The Green Skeptic on FOX Business: Is Algae the Answer?

I sat down this morning with Charles Payne of Varney & Co on FOX Business to talk aboiut algae biofuels and if such alternative fuels provide a solution to our fossil fuel constrained future.


Here is the video:




And here is a link in case your browser doesn't support the video format: The Green Skeptic on FOX Business

Solyndra Saga Continued: Did Obama Aides Grease the Wheels?

Solyndra Tubes

The Solyndra saga just gets worse every day. 

This morning, The Washington Post reported that it had obtained emails from August 2009, that allegedly ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reviewers to expedite the federal loan in advance of a press event announcing the deal.

OMB officials apparently expressed concerns about being rushed to approve the company for the loan without adequate time to assess the risk.

Bloomberg also reported on the emails this morning, noting that one email from an OMB official to a colleague in March 2009, which was earlier in the process for Solyndra's approval, claimed "This deal is NOT ready for prime time."

"Solyndra was the first loan guarantee issued by the Obama Administration using stimulus dollars.  Administration officials held out the company as a glowing example of how the stimulus was creating jobs and invigorating the economy," said the Honorable Cliff Stearns of the House Energy & Commerce Committee.  The Committee opened its hearings on the Solyndra DOE deal this morning.

"However, just two years after receiving this half of a billion dollar loan guarantee, and six months after DOE restructured the terms of the deal, Solyndra has closed its doors, laid off over a thousand workers, and filed for bankruptcy. Last week, FBI agents raided the facility. million loan guarantee to Solyndra," opined Stearn in his prepared statement.

One email between DOE staff dated August 19, 2009, which is quoted in a slide show developed by the House Committee, reads

 "we still have a major outstanding issue . . . . The issue of working capital assumptions has been a major issue repeatedly raised since December [2008]."

Another from the following day says,

"The issue of working capital remains unresolved. . . . the issue is cash balances, not cost. [Solyndra] seems to agree that the model runs out of cash in Sept. 2011 even in the base case without any stress. This is a liquidity issue."

Solyndra filed for Chapter 11 last month and laid off over 1,000 employees.

"If Solyndra really is the 'litmus test for the loan guarantee program's ability to fund good projects quickly,' as DOE's stimulus advisor called it in an email to DOE officials," Stearn wrote in his prepared remarks. "I am  very concerned about where the $10 billion DOE has left to spend before the September 30 deadline is going."

The Green Skeptic on Fox Business: "Cash for Caulkers"

President Obama launches yet another "Cash for..." program, this time "Cash for Caulkers" for weatherization and retrofitting.

The Green Skeptic wonders when the "Cash for Stash" anti-drug program is going to start, but thinks perhaps this program may just put contractors and construction crews back to work.

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Green Skeptic on Fox Business: Who's Attending the Climate Summit?

Van Jones to CEQ: Finally, An Entrepreneur in the White House

Well, it's official, Van Jones will be joining the White Center on Environmental Quality as Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Finally, an entrepreneur in the White House. Perhaps he can things going in the right direction.

"Van Jones has been a strong voice for green jobs and we look forward to having him work with departments and agencies to advance the President’s agenda of creating 21st century jobs that improve energy efficiency and utilize renewable resources," CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley said in a released statement. "Jones will also help to shape and advance the Administration’s energy and climate initiatives with a specific interest in improvements and opportunities for vulnerable communities

Jones is the founder of Green For All, an organization focused on creating green jobs in impoverished areas. He is also the co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Color of Change, and was the author of the 2008 New York Times best-seller, The Green Collar Economy.

"Your goal has to be to get the greenest solutions to the poorest people," Jones told Elizabeth Kolbert of the New Yorker in a profile in January. "That’s the only goal that’s morally compelling enough to generate enough energy to pull this transition off. The challenge is making this an everybody movement, so your main icons are Joe Six-Pack—Joe the Plumber—becoming Joe the Solar Guy, or that kid on the street corner putting down his handgun, picking up a caulk gun."

Here, according to the White House, is a video of Van's "official" meeting at the Middle Class Task Force in Philadelphia two weeks ago:



Hopefully, this will be an opportunity for Van to expand his work started with Green for All, making the transition to the new green economy. I wonder about how he'll fair in a government position.

Van has excelled as an entrepreneur, first starting the Ella Baker Center and then Green for All, which requires nimbleness and resourcefulness. The White House hasn't exactly been known for that in the past -- and despite all the talk from Candidate Obama, it hasn't seemed particularly entrepreneurial thus far under President Obama.

> GREEN FOR ALL PRESS RELEASE

> WHITE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE