due to political influence….above board…….honest to goodness……take my word on it……(Nixon tapes in background repeating “I’m not a crook”).
Herb on September 29, 2011 at 9:02 AM
My hometown power company provides electricity to 11,225 customers, generating 293.55mw of power to do.
With these numbers, this project will power 4,206 customers, or $175,225 per customer. Will you pay $175,000 to hook your home up to the grid, before any actual charges for electricity used?
There really needs to be politicians making points such as this. There will always be corrupt trash among the left, and this country can survive that. The country can not survive with leadership that is going Full Retard on basic math skills, and running the economy as such.
MNHawk on September 29, 2011 at 9:04 AM
Ed, why the question mark? What part of this is uncertain?
If I post this in Facebook, folks will think it’s a theory or a wild, unproved accusation & not bother to read it.
itsnotaboutme on September 29, 2011 at 9:05 AM
Just like the company of Feinstein’s husband received war contracts back in 2005 or so and the left said nothing; too busy screaming “Halliburton!” to notice, I guess.
Bishop on September 29, 2011 at 9:05 AM
Let me see, there is ONE non-candidate on the national stage that is talking about both parties being in tandem on stuff like this and her name is….aww everybody says she’s unelectable.
Herb on September 29, 2011 at 9:08 AM
The Democrats know what is about to happen to their majority in the Senate and their minority status in the House is about to grow in 2012. They also know they are about to loose the White House at the same time.
They are plundering as much monies out of the public coffers as possible because when they leave office next year their political careers are dead.
They understand without the kickback, political donations and “Favors” they have grown accustom too during their time in Washington, they will have to face the grim reality of the economic mess they have created in the private sector.
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has no ability to be a productive force in the private sector and thus is building all the wealth she can to keep her from having to go out and,, find,, a way to support her lifestyle.
The Democrats have given us a Culture of Corruption and now they are giving us a Season of Treason.
Should we expect anything less than Theft of Wealth as they are leaving office??
If you do, you might want to educate yourself. Going through your life being Gullible is not something that’s going to end well.
Delta Wild Man on September 29, 2011 at 9:08 AM
This is out and out embezzlement and fraud. If we didn’t have GOP leaders that were afraid of their own shadows maybe some of these cases would be prosecuted.
Oh well. Guess we will just have to get rid of this GOP leadership.
Sporty1946 on September 29, 2011 at 9:09 AM
She’s just following Maxine Waters’ lead.
SouthernGent on September 29, 2011 at 9:11 AM
I guess that when Nancy Pelosi handed over the Speaker’s gavel (etched with her clinging claw marks) she neglected to turn over the broom that she was going to use to clean House. It is safely stowed in her broom closet, marked “for Republican use only.”
onlineanalyst on September 29, 2011 at 9:12 AM
Shocked! Shocked!, I say.
Also, remember that it isn’t insider trading if a Congress Critter (or their staff) does it
I am so glad Pelosi and Reid drained the swamp…
.
Fallon on September 29, 2011 at 9:12 AM
Chicago way politics from the “Most Open, Honest, and Transparent Administration EVEH” TM!
simkeith on September 29, 2011 at 9:12 AM
It says what we “always” say, Cindy Munford. The MSM is firmly in the pocket of the left.
hawkdriver on September 29, 2011 at 9:15 AM
Tammany Hall would be proud. Wasn’t that crowd Democrats too?
rbj on September 29, 2011 at 9:16 AM
Um, I think you’re missing the point entirely Ed. This is a loan guarantee, not a gift from the taxpayers for crying out loud.
I mean, seriously, what’s the chance of one of these outfits actually defaulting on their loan?
Wait, what?
pain train on September 29, 2011 at 9:17 AM
FIFY.
chemman on September 29, 2011 at 9:18 AM
St. Sarah said we were just at the tip of the iceberg with Solyndra.
gracie on September 29, 2011 at 9:19 AM
So we Americans just get to sit and watch this happen, being called racists and selfish, as all we have worked for and all our children and grandchildren would obtain goes up in smoke.
Hening on September 29, 2011 at 9:20 AM
More Potemkin villages!
[Badger40 on September 29, 2011 at 8:50 AM]
At almost 1,800 acres of federal land for the power plant site, it’s more like a Potemkin City.
I wonder, this is a federal resource, much like the oil and gas resources that companies pay royalties to access and develop. Anyone know how much money taxpayers will make in royalties from the lease arrangements? Anyone think it’s more than $1/acre/year?
Dusty on September 29, 2011 at 9:23 AM
Well, low and behold…Sarah was right.
tinkerthinker on September 29, 2011 at 9:23 AM
Sweet. My company employs ~100 people, can I get $1.474 B? Just tell me who to donate to.
WashJeff on September 29, 2011 at 9:24 AM
Well, at least they aren’t those awful low wage McDonald and Home Depot jobs. /s
bitsy on September 29, 2011 at 9:24 AM
“So, you have to give us the money so you can find out what we’re doing.”
Lourdes on September 29, 2011 at 9:27 AM
This story was actually reported on our local news station last night; they did a pretty good job of exposing the Pelosi connection also. The wife and I stared at each other wondering if we really just saw that… That bi**h has better wind up behind bars before her time is up.
Keemo on September 29, 2011 at 9:27 AM
They are openly and brazenly robbing us blind. And meanwhile, they cannot find so much as a penny to cut from the budget. Possibly because there IS NO BUDGET.
Disgusting.
Naturally Curly on September 29, 2011 at 9:33 AM
The image comes to mind (likely, quite realistically) of Democrats busy packing trunks with anything they can pickup and writing a lot of ledgers and memos in pencil with a ready-stack of erasers nearby.
I bet, realistically, that there are a lot more of these payouts (“loans”) taking place that we the public haven’t yet heard about, and most of them going to Democrats. I wonder, in fact, if we’ll ever be informed of the extent of such taking place, all before November 2012, though this year’s pace is likely at maximum since the Democrats don’t want any more information leaking to the possible voters next year about the carts-o-cash they’ve managed to “drain” from the taxpayers.
Lourdes on September 29, 2011 at 9:33 AM
What was that payout Pelosi trucked back to San Francisco from the Stimulus I heist? Something about paying for comforts for frogs in the S.F. Bay…
Lourdes on September 29, 2011 at 9:35 AM
With all the controversy, I just don’t understand the libs continuing to push/promote a convoluted agenda. I guess liberalism is truly a mental disorder!
GFW on September 29, 2011 at 9:47 AM
Bunch of crooks.
Jaibones on September 29, 2011 at 9:53 AM
Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Plant? Wow. That conjures up images. Reminds me of the “crescent embrace” crap they tried to incorporate at the memorial at the crash site of Flight 93.
parteagirl on September 29, 2011 at 9:56 AM
I’m shocked.
vcferlita on September 29, 2011 at 9:58 AM
Isn’t this normal?
Don’t both parties do this?
All the time?
I really don’t think it’s a left or right issue.
Corruption comes with every single one of them.
I’m not surprised and I’m pretty sure this kind of thing will never end.
bridgetown on September 29, 2011 at 10:04 AM
Certainly every Republican candidate should be all over this in every interview they give. It should be brought up within the first 5 minutes. The stimulus failed because it turned out to be a crony porkfest. And he wants to do it again. In terms of the sheer numbers involved this is the most corrupt administration in our history.
tommyboy on September 29, 2011 at 10:06 AM
Hmmmm, a loan guarantee. We (US Taxpayers via the Fedral DoE) haven’t given any money yet and the institution being indemnified is a bank or two. The guarantee is also subject to funds availability. So funds appropriated but not expended can be unappropriated.
.
See, I have a road map for saving BILLIONS right there. Republicans, call their “bluff!” Unappropriate all these suspicious loan and loan guarantee packages. Taxpayers (except liberals) will love it and suspicious Democrats will scream to high heaven about it. WIN-WIN !!!!!!
ExpressoBold on September 29, 2011 at 10:07 AM
All this corruption is sooooooooo discouraging and really gets me down. Yes, I understand that Obama will soon (not soon enough) will be out, but face it – all politicians are corrupt and the American taxpayer just keeps getting sh*T on.
katablog.com on September 29, 2011 at 10:09 AM
Cloward-Piven, Chicago style.
fossten on September 29, 2011 at 10:09 AM
Half will be responsible for keeping the gas generators fueled to boost up that sweet sweet subsidized “solar” power money and they need one smart one to make sure the generators are turned off at sunset to prevent any unpleasantness as happened in Italy.
BL@KBIRD on September 29, 2011 at 10:17 AM
This is the awesomeness of government. Take a sum of money that would allow a lot more than 45 18-year-old high school graduates to outright retire and turn it into just 45 jobs.
gwelf on September 29, 2011 at 10:23 AM
Obama will pillage America’s assets as much as he can for as long as he can. Rewarding his friends and friends or relatives of his important friends is just one way to distribute the loot. We have a president whose goal is to destroy our economy, and he is doing a good job.
Our Republican leadership, as mentioned above, needs to be replaced. Their almost total silence about the graft of this administration is appalling and unacceptable.
GaltBlvnAtty on September 29, 2011 at 10:24 AM
This is another danger of big government: it’s really difficult if not impossible to really root out all of the corruption. The Democrats are so bold now in their corrupt dealings because they know the media won’t hold them accountable and they come from districts where the votes won’t either and the government is so massive that their are not many reasonable ways to constrain them given the size of the system.
gwelf on September 29, 2011 at 10:26 AM
And nothing we the people can do about it.
The money’s gone…
too bad about that
golfmann on September 29, 2011 at 10:27 AM
Looking at it another way, $737 million for 110 megawatts of solar power comes out to $6.70 per watt.
If the electricity was sold at the market price of about $0.10 / kilowatt-hour, or $100 per megawatt-hour, they could conceivably sell 110 MW * $100/MWh = $11,000 per hour of electricity at maximum capacity.
Since the sun is only above the horizon half the time, or 8760/2 = 4380 hours per year, and in Las Vegas, the sun is out 85% of daylight hours, they could generate electricity 4380 * 0.85 = 3,723 hours per year, and sell it for $11,000/hr * 3,723 hr/yr = $41 million per year.
If they have to pay 45 people, say, $80,000 each in salary and bennies per year, that’s about $3.6 million/year in labor costs, and there are probably some non-labor operating costs, so let’s assume they could clear MAYBE $36 million per year, IF the plant could run at maximum capacity every hour the sun was out (even when it’s low in the sky).
At this rate, it would take the company over 20 years to pay back the principal on the loan, without interest.
Wonder if any private “venture capitalists” would finance this?
Steve Z on September 29, 2011 at 10:29 AM
I certainly hope this shocks NO ONE…..
Sponge on September 29, 2011 at 10:40 AM
Hey! Nancy is just trying to “save the planet”.
Just like when all those proposed “Carbon Credits” landed on businesses in her district.
GarandFan on September 29, 2011 at 10:42 AM
I said this yesterday. This isn’t Keynesian economics, this is flat out corruption and crony Communism at it’s finest. Keynesian would require that the money ACTUALLY go into the economy, not backers pockets.
This administration is a JOKE and needs to be dismantled and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Sponge on September 29, 2011 at 10:45 AM
Wait, $737M for 45 permanent jobs? That’s like [does math]…a million muffins per job!
That’s a lot of muffins.
DailyDanet on September 29, 2011 at 10:55 AM
It’s not their shadows they are afraid of, its what’s in their shadows that they are worried about.
As far as corruption goes, there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties I’d bet. They are just corrupt with different industries. Dems are promoters of Green and Save the Planet type industries because then they think they can claim the moral high ground. Repubs tend to go more for regular energy companies and defense contractors because then they can say they are Strong on National Defense.
It is no accident that a former Governor (who shall remain nameless since this post is not about her, per se) had to fight tooth and nail against political corruption involving regular old fossil fuel energy companies. Where there is money to be had, corruption will follow sure as sunlight on a solar panel.
The only saving grace for Repubs and their corruption is that at least they are corrupt with companies and industries that can turn a profit. Dems can’t even manage that much.
Lily on September 29, 2011 at 11:00 AM
Somebody profited from Solyndra, so from the correct perspective it was a good “investment”. That money went somewhere.
BobMbx on September 29, 2011 at 11:11 AM
Yeah, it looks bad, but just think.
They can have some showers at the plant that have glass panel screens built into them which show workers what temperature the water is before they take a shower. That’s gotta be work at least a couple of hundred million right there.
They can buy gold plated golf carts that play the theme from The Lion King when you push the horn, everyone loves The Lion King, right. That’s gotta be a few hundred million worth of feel good right there.
Oh, yeah, conference rooms with glass panels that dim when you put a charge through them, those are important to have I tell you, they’re so much better than drywall. Few more hundred million there.
Ya know, I don’t think we’ve got a big enough loan here to do all the really important stuff. We should round it up to an even bill(ion).
—————————-
On a more serious note, is there anyone in Nevada that can give us the name of whatever environmental group is opposed to this because they are trying to save some bug, lizard or bird. There has to be at least one. I’ll kick a donation to whoever is trying to get this think injuncted, if only to slow it down enough until we can get someone sensible into the WH and put a stop to this crap.
Jason Coleman on September 29, 2011 at 11:14 AM
This isn’t the first time federal monies were steered toward Pelosi’s pockets in the Bay Area as I recall. Legal, or not, it smacks of impropriety and should be stopped. Just how much longer are we going to sit by and permit this stuff go on?
ConservativeTxn on September 29, 2011 at 11:14 AM
We can expect Obama and his co-conspirators to plunder as much as they can before he is run out of town.
The process will only accelerate as the election approaches and the gang realizes he is gong to suffer a crushing defeat and the gravy train is nearing the end of the line.
Hide the silverware.
novaculus on September 29, 2011 at 11:17 AM
This doesn’t pass the ethics training I received at home or work during any part of my life. Pelosi, Reid, and our elite “Ruling Class” must have received some extraordinary interpretations of what is ethical compared to mine!
ConservativeTxn on September 29, 2011 at 11:24 AM
“The only thing Obama’s stimulating is the pockets of his cronies.”
That’s not the only thing he’s “stimulating”… The question is, did Ron Pelosi have to change his underwear when Obama & Chu were done?
Danny on September 29, 2011 at 12:00 PM
Who holds the pursestrings? Why doesn’t the House freeze all DOE funds?
ctmom on September 29, 2011 at 12:02 PM
Shameful, but Pelosi has no shame…
Khun Joe on September 29, 2011 at 12:12 PM
Well, “normal” in the sense that people are elected to Congress in a perfect world to “bring home the bacon” to their constituents, their districts.
But not a President. It’s exceptionally seedy how Obama has used the Office to funnel massive monies to what appears to be those to whom he has political indebtedness, while acting beyond-reasonably in punishing those who did not grant him (or lend him) political favors (remember the state of Arizona, an entire race and age group among that race of people he maintains emotional bitterness toward, so he’s out to let them perish for lack of care, etc.).
Congress exists to “get stuff” for members’ respective constituents, but the Democrats there have taken that purpose to a new low of greed and gratuity. They’re not necessarily helping “the people” so much as they are paying off or providing massive cash incentives to people who they plan to use toward their own benefit of more greed and gratuity.
Obama’s reduced the Presidency to something akin to a bookie joint.
Lourdes on September 29, 2011 at 12:13 PM
May the broom break when the witch rides…
Schadenfreude on September 29, 2011 at 12:29 PM
Crony statism “capitalists” at their finest.
Nancy Pelosi, the wicked witch of the west.
karenhasfreedom on September 29, 2011 at 12:33 PM
Meanwhile, also in California.
SKYFOX on September 29, 2011 at 12:56 PM
Maybe they`re building solar panels for that fish cannery in American Samoa (ahhhh…remember that oldie but goodie?). The entirety of this cabal of corrupt bastards need to go to prison, for a very very long time (not that that will EVER happen).
NY Conservative on September 29, 2011 at 12:57 PM
I am congnizant of the fact the election campaigns don’t fund themselves, but when I said that while Repubs are just as into cronyism as Dems, I mean that they actually think that stockholders and other investers who are not running for office deserve a cut of the pie as well.
Lily on September 29, 2011 at 1:16 PM
The Obama Administration
Most Corrupt Administration Evah
CatchAll on September 29, 2011 at 1:58 PM
So, where’s the ‘no corporate welfare!’ spittle flecked tirades from the Leftists?
locomotivebreath1901 on September 29, 2011 at 2:01 PM
As I said yesterday, Spain is a lot more efficient at wasting money on green jobs…
karl9000 on September 29, 2011 at 3:08 PM
The Democratic Party is completely and utterly corrupt and this entire Global Warming sham and resulting “Green” spending is simply a way for them to funnel huge amounts of cash to friends and family.
They create “Global Warming” in order to scare the people and get them to buy into billions of dollars in spending which goes to their cronies.
When are the people going to wake up to the fact that they are being robbed?
We have GOT to eject the Democrats from government at all levels. Federal, State, County, Municipal, at ALL levels of government before we are left with nothing at all and they are sitting there with their pockets full of tax money.
crosspatch on September 29, 2011 at 9:15 PM
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