NYT: E-Mails Suggest White House Weighed a 2nd Solyndra Loan Worth Almost Half a Billion Dollars
New York Times | October 6, 2011 | MATTHEW L. WALD
WASHINGTON — Early last year, the Obama administration was so optimistic about the business prospects of Solyndra, the solar equipment manufacturer that declared bankruptcy last month after receiving a $528 million government loan, that officials entertained the possibility of giving the California company a second loan of almost half a billion dollars, according to internal e-mails.
Solyndra ceased operations on Aug. 31 after lengthy financial difficulties, and the circumstances of the company's failure are now being scrutinized by Congress, the Energy Department's inspector general and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. On Wednesday, House Republicans expanded their investigation and asked the White House for documents related to Solyndra going back to the time of the president's inauguration.
According to documents provided to Republican investigators, in January 2010, a Solyndra lobbyist e-mailed a White House aide and referred to their conversation about a "phase 2 loan guarantee application" that was "poised to impact jobs creation in 2010 on the order of doubling our Phase 1 jobs."
Late Tuesday, House Democrats released an e-mail exchange between officials of the Office of Management and Budget on May 24, 2010, that suggested the second application was for $469 million. President Obama visited the factory on the next day, despite growing concerns about the company's financial problems.
nytimes.com
