In 1963, the Great Train Robbery was committed in England. It will forever be remembered as one of the largest heists ever in British history, and because of its cleverness, the legend continues.  The sum stolen was greater than 2.6 million pounds sterling.
 
Now, we have our own, modern-day great train robbery.
 
In 2009, a $535 million Department of Energy loan guarantee was made to Solyndra, a California-based solar energy company.  The company was the first to receive such a loan guarantee through the President’s 2009 stimulus bill.  Since then, the company had been touted by the White House as a model for the federal government’s investment in green technology.
 
Now, less than two years later, the company has filed for bankruptcy and has been raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
 
These disheartening developments come in the midst of an ongoing House Energy and Commerce Committee investigation of Solyndra and the Energy Department’s loan guarantee program, which began this February.
 
Since the beginning of the year, our Committee’s investigation has raised troubling questions about the hasty review of the Solyndra loan in the administration’s early rush to get stimulus dollars out the door.  Concerns about Solyndra’s liquidity and cash flow appear to have been ignored, and later, the guarantee was restructured in such a way that puts U.S. taxpayers on the line for the bad business deal.
 
Each revelation has raised more questions and has been met with greater resistance – executives from Solyndra appeared before our committee last week, but refused to testify, invoking their rights under the Fifth Amendment.  Our committee’s inquiry is far from over and I can assure you that we will continue to conduct rigorous oversight to ensure taxpayer dollars are used responsibly.

http://www.tricityrecord.com