Despite Bankruptcies & Layoffs, Govt-Backed ‘Clean Energy’ Execs Scored Hefty Bonuses
- Posted on March 6, 2012 at 2:00pm by
Becket Adams
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Most Blaze readers are familiar with these details: since coming into power, the Obama administration has awarded several “clean energy” companies with generous federal loan guarantees. However, after receiving said massive taxpayer-funded loans, many of these “clean” companies have either scaled back, filed for bankruptcy, or laid off half their workforce.
Think that’s bad? How about the fact that, despite their failure to produce results, several executives at some of these “green energy” companies were making six-figure bonuses before they eventually filed for bankruptcy?
“President Obama’s Department of Energy helped finance several green energy companies that later fell into bankruptcy — but not before the firms doled out six-figure bonuses and payouts to top executives,” a Center for Public Integrity and ABC News investigation found.
And here are some specific examples:
1. In March 2010, Beacon Power Corp. paid cash bonuses of $259,285 to three executives in part “due to progress made on the $43 million energy loan,” Securities and Exchange Commission records show.
Beacon Power filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last Fall
2. EnerDel, the Vice President Joe Biden-touted maker of lithium-ion batteries was awarded a $118.5 million energy grant in August 2009. EnerDel corporate parent Ener1 paid $725,000 in bonuses to three executives — including $450,000 to then-CEO Charles Gassenheimer, according to ABC News.
Ener1 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month.
3. Solyndra executives were awarded bonuses worth up to $60,000 apiece in 2011 even though the company was headed straight into bankruptcy, according to Fox News.
Solyndra, as we all know, filed for bankruptcy in September 2011.
So how did the Department of Energy respond when news of these bonuses broke? The DOE said it was “troubled by the practice and intends to convey that message to loan recipients.”
“We don’t begrudge companies or their executives for their success, but it is irresponsible for executives to be awarded bonus compensation when their workers are losing their jobs,” said department spokeswoman Jen Stutsman.
“We take our role as stewards of taxpayer dollars very seriously, and as such, we will make clear to loan recipients our view that funds should not be directed toward executive bonuses when the rest of the company is facing financial difficulty,” she added.
She’s right! There’s nothing wrong with bonuses or compensation!
Granted, there is nothing wrong with a company compensating its top talent and no one has the right to tell a private company what their employees “deserve.”
But this “green energy” situation is different. How so?
“People have been complaining about hefty executive compensation for a long time. The private sector has been roundly criticized for its ‘golden parachutes,’” writes John Hayward of Human Events. “The difference is that private companies, operating in the free market, are the financial responsibility of their shareholders. No one is required to invest in them, and if the owners want to throw ridiculous bonuses at inept executives, it’s their nickel. Financially irresponsible corporations eventually run into survival issues.”
He continues with a warning:
In the new world of Obama’s centrally-planned corporatism, there are no such consequences. You were forced to invest in Beacon Power, EnerDel, Solyndra, and all the other “winners” chosen by your political masters. The man who is ultimately responsible for all this has a good chance of securing re-election, in no small part because he’s persuaded you to forget all about his failures, and argue about condoms instead.
And for those of you who are trying to keep track of the number of government-backed “clean energy” companies that have run into financial trouble ranging from layoffs to losses to bankruptcies, the nonprofit Citizens Against Government Waste has been keeping track: it’s nearly 20.
Read the full ABC report here.
(H/T: WZ)
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shorthanded12
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 1:23pmI will continue to say Bernie Madoff looks like chump change compared to what the Crime Inc in DC is doing. Its no wonder for a decade plus with Bernie the SEC turned a blind eye knowing dam well the Federal Government was and is doing the same thing and thats SCAMMING the consumers ie taxpayers. Everey last Dept Head in this Administration needs to be tried for Treason for side stepping every Constitutional Law and Barry and his BOGUS Executive Orders. Bernie needs some new Cell Mates.
Report Post »I Think Mr Issa and Mr Grassley needs to look more into that Corperate Welfare recipiant CEO at Tesla Motors/Space X better known as Elon Musk. Just a reminder Mr Musk is a Berry supporter and received a $440 Million Dept of Energy Loan to produce a dam $53 thousand (SE) Electric car….Hell better yet expand Club Gitmo it just might be used for all these Treasonist Government folks. This Country is in deep **** with all this scandelist behavior in Government. Go to DC midddle class citizen and leave with perks for life a a bank account that triples within a few yrs…OWS this should be your chief complant the “Sess Pool DC”.
shorthanded12
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 1:40pmLet me add something else about Tesla..When Tesla IPO went public it raised almost $266 million than I found an article from some wall street critic questioning why Musk took that Dept Energy loan if Tesla was able to get $266 million investment from its IPO in June of 2010. When you have over seas investors from Finland to Dubai in Tesla Motors makes ya wander if the the money from the Dept of Energy is being used to insure returns to there investors at Tax payers expense. Im not a wall street guru but it dont take a Havard degree to figure out Corrupt Private Business and Corrupted Politicians not to forget K-Street Lobbyist. J U S T ———– S A Y I N!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report Post »Ray Anderson01
Posted on March 10, 2012 at 1:21amBankruptcy Public Records – Yes, Bankruptcy records are public records. Now you can obtain exact copy of official bankruptcy papers . Help consumers and business filers to procure authentic copy of bankruptcy papers. For more details visit goo.gl/HbTpq
Report Post »omgfolks
Posted on March 7, 2012 at 10:36pmThis is out right fraud, what is all mamby pamby talk about. If the average citizen did what these corperate giants are doing the citizens would be in jail and lose all his assets. SO WHY THE DOUBLE STANDARD. PROSECUTE THESE THIEVES AND BE DONE WTH IT!
Report Post »SlyFox123
Posted on March 7, 2012 at 3:37pmWait….didn’t Obama say….loud and clear…..No more Big BONUSES, for the business that fail….oh almost forgot, these “green energy business…never fail, listen to Obama and V. Jones, and Chu and anyone else in that administration. The reason why these don’t fail….cause, the Obama administration, makes sure that after the big loser made headlines, that the news black out is in place, and as such there WILL BE NO MORE GREEN ENERGY LOSSES, we’ll slip money to them under cover of some other business, sure, I maybe not telling the truth…..but he has NEVER TOLD THE TRUTH YET!.
Report Post »IMCHRISTIAN
Posted on March 7, 2012 at 1:55pmI sometimes think government just wanted to get elected so that they could investment our money and then why should they worry if there is a loss just take more money from taxpayers. It doesn’t matter to the government who gets what. AND THE DEBT GOES ON and ON and ON (George Bush’s fault)
Report Post »Twaddlefree
Posted on March 7, 2012 at 1:21pmGuess my previous comment wasn’t posted. In any case, providing a link to the ABC story would have been sufficient. The Blaze hasn’t added anything to the story. If there are no new facts and no rebuttal of ABC’s info, then maybe providing a place for Blaze readers to comment is all that’s needed. All The Blaze needed to do was bring attention to the work that was done by ABC.
Report Post »Twaddlefree
Posted on March 7, 2012 at 1:17pmI read the whole article just to get to the end where there‘s a link to ABC’s website to read the “rest of the story.” Why doesn’t The Blaze just provide links to these important stories instead of spending time merely rewriting them? Unless there is additional research or a rebuttal of content, it’s a waste of time for The Blaze to simply regurgitate.
Report Post »leasecommander
Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:35amWhere is the outrage? Like there was when the Wall Street guys were getting bonuses and those weren’t with Taxpayer money, this should be front page headlines. A must read for every voter in the U.S.
Report Post »Arc
Posted on March 7, 2012 at 6:42amEnergy Secretary Steven Chu’s refusal to retract his statement in 2008 that their goal is to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe, goes to show that, contrary to President Obama’s phony reelection rhetoric, he and his green team remain just as committed to their aggressive, ongoing war on affordable energy,” Senator Inhofe said. “Of course, Secretary Chu must have been feeling the pressure from President Obama’s reelection team to walk back what he said in 2008, yet he still refused to retract his statement that they want $8 to $9 dollar-a-gallon gas because that is the only way they can force Americans into their dream of a costly green economy.
“We’ve seen this before. Remember in a rare moment of clarity, President Obama also said that under his plan of a cap-and-trade system, energy prices would ‘necessarily skyrocket.‘ But now that the global warming hoax has completely collapsed and he’s scrambling to save his job amid the very skyrocketing gas prices he wanted so badly, he’s pretending to be for an all-of-the above approach.
“There is nothing all-of-the-above about it. Listen carefully to what Secretary Chu said – he said the overall goal is to “decrease our dependency on oil” – not foreign oil. And that’s just it: the Obama administration’s ambition is to eliminate oil, natural gas, and coal – the most affordable resources we have. President Obama certainly isn’t giving up: under his watch gas prices have nearly doubled and
Report Post »TemayElbor
Posted on March 7, 2012 at 3:38am“…clean-energy execs scored hefty bonuses inspite bankruptcies and lay-offs..”???
Did the execs demand those bonuses knowing that the company is going to declare bankruptcy and lay-off workers? Isn’t their regular salary enough? How much is their regular salary?
Can’t they sacrifice some of their service to the company for free, as what MITT ROMNEY did as Gov. of Massachusetts ($1. annual salary) and the 2002 Olympics and Bain, Co.?
Who are the executives who got bonuses? Did one or two return the bonus because their “CONSCIENCE” tell them to do it?
Where is the “feeling of guilt”, the compassion for the company that went down and the compassion for the laid off workers?
Why did the administration allow this WASTE? The Obama administration, before granting the bailout, should have required the company not to give bonuses to any employee until the company generates a PROFIT.
Also, normally BONUSES are given to celebrate the success of a company to make a PROFIT. Why were bonuses given for the main reason that the execs were able to have the LOAN BAILOUT approved? Isn’t this a part of their regular job? Are these executives the same people who authorize the BONUSES?
It appears that these executives’ motive was to put more money in their pocket before the company goes “DOWNHILL”…they knew all along that the company cannot be saved…taking into consideration that the bailout might not be enough.
An investigation should be underway
Report Post »SHOWMESTATEGUY
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 9:08pmJust track the money. What percentage goes back to Obama? We may never know.
Report Post »2theADDLED
Posted on March 7, 2012 at 12:53pmHow many were Unionized ?
Report Post »Carefreeflyer
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 8:05pmJust Obama crony payoffs with taxpayer money. Move alone… nothing important here.
Report Post »lstoddard004
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 7:28pmNearly 20 energy-green companies have accepted government funding of taxpayer dollars and all of them have gone belly-up. This isn’t a good track record for the Obama administration. The wasteful spending this administration has spent from bailouts, non-shovel ready stimulus packages and more. WAKE UP AMERICA!! 2012 Election is around the corner. Please wake up!
Report Post »Bill Rowland
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 7:26pmWatch the other hand!!!!
OMG
Report Post »jhaydeng
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 7:33pmIt is so scary that most Americans are not phased by this!
Report Post »Listen_then_think
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 6:59pmOf course they were because they are obamas’ capital cronies. The entire left is a hoax.
Report Post »FANGS
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 6:57pmAnd when the Revolution starts, these slime won’t be able to get out of the Country fast enough. We know Where they live, Where their Parents live, Where their Grand children live and Where their kids live. They are on alot of people’s High priority list. Justice will be done.
Report Post »matinva
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 6:38pmThis administration will go down as one of the most corrupt in American history. That these bastards are enriching themselves at taxpayer expense is disgusting yet seems to be business as usual with Owebama and his merry band of clowns. Republicans have done it too, but you would think we would have some safeguards in place to prevent this crap. “Green energy” may hold promise someday but for now, the technology isn‘t there and the demand isn’t there. That makes this a scam.
Report Post »MCDAVE
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 5:50pmPlease see this link….our leaders are working on the end of the American dream..UN AGENDA 21 http://my.brainshark.com/Agenda-21-for-Public-Officials-472185383?mid=5560
Report Post »zoro51
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 5:03pmbonuses?? for what??? sucking up to a SOCIALIST ??? obamas so called green jobs crap he GAVE our tax dollars to has FAILED left the nation gone under and got MORE BAIL OUT CAHS so why then this jerk off gets nobuses YOU get bonbuses when YOU make a CERTIAN goal not just be cause u suck up to the SOCIALIST president… YOU actually do your job n show RESULTS…… so far YOU score a F n I demand YOU return ALL bonuses thats MY tax dollars you and that DAMN STICKING SOCIALIST are giving away for SHOW… re-election SINT GONNA TAKE PLACE.. IMPEACH OBAMA NOW SAVE AMERICA n fire ALL obamas cronies n inept depot heads who have NO clue as HOW to do their job..
Report Post »jg2pto
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 5:59pmCalm down Zoro. Your God fearing, gun toting, racist rage is blinding you from seeing your true purpose. You are to pull that lever for Obama in November with a smile on your face. Stop being so selfish and think of the 99% and law student tramps who need your support.
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 4:50pmSo why are those PESKY glitter throwing OWS fools not protesting this with outrage??
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 4:45pmSeriously?
Report Post »dmerwin
Posted on March 6, 2012 at 4:12pmWell isn’t that a surprise. “Takes this kind of talent to run a company into the ground this fast, you need bonuses to attract this talent”, was the statement from an unnamed CEO of a recipient company.
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