Obama Prepares More ‘Executive Actions’ On Global Warming

President Barack Obama is preparing to unleash a series of “executive actions” aimed at boosting the green energy industry as part of the president’s global warming agenda.

Obama is launching a “Clean Energy Impact Investment Center” at the Energy Department to “make information about energy and climate programs … accessible and more understandable to the public, including to mission-driven investors.”

The White House is also ordering the IRS to come out with guidance and rules to get nonprofits to invest in green energy technologies, along with creating more government financing options for small businesses looking to go green.

“Today’s announcements will help ensure that even more American-made clean energy technologies can make the leap from an idea, to the laboratory, to the global marketplace,” the White House said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to unleash the power and potential of innovations that serve both our economy and our environment, and to the as-yet-unimagined breakthroughs still to come.”

The White House also took time to announce it had doubled the amount of green energy investment promises from the private sector, including $3.5 billion in commitments from environmental nonprofits and institutional investors.

President Obama has made tackling global warming a top priority during his second term in office, and it’s clear he wants to make signing a global climate treaty part of his presidential legacy. Administration officials have been working tirelessly to get other countries to sign onto a major carbon dioxide emissions reductions agreement later this year.

But the administration has seen mixed success on the diplomatic front, so it’s continuing to announce new regulations and executive orders aimed at reducing U.S. emissions. White House officials have continually argued that if other countries see the U.S. lead on emissions reductions they will follow suit.

“If I can encourage and gain commitments from the Chinese to put forward a serious plan to start curbing their greenhouse gases, and that then allows us to leverage the entire world for the conference that will be taking place later this year in Paris,” Obama told VICE News in an interview.

Via: Daily Caller

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Report: IRS Hands Out $14 Billion For Green Energy, Doesn’t Keep Track Of It

A new government watchdog report found that the Internal Revenue service has handed out billions of dollars to support green energy projects, and then failed to mention how the money was spent on building new power generation.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports that IRS tax subsidies to green energy operators “accounted for an estimated $13.7 billion in forgone revenue to the federal government for renewable projects and $1.4 billion for traditional projects” between 2004 and 2013.

That’s a lot of money, but the IRS can’t (or won’t) tell government auditors how much green energy generating capacity their tax subsidies are supporting. The GAO says the IRS “is not required to collect project level data from all taxpayers” who claim an Investment Tax Credit (ITC) or Production Tax Credit (PTC).

“IRS officials stated that IRS is unlikely to collect additional data on these tax credits unless it is directed to do so,” the GAO reported. “Since 1994, GAO has encouraged greater scrutiny of tax expenditures, including data collection. Without project-level data on the ITC and PTC, Congress cannot evaluate their effectiveness as it considers whether to reauthorize or extend them.”

Via: Daily Caller

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Repeating History: Obama Administration Ignored Warning Signs On Another Green Energy Company

The Department Of Energy Failed To Disclose Concerns That ECOtality, A Green Tech Company Awarded $135 Federal Funding, Was Headed Toward Bankruptcy. “The Department of Energy failed to disclose concerns about a green-technology company that won $135 million in federal funding but ended up filing for bankruptcy in September, according to a watchdog report released this week.” (Josh Hicks, “Energy Dept. Failed To Report Concerns As Green-Tech Firm Was Heading For Bankruptcy,” Washington Post , 11/7/13)

ECOtality Is Still Due To Receive $26 Million In Funding. “DOE Inspector General Gregory Friedman noted that the firm, San Francisco-based Ecotality, is still due to receive $26 million from the agency for testing electric vehicles.” “The the agency has suspended firm’s Recovery Act money, but not a $26 million award for vehicle testing. The Energy Department is not required to pay for the latter unless the work is done.” (Josh Hicks, “Energy Dept. Failed To Report Concerns As Green-Tech Firm Was Heading For Bankruptcy,”Washington Post , 11/7/13)

The Administration Knew As Early May That ECOtality Was Not On Schedule To Meet An Important Milestone. “The report said the DOE knew in May that Ecotality was not on track to meet an important milestone for a grant to install charging stations and that agency officials failed to disclose that information for an audit that the inspector general’s office released roughly two months later.” (Josh Hicks, “Energy Dept. Failed To Report Concerns As Green-Tech Firm Was Heading For Bankruptcy,” Washington Post , 11/7/13)

Inspector General Gregory Friedman: “We Are Deeply Concerned Because The Information Directly Related To The Objective Of Our Audit, To Determine Whether The Department Had Effectively Awarded And Managed Funding To ECOtality.” “‘We are deeply concerned because the information directly related to the objective of our audit, to determine whether the Department had effectively awarded and managed funding to Ecotality,’ Friedman said in the latest report.” (Josh Hicks, “Energy Dept. Failed To Report Concerns As Green-Tech Firm Was Heading For Bankruptcy,” Washington Post , 11/7/13)

ECOTALITY, WHICH RECEIVED OVER $100 MILLION IN STIMULUS FUNDS, FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY IN SEPTEMBER

In September 2013, ECOtality, Inc. Filed For Bankruptcy. “On September 16, 2013, ECOtality, Inc. (the ‘Company’) and its U.S. subsidiaries (collectively with the Company, the “Debtors”) each filed a voluntary petition for relief (the ‘Bankruptcy Filing’) under chapter 11 of title 11 of the United States Code (the ‘Bankruptcy Code’) in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona (the ‘Bankruptcy Court’). The Debtors have proposed to jointly administer their chapter 11 cases under the caption In re Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation, dba ECOtality North America , Case No. 2:13-bk-16126-RJH (the ‘Chapter 11 Case’).” (ECOtality, Inc., Form 8-K, Filed 9/16/13)

Via: gop.com

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Green Energy Co. Folds after Obama gives it $99.8 Mil

For the third time in just a few months, another one of President Obama’s alternative energy ventures has failed after getting tens of millions of dollars from American taxpayers. It’s a tired old story that nevertheless keeps repeating itself as the administration moves forward with an aggressive plan to make America green.

This month’s failed green experiment du jour features a company (ECOtality) that makes charging stations for electric cars. Like many of the other bankrupt businesses that have received government handouts, it’s situated in northern California and Uncle Sam gave it $99.8 million before it collapsed. The cash was doled out by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars for similar projects.

ECOtality was supposed to make charging stations for electric cars but instead it filed for bankruptcy which means that, once again, American taxpayers have been fleeced by another one of Obama’s alternative energy ventures. Get this; the company attributes its financial problems to “disappointing sales” and “a suspension of payments from the federal government.”

In the last few months two different fly-by-night companies went down after getting large sums from the government for their failed ventures. The first was Fisker Automotive, which received nearly $200 million to develop a wheelchair-accessible “green” van. The startup had been heavily touted by the administration as an innovator that would develop two lines of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that could run up to 300 miles on a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery. In fact, the Obama administration planned to give Fisker $528 million but the cash finally stopped flowing when the company laid off three quarters of its employees and announced it was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Soon after Fisker’s collapse another startup called Vehicle Production Group (VPG) went under after losing $50 million in taxpayer funds. VPG was supposed to create special vans for the disabled that run on compressed natural gas. Here’s how the Obama administration justified funding this experiment with public dollars: “This project invests in a socially and environmentally responsible product that will create new jobs, promote the use of alternative fuels, and help the U.S. maintain its competitive edge in the automotive industry.” The DOE has since taken the page down, but we got the quote straight from the agency’s announcement touting VPG.

There have been many other clean energy ventures that have also failed miserably after receiving exorbitant allocations from American taxpayers. Remember Solyndra, the northern California solar panel company—bankrolled by Obama fundraiser George Kaiser—that folded after getting $529 million from the government?

Despite the “serious concerns” of U.S. Treasury officials about the risky infusion, a federal audit exposed how the controversial deal was suspiciously rushed through for a politically-connected entrepreneur that had raised large sums for Obama. Judicial Watch is investigating the Solyndra scandal and has sued the administration for records related to the shady deal.

Then there’s the administration’s multi-million-dollar investment in “green jobs’ that will never exist. A few months ago afederal audit revealed that the government has blown half a billion dollars to train workers for the fantasy positions to fulfill Obama’s promise of creating 5 million green jobs over the next decade. It’s simply not happening and only half of the trainees in the program get work, most in areas unrelated to renewable energy.

Via: Judicial Watch

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Layoffs Hit Taxpayer-backed ECOtality

40 employees laid off as green energy company eyes bankruptcy

A taxpayer-backed green energy company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy laid off dozens of employees on Friday, including all remaining employees in its industrial division.

ECOtality received about $115 million in taxpayer funds through the 2009 stimulus bill and an additional grant from the Department of Energy to build electric vehicle charging stations.

ECOtality laid off 40 employees on Friday. The San Francisco-based company still has 51 people on staff, but its industrial division is empty, and it has stopped filling orders for chargers.

“It’s been a bloodbath,” one employee, who still has her job, said in documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

“We heard that last Friday’s pay was the last paycheck,” the employee said.

ECOtality announced in August that it might file for bankruptcy. The Energy Department, which selected ECOtality as its primary contractor for the EV Project, suspended payments to the company in light of its financial troubles.

ECOtality faces a class action lawsuit from investors who say company executives misled them regarding its financial health.

“Neither the company’s direct sales force nor the independent dealers have generated sales volumes of its commercial EVSE products sufficient, in combination with other sources of revenue, to support the company’s operations in the second half of 2013,” ECOtality said in an August filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It disclosed in the same filing that some of its chargers have experienced significant manufacturing defects, in some cases even causing charge ports to melt.

“The government kept throwing good money after bad even though the inevitability of this was clear for over a year,” one company executive told the Free Beacon in an email

Via: WFB

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Obama Revives Green Car Loans on Heels of Fisker Bankruptcy

A fly-by-night electric car company recently folded after getting nearly $200 million from the government yet the Obama administration plans to pour more money into the green auto loan program, according to a mainstream news report that acknowledges it’s “controversial.”

That’s quite an understatement considering the shady experiment’s history. It’s called Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) and it’s one of the president’s disastrous green-energy investments. The idea, according to the agency that runs it, the Department of Energy (DOE), is to support the development of advanced technology vehicles that meet higher efficiency standards. In all, the administration has set aside $25 billion for the cause.

So far it has proven to be a huge boondoggle that’s fleeced American taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of dollars. In fact, just a few months ago the initiative’s big hope, Fisker Automotive, shut down after receiving $193 million from Uncle Sam. The Obama DOE had pledged $529 million for the California startup but the cash finally stopped flowing when Fisker laid off three quarters of its employees and announced it was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Judicial Watch has an ongoing investigation into the Fisker scandal and in early 2012 sued the DOE for records detailing the government “loan” that will obviously never be repaid. The Obama administration touted it as a great investment in a company that would create thousands of jobs in a region hit hard by unemployment. The administration also promised Fisker would develop two lines of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that could run up to 300 miles on a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery.

“Several problems,” including the multi-million-dollar Fisker fleecing, put the green car loan program on hold but it’s making a comeback, according to senior DOE officials cited in the news story. They have “signaled the Obama administration is ready to restart a controversial automotive loan program designed to kick-start the development of alternative vehicles,” according to the article which was published this week.

Via: Judicial Watch

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Obama will fire 20,000 Marines so he can give $6 billion U.S. taxpayer dollars to Muslims for ‘green’ energy

There are many things Obama hates, but only two things he really loves: Green energy and Muslims. And finally he’s found a way to put both together at the same time. And it will only cost U.S. taxpayers $6 billion dollars.

FrontPage Magazine  20,000 Marines are to be fired and the money is being used for Obama’s Green Energy companies and his Muslim empowerment program. 

Sure for that $6 billion, we might not have to fire those 20,000 Marines that Barry Hussein has decided to get of, and we wouldn’t have to cut their healthcare, the way his Center for American Progress has pushed him to do… but Muslims with Green Energy count more.

Now this U.S.-Asia Pacific Comprehensive Partnership for a Sustainable Energy Future is not supposed to be limited to just Muslims, but considering that it’s been announced with the leaders of two Muslim governments, one of them that of his favorite country, Indonesia, this looks like another expensive bout of Muslim pandering.

Via:  Bare Naked Islam

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Every Green Energy Failure Is News

USA Today (10/17/12) ran a story about a battery manufacturer filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. But the story might as well have been a press release from the Mitt Romney campaign.

"Another Blow for Green Energy" read the headline. Wendy Koch's piece led off with this:

An electric vehicle battery maker that was awarded $249 million in federal stimulus funds filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on Tuesday, giving GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney potential ammunition to attack President Obama's green-energy subsidies.

It's a short article, but it's hard to avoid the central theme: This is good news for the Romney campaign. Koch writes:

Its Chapter 11 filing will likely spur further GOP criticism, which escalated once solar panel manufacturer Solyndra filed for Chapter 11 protection in September 2011 after receiving more than $500 million in federal loan guarantees.

In the first presidential debate October 3, Romney called four aid recipients "losers," including Solyndra, Fisker, EV car maker Tesla Motors and auto battery manufacturer Ener1.

"You don't just pick the winners and losers, you pick the losers," Romney told Obama in a sharp exchange.

On Tuesday, Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul called A123's bankruptcy "yet another failure for the president's disastrous strategy of gambling away billions of taxpayer dollars on a strategy of government-led growth that simply does not work."

If it's important to note the campaign ramifications of this story, then perhaps readers should know that Romney claimed that about half of the companies receiving green energy loan guarantees have gone out of business. That is, as you might expect, completely false.

Via: Fair

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List: The 36 Obama-Funded Green Energy Failures…

The complete list of faltering or bankrupt green-energy companies:

1. Evergreen Solar ($25 million)*
2. SpectraWatt ($500,000)*
3. Solyndra ($535 million)*
4. Beacon Power ($43 million)*
5. Nevada Geothermal ($98.5 million)
6. SunPower ($1.2 billion)
7. First Solar ($1.46 billion)
8. Babcock and Brown ($178 million)
9. EnerDel’s subsidiary Ener1 ($118.5 million)*
10. Amonix ($5.9 million)
11. Fisker Automotive ($529 million)
12. Abound Solar ($400 million)*
13. A123 Systems ($279 million)*
14. Willard and Kelsey Solar Group ($700,981)*
15. Johnson Controls ($299 million)
16. Schneider Electric ($86 million)
17. Brightsource ($1.6 billion)
18. ECOtality ($126.2 million)
19. Raser Technologies ($33 million)*
20. Energy Conversion Devices ($13.3 million)*
21. Mountain Plaza, Inc. ($2 million)*
22. Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Company ($10 million)*
23. Range Fuels ($80 million)*
24. Thompson River Power ($6.5 million)*
25. Stirling Energy Systems ($7 million)*
26. Azure Dynamics ($5.4 million)*
27. GreenVolts ($500,000)
28. Vestas ($50 million)
29. LG Chem’s subsidiary Compact Power ($151 million)
30. Nordic Windpower ($16 million)*
31. Navistar ($39 million)
32. Satcon ($3 million)*
33. Konarka Technologies Inc. ($20 million)*
34. Mascoma Corp. ($100 million)

*Denotes companies that have filed for bankruptcy.

Via: Heritage: The Foundry

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Toyota Pulls Plug On Obama’s Green Car Fantasy

Toyota has scrapped plans for widespread manufacturing and sale of a new mini-car that was to be powered as electric only. Reuters reports that Toyota stated they “had misread the market and the ability of still emerging battery technology to meet consumer demands.”

We would all be a lot better off, if Only Barack Obama and Harry Reid had the same amount of guts as Toyota to admit to making gross errors in judgment. Takeshi Uchiyamada, the engineer who oversees vehicle development as Vice Chairman of Toyota, was frank in stating, “two years later, there are many difficulties.”

Takeshi is no lightweight. He spearheaded the development of the Prius in the 1990s. When Takeshi talks engineers and students of thermodynamics listen. When Obama and Reid talk, people get screwed or simply choose not to listen. 

Via Breitbart

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