So much for all those "green" jobs that were going to save California...
Last month, my colleagues on the John Batchelor Show and I discussed how China - through subsidies and economic espionage - has destroyed the solar panel market for much of the rest of the world...especially here in California.
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) meets workers at Solyndra's Fremont-based facilities. Boxer touted her support of green jobs, like the ones being lost at Solyndra, as key to fixing what ails California...
Like most fantasies, this one is coming to a conclusion. It can now be said that we are seeing the beginning of the industry's end here in the Golden State. The worst part is that the federal government, including Sen. Barbara Boxer (CA-D) - who ran on this very issue as a key pillar in her recent campaign - did know/should have known this was happening.
China's now-burgeoning solar panel manufacturing industry benefits from years of economic espionage, illegal subsidies and no environmental regulations to speak of...
"Despite a $535 million loan guarantee from the federal government, Solyndra, a maker of solar panels in the southeast San Francisco Bay Area city of Fremont, will close one of its manufacturing plants, lay off 40 permanent and 150 contract workers, delay expansion plans of a new plant largely financed with the government-guaranteed loan and scale back production capacity more than 50 percent. Despite the hype and tax money, Solyndra seems unable to compete with Chinese manufacturers, whose prices are lower. This is the latest bad news for the company touted by Mr. Schwarzenegger and President Barack Obama as one of the green industry’s supposed shining lights." – Editorial, The Orange County Register, November 11, 2010.
"Despite a $535 million loan guarantee from the federal government, Solyndra, a maker of solar panels in the southeast San Francisco Bay Area city of Fremont, will close one of its manufacturing plants, lay off 40 permanent and 150 contract workers, delay expansion plans of a new plant largely financed with the government-guaranteed loan and scale back production capacity more than 50 percent. Despite the hype and tax money, Solyndra seems unable to compete with Chinese manufacturers, whose prices are lower. This is the latest bad news for the company touted by Mr. Schwarzenegger and President Barack Obama as one of the green industry’s supposed shining lights." – Editorial, The Orange County Register, November 11, 2010.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (center) helps break ground for the now endangered Solyndra solar panel manufacturing facility... (photo: Solyndra)
Not only is this news a hit on the industry and the over-hyped notion that green jobs would pull California out of the economic tailspin that it's now it, but it also was a hit on the president's much-touted Stimulus program.
President Barack Obama at Solyndra's Bay Area facility...
"...The US Government's $535 million deal is is the first loan of its type using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and also the first of its type from the US Department of Energy (DOE) since 1980," according to a report at Treehugger.com.
Just great! Not one but two taxpayer-financed fantasies gone bust...
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