Energy, Solyndra | featured news

Earlier in the week, Romney held a news conference at Solyndra, describing the collapse of that federally backed solar-panel maker as proof that the Obama administration was misguided in trying to create jobs with targeted government investments ... But Massachusetts made similar investments when the presumptive GOP presidential nominee was governor of that state, and a small number of those companies have gone bust.

The Energy Department was in such a rush three years ago to issue a loan to solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC that it gave the Treasury Department only a day to review the deal, according to a government report released Wednesday.

Republicans probing how a now-bankrupt solar panel company received a $535 million federal loan guarantee excoriated Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Thursday for his decisions on Solyndra at a hearing packed with media and spectators.

A former campaign adviser to President Obama warned in a prescient e-mail that Republican attacks "are surely coming over Solyndra and other inside DOE deals that have gone to Obama donors" and suggested firing Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Dan Carol, who advised Obama's 2008 campaign, wrote in a February e-mail that the administration turned over today to the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the White House "bring forward a new leadership team in one package: DOE Secretary, Undersecretary (open), EERE (open), Chief of Staff (open)."

A series of emails provided to the House Energy and Commerce Committee from individuals tied to Solyndra offer striking characterizations about running strategy with the White House to secure assistance for the now-bankrupt solar energy firm.

The White House counsel refused Friday to comply with a subpoena issued by a House panel regarding the failed solar energy company Solyndra, claiming the initiative "was driven more by partisan politics than a legitimate effort to conduct a responsible investigation."

The Republican-controlled House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to issue a broad subpoena demanding more documents from the White House as part of the committee's ongoing investigation into a government loan guarantee to the failed solar equipment maker Solyndra.

The official inquired frequently about the progress of the loan even after he had disclosed that his wife’s law firm represented the company and promised to recuse himself.

Jonathan Silver, the executive director of the Energy Department's Loan Programs Office, stepped down from that position amid scrutiny from congressional Republicans over loans granted to the now-bankrupt energy firm Solyndra. Energy Secretary Steve Chu told the Post that the departure had been planned.

The Energy Department plans to give $156 million in grants on Thursday after it has been under scrutiny for arranging $528 million in loans to Solyndra, a company that went bankrupt.