US House of Representatives committee passes bill

A key US House of Representatives committee adopted a bill to ban future loan guarantees after a string of bankruptcies among government-supported renewable energy projects.

By a vote of 29-19, the House energy and commerce committee approved the No More Solyndras Act, which would prohibit the Department of Energy (DOE) from issuing any loan guarantees for applications submitted after 31 December 2011. Projects submitted prior to that deadline would remain eligible, but would be subject to strict conditions, including increased due diligence, new transparency requirements and a ban on subordination of US taxpayer dollars to any other financing.

“No More Solyndras Bill” is back

It appears that the rebellion by some Republican Congressmen last week against the “No More Solyndras Bill” has been “dealt with” by Republican leadership. No details have emerged on how much blood was shed in putting down the rebellion.

The bill is named for a solar manufacturer that received a $500 million dollar loan guarantee and later filed for bankruptcy. Republicans have spent a year and a lot of money trying to find wrongdoing by the White House. They found none so they are trying to end of the loan programs all together.