I think the following column by syndicated journalist Froma Harrop of the Providence Journal is perhaps the best single piece I’ve read on the Solyndra debacle, letting us see the forest for the trees on the DOE’s clean energy “scandal.” Think clean energy financing is dirty? Let’s tick off the various sacrifices – financial, human, environmental – that the country has made in the name of subsidizing other forms of energy: huge tax breaks, feed-in tariffs (oh, my bad, they’re called “investments”), oil spills, mine drainage, sustained military presence in the middle east, incalculable public health impacts, and on and on.
But you know, the Obama admin blew a $500 million loan to a solar company, and you really can’t forgive people for that kind of outrageous frittering away of the public’s wealth, at least according to the GOP. In reality, Solyndra faced the same risks as any other solar company and succumbed to price pressure after China flooded the market with dirt-cheap solar panels. If anything, this should be a lesson in why the US needs to be doing even more to invest in its clean energy sector, not less.
