Colorado Republican Rips Holder on Marijuana

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s decision not to challenge marijuana legalization laws in Colorado and Washington has one Centennial State Republican fuming.

On Tuesday, Rep. Cory Gardner of Colorado penned a pointed letter to Holder torching the DOJ’s decision, given that federal law makes possession of the drug a criminal offense.

“Do you believe the DOJ has the authority to override federal law?” Gardner asked in his correspondence with Holder. “Do you believe you have the authority to change the law without the approval of Congress?”

Gardner, as you might expect, opposed the Colorado ballot initiative last November legalizing marijuana in the state.

In the letter, he goes on to question “whether this action sets precedent to allow states to opt out of other federal laws,” and, as William Shakespeare might say, therein lies the rub: In what other case might a state want to opt out of a federal law? Obamacare, anyone?

He writes:

“The new DOJ policies seem to imply that federal authorities will not preempt state laws. Does this set precedent of other areas? For example, several states have passed laws to opt out of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, yet the federal government has consistently said it will take over health insurance industries regardless of states that contest the law. If you do not agree that there is a precedent set, would you explain the inconsistencies of why in certain areas federal law may be deemed irrelevant, but not in others?”

Via: Roll Call

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Bankrupt DOE Loan Recipient Abound Solar Under Investigation, Panels Suffered “Catastrophic Failure”

Abound Solar, a Department of Energy $400 million loan guarantee recipient that went bankrupt earlier this year, is under investigation by officials in Weld County, Colorado.

The company, which received nearly $70 million in loan funding before payments were cut off by DOE in 2011, also received a $100,000 tax break from the Colorado county in 2010. The county decided not to extend that offer when the company failed to achieve prescribed benchmarks for the tax break.

The county is also seeking nearly $2 million in unpaid property taxes from 2011 and 2012.

Denver’s 7NEWS has confirmed the investigation:

Sources tell 7NEWS that the company’s finances are under scrutiny.

7NEWS obtained internal documents from 2012 that show orders for tens of thousands of replacement solar panels. The orders cite different reasons for the replacements including, “low performance,” “under performance” and “catastrophic failures.”

The orders are for replacements requested after the Department of Energy stopped stimulus money payments to Abound.

Rep. Cory Gardner, R-CO, has announced his intent to issue a letter to DOE “seeking records and information about what it knew while providing money to Abound.”

Gardner told 7NEWS that the document request would be comprehensive.

“We need to know, did the Department of Energy — did they close on the loan when they knew there were technical problems with the product?” Gardner told the station.

The revelation of an investigation into the shuttered solar manufacturer comes less than a week after The Daily Caller News Foundation cited sources that appear to corroborate the issue of faulty, underperforming, and even dangerous solar modules, one of which the outlet showed bursting into flames in a video released with their report:

Via: The Foundry

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