Green-energy subsidy recipient a toxic waste problem?
posted at 4:41 pm on February 26, 2013 by Ed Morrissey
Abound Solar already has provided its share of irony in its brief time as a taxpayer-funded green-energy player. It went bankrupt last year after spending $70 million of a $400 million loan guarantee from the Obama administration, sparking a Colorado state investigation into investor fraud. Now this “green tech” firm has been cited by Colorado as a polluter, and has ordered the receiver to get rid of chemicals and the “unsellable” solar panels Abound managed to produce:
Colorado health and environment officials have ordered Loveland-based Abound Solar, the bankrupt solar-panel maker, to clean up hazardous waste at four Front Range locations.
The Abound facilities are storing thousands of “unsellable” solar panels and thousands of gallons of toxic liquids, according to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reports.
“The Department views these 2,000 pallets of solar panels as a characteristic hazardous waste for cadmium,” a report on a Denver warehouse said.
The Denver Post helpfully explains that cadmium is a known carcinogen and toxic for humans. The clean-cost will be at least $2.2 million, which will come out before taxpayers get any of their money back.
That’s if we get any back at all. Before Abound went out of business, it had to replace millions of dollars’ worth in defective panels, and according to the report from Colorado, their production quality didn’t improve as a result. Inspectors found 500 pallets of defective panels in one warehouse, and at another, roughly 1,800 that they considered unsellable. That means that instead of making some money on a clearance sale that might reimburse investors and taxpayers, it’s going to cost even more to unwind the operations that the Obama administration subsidized.
And this is what is meant by green energy. Irony abounds, no?
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Holder will settle out of court.
Liam on May 7, 2013 at 4:04 PM
Dude. There are literally Solar City ADS on this article right now.
LOL.
MikeknaJ on May 7, 2013 at 4:04 PM
As soon as they personally pay back every dollar they donated to Obama’s campaign using salaries subsidized by us taxpayers.
I hate more laws, but any organization being subsidized by the taxpayer should be forbidden to donate to a candidate or political organization.
BacaDog on May 7, 2013 at 4:06 PM
Translation:
We’re incompetent leeches with unproven technology and we would only last a few weeks on our own.
fogw on May 7, 2013 at 4:08 PM
hey, what the hell,
I mean, isn’t Charlie Rangel SUING the US House for
the fact he was Censored??
ToddPA on May 7, 2013 at 4:10 PM
Dreaming is fun, isn’t it? If wishes were horses, we Conservatives would all be a mix of Pegasus and unicorns.
Liam on May 7, 2013 at 4:10 PM
Yet another scummy thing that douche scammer Elon Musk & his cousins are up to.
Paying for their companies with public money.
Venture Socialism.
tetriskid on May 7, 2013 at 4:11 PM
Everybody is on the dole. It’s just a matter of who’s teat your suckling — state or fed. Neither party has clean hands. Washington is money-drunk. They don’t give a crap about you from either side of the aisle. Here’s Chris Christie, our next POTUS. I thought he was promising.
Tea Party knuckleheads are right to focus on government spending. Problem is that they do so selectively. But GOP is feckless against them because I and every other person reading this supported GWB in solidarity after 9/11. He spent us into our demise.
Without the folly of Iraq and initial bailouts and KATRINA we would have a REPUBLICAN in office now. By kowtowing to GWB uber-spending GOP became useless and Tea Party Haters move in. They push the correct message of fiscal-scrutiny but saddle the right with its current minority problem.
Without GWB the Tea Party would just be the Republican Party and America would be better off.
Capitalist Hog on May 7, 2013 at 4:12 PM
SOMEBODY needs to take responsibility for me, and aallll these solar panels.
onomo on May 7, 2013 at 4:12 PM
sick and tired
of being sick and tired
everyday is some effing BS.
bazil9 on May 7, 2013 at 4:14 PM
Crowdfund solar-powered 3D printers.
Capitalist Hog on May 7, 2013 at 4:16 PM
“Solhr pahnhls?”
squint on May 7, 2013 at 4:19 PM
Run all fridges and ACs on solar power. Drain the sun! Lure GOD out to bumpstart the solar system.
I mean come on. He’s got no digital footprint. Hubble selfie?
Capitalist Hog on May 7, 2013 at 4:20 PM
Note to self: Never do drugs. You don’t need them.
Capitalist Hog on May 7, 2013 at 4:21 PM
Heh. Well, we can dream can’t we.
BacaDog on May 7, 2013 at 4:22 PM
When liberals get final control, you might need them just to stay sane.
Liam on May 7, 2013 at 4:23 PM
I didn’t. I was 14. But even then, I knew that invading Iraq was a really, really bad idea. Two of my brothers served with honor over there and in Afghanistan, but even still I never supported GWB.
If conservatives ever want a seat at the table again, it’s time to disavow support for GWB and his evil policies. Stop trying to defend him against the liberals. They have good points. Instead, we need to stake out a new ground and defend what is defensible. And then call out the libs on their support for George W Obama the Second.
JoseQuinones on May 7, 2013 at 4:24 PM
EFF all these Em effers.
Soon, we’re going to be charged to play certain YouTube videos.
Eff em! here you go Dirtbags!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0YrXjeRSoE
ToddPA on May 7, 2013 at 4:24 PM
Without GWB means we would have suffered under Al “Incinerator” Gore, the WTC would still have been attacked, and we would be paying the carbon tax simply because we exist.
As to the TEA Party fiscal security/minority (I believe you mean ‘immigrant’) problem? Those two topics are inseparably linked. Solve one, the other self-solves.
BobMbx on May 7, 2013 at 4:24 PM
Keep in mind that liberals will try stealing those from you just as well.
Liam on May 7, 2013 at 4:25 PM
I’m sure Sheila Jackson Lee would say the Constitution implies a right to sue the government for more free money, too.
Marcola on May 7, 2013 at 4:39 PM
More likely to go this way.
hawkeye54 on May 7, 2013 at 4:43 PM
H
Yes, they will keep trying to get everything we have under their complete control, and it is’t stealing to them. They own it all outright and only allow us to have assets to use at their discretion. Until they decide to take whatever we have back into their direct possession.
hawkeye54 on May 7, 2013 at 4:47 PM
“What is this ‘rent-seeking’ those conservatives keep talking about? Sounds like hate speech to me.” -Average Lefty/Dem voter
visions on May 7, 2013 at 4:49 PM
The thing that kills me about these programs is that I’ve installed my own solar electric systems before but I can’t get any state or federal support for doing so. I can only get the rebates and tax breaks if it’s installed by an approved contractor, who will do the work I could have done myself and charge 10 times as much to cover the required “training”, Union-rate wages, and bureaucratic graft. These programs have nothing to do with green energy and everything to do with The Green.
Socratease on May 7, 2013 at 4:50 PM
Sounds like they want a refund on their campaign contributions.
GarandFan on May 7, 2013 at 5:06 PM
…never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
Dub C
Capitalist Hog on May 7, 2013 at 5:31 PM
Wow, just about to have this company install our residential and business solar. If they are already out of money after the initial public offering just 4 months ago then I say they will follow 90% of the companies Obama invested our money in and headed for Chapter 11 or 7. SolarCity would not have allowed this information be released if they could survive so we’ll now be looking for a company we know will exist next year. Yes, I’m afraid its once again fork time for another “sharp as tepid butter” Obama entity.
Tangerinesong on May 7, 2013 at 7:17 PM