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Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s ‘Green’ Company Scored $1.4 Billion Taxpayer Bailout
Big Government ^ | Wilton Hall

Posted on 11/16/2011 11:30:52 AM PST by Driftwood1

President John F. Kennedy’s nephew, Robert Kennedy, Jr., netted a $1.4 billion bailout for his company, BrightSource, through a loan guarantee issued by a former employee-turned Department of Energy official.

It’s just one more in a string of eye-opening revelations by investigative journalist and Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer in his explosive new book, Throw Them All Out.

The details of how BrightSource managed to land its ten-figure taxpayer bailout have yet to emerge fully. However, one clue might be found in the person of Sanjay Wagle.

Wagle was one of the principals in Kennedy’s firm who raised money for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. When Obama won the White House, Wagle was installed at the Department of Energy (DOE), advising on energy grants.

From an objective vantage point, investing taxpayer monies in BrightSource was a risky proposition at the time. In 2010, BrightSource, whose largest shareholder is Kennedy’s VantagePoint Partners, was up to its eyes in $1.8 billion of debt obligations and had lost $71.6 million on its paltry $13.5 million of revenue.

Even before BrightSource rattled its tin cup in front of Obama’s DOE, the company made it known publicly that its survival hinged on successfully completing the Ivanpah Solar Electrical System, which would become the largest solar plant in the world, on federal lands in California. In its Securities and Exchange Commission filings, BrightSource further underscored the risky nature of the Ivanpah venture and, more broadly, the company’s viability:

Our future success depends on our ability to construct Ivanpah, our first utility-scale solar thermal power project, in a cost-effective and timely manner… Our ability to complete Ivanpah and the planning, development and construction of all three phases are subject to significant risk and uncertainty.

Ironically, in 2008, Kennedy wrote a CNN article praising Obama as reminiscent of his famous father and uncle. The article, titled “Obama’s Energy Plan Would Create a Green Gold Rush,” proved prophetic. However, the “green gold rush” came in the form of $1.4 billion of taxpayers’ money flowing into the pet projects of rich venture capital investors like Kennedy, not average citizens.

What’s more, BrightSource touted the Ivanpah project as a green jobs creator. Yet as its own website reveals, the thermal solar plant will only create 1,400 jobs at its peak construction and 650 jobs annually thereafter. Even using the peak estimate of 1,400 jobs, that works out to a cost to taxpayers of $1 million per job created.

As Schweizer writes in Throw Them All Out, “A billion dollars in taxpayer money being sent to wealthy investors to bail them out of risky investments—does this sound familiar to anyone?”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2012; 2012election; agw; agwfraud; bailout; bhocorruption; bhodoe; bhofascism; brightsource; calenergy; corruption; cultureofcorruption; democratcorruption; democratparty; democrats; dncrico; doe; elections; fraud; globalwarming; globalwarminghoax; govtabuse; green; greenenergy; greenfraud; greengraft; greenjobs; greenpower; jr; kennedy; liberals; millionsolarroofs; noaccountability; nobama2012; nodemocrats2012; notransparency; obama; obamacampaign; progressives; rfkjr; robertkennedy; sanjaywagle; schwarzenegger; solar; solarenergy; solarfraud; stimulus; tamminen; taxcheatparty; taxes; thegreenlie; typicaldnccorruption; tyranny; vantagepointpartners; wagle
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1 posted on 11/16/2011 11:30:53 AM PST by Driftwood1
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To: Driftwood1

RICO Act.


2 posted on 11/16/2011 11:36:19 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.)
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To: Driftwood1

Tea Party!


3 posted on 11/16/2011 11:36:41 AM PST by WinMod70
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To: Driftwood1

“green”, as in Gang Green.


4 posted on 11/16/2011 11:37:09 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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Chicago Corruption at it’s finest.

IMPEACH OBAMA.


5 posted on 11/16/2011 11:38:34 AM PST by Driftwood1
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To: Driftwood1

(no link)

Take a look at coincidences in solar power deal
Argus, The (Fremont-Newark, CA) - Thursday, October 16, 2008
Author: MediaNews editorial
THERE IS A fascinating relationship tied to a breakthrough solar-energy complex near the Mojave Desert Preserve. What is significant about this is the players involved stand to make a handsome sum of money becoming the first solar-generating station on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land.

A report by The Associated Press mapped out a relationship that goes as high as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and as broad as some of the nation’s most successful companies, including San Ramon-based Chevron Corp. and Mountain View-based Google. At stake is a project that could be in the forefront of solar power at a time when the nation faces high fuel costs and potential climate change. Research shows a project like this, with sunlight reflecting off more than 200,000 mirrors in the desert, could potentially power the nation.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is cousin to first lady Maria Shriver and Terry Tamminen was state Environmental Protection Secretary under Schwarzenegger. The two were named senior advisers at Silicon Valley-based VantagePoint Venture Partners last year. VantagePoint has a major stake in Oakland-based startup BrightSource Energy, which is planning to spend $2 billion to construct solar power plants along the Nevada border, and has locked up a deal to sell electricity to PG&E, enough to power 321,000 homes annually. While Kennedy and Tamminen are not working on the BrightSource application submitted to the state a year ago, they still stand to profit greatly if the projects gets the go-ahead from state regulators.

Meanwhile, VantagePoint is BrightSource ‘s biggest investor, utilizing financing from Chevron Technology Ventures, Google.org and J.P. Morgan. Chevron has donated more than $690,000 to Schwarzenegger’s political ventures, and VantagePoint executives have also donated directly or indirectly to the governor. Is it a coincidence that Schwarzenegger has been pushing hard for Californians toward solar power? Is it a coincidence that Schwarzenegger was at center stage at a conference for Mexican and U.S. governors where Kennedy gave an endorsement for BrightSource ? Is it a coincidence that Schwarzenegger introduced BrightSource CEO John Woolard, who is also a senior adviser at VantagePoint, at the governors conference in August?

(snip)

45 posted on Saturday, March 21, 2009 2:32:44 PM by maggief

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2211239/posts

Feinstein seeks monument status for desert swath
AP on Mercury News ^ | 3/20/09 | Kevin Freking - ap


6 posted on 11/16/2011 11:38:48 AM PST by maggief
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To: Driftwood1

And no one said “Why is a Kennedy getting 1.4 BILLION?


7 posted on 11/16/2011 11:39:41 AM PST by edcoil (I grew up in a country that was honest, I am growing old in a country that is not. I am sorry.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

RICO Act is right.


8 posted on 11/16/2011 11:43:48 AM PST by Track9 (I walk better with a Cain.)
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To: Track9

And as always. The Kennedys will walk out on this bar tab too. Deep pockets. Short arms.


9 posted on 11/16/2011 11:51:37 AM PST by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: Driftwood1

The scale of the theft of our money makes all the loot stolen by all of organized crime of the last 100 years look like pin money.


10 posted on 11/16/2011 11:56:18 AM PST by AU72
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To: Driftwood1
Meanwhile the JustUs Department is busy raiding Gibson Guitars and ruining American businesses with outrageous FCPA charges. Completely corrupt.
11 posted on 11/16/2011 11:57:36 AM PST by americanophile ("this absurd theology of an immoral Bedouin, is a rotting corpse which poisons our lives" - Ataturk)
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To: Driftwood1

Will the MSM bury this story too? With the Kennedy name involved, they may have to, unlike Solyndra et. al.

This could be a big, big, problem for the Obama administration.


12 posted on 11/16/2011 12:02:54 PM PST by wayoverontheright
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To: Driftwood1

ask not what you can do for your country


13 posted on 11/16/2011 12:05:05 PM PST by Daveinyork
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To: Driftwood1

Democrats need tax rates high so they can steal more taxes.


14 posted on 11/16/2011 12:08:53 PM PST by Crucial
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To: Driftwood1
$1 Billion More In Energy Dept Smart Grid Grants Expected Shortly, $800 Million In BioFuel Too

The biofuels money will include $450 million for demonstration biorefineries, says DOE's Sanjay Wagle

Here

Already the energy department has doled out $3.4 billion in smart grid funding to 100 projects in an announcement it made late last month.

Another dozen loan guarantee candidates are in the pipeline, he said.

15 posted on 11/16/2011 12:30:55 PM PST by kcvl
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To: Driftwood1

UGH!


16 posted on 11/16/2011 12:32:19 PM PST by The Mayor ("If you can't make them see the light, let them feel the heat" — Ronald Reagan)
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To: Driftwood1

http://arpa-e.energy.gov/Portals/0/Images/About/Team/Sanjay%20Wagle_144x180.jpg

Sanjay Wagle is Associate Director for Commercialization at ARPA-E, where he leads the organization’s commercialization program to help breakthrough energy technologies succeed in the marketplace.

Before joining ARPA-E, Wagle served as Renewable Energy Advisor in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), helping to oversee implementation of grants and tax credits as part of DOE’s $36.7 billion of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act programs.

Wagle comes to DOE from Silicon Valley, where he had a career as an investor in clean energy technologies, most recently as a Principal in the venture capital firm VantagePoint Venture Partners, a leading investor in renewable energy and clean technology companies, with over $1 billion committed to the sector. Prior to that, he was a Founding Principal of Expansion Capital Partners, one of the early venture capital firms investing in clean technologies. Wagle had previously served as an Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation, a unit of the World Bank, where he led the financing of private sector power, transport, and water projects.

Wagle holds a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley.

******

Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E) within the Department of Energy (DOE).

ARPA-E focuses exclusively on high risk, high payoff concepts - technologies promising genuine transformation in the ways we generate, store and utilize energy.

http://arpa-e.energy.gov/About/Mission.aspx

******

08/30/2011

Vice President Biden Announces New Private Sector Backing for Five Pioneering Energy Companies

The five companies attracting more than $100 million in private financing that were highlighted by the Vice President include:

Phononic Devices (Raleigh, NC) - ARPA-E funding $3 million – private funding $11 million
Phononic Devices is designing devices to capture wasted heat produced by factories, power plants and vehicles, and convert it directly into usable electric power. These “thermoelectric” devices are also being designed to remove heat so they can be used as efficient cooling systems.

Primus Power (Hayward, CA) - ARPA-E funding $2 million – private funding $11 million
Primus Power has developed a battery using high energy fluids that are pumped throughout the battery. This “flow battery” can store renewable energy such as wind and solar power and then release that energy into the grid during peak load times.

OPX Biotechnologies (Boulder, CO) - ARPA-E funding $6 million – private funding $36.5 million
Scientists at OPX Biotechnologies are developing bacteria to produce a liquid biofuel using electricity and carbon dioxide. This liquid biofuel is being designed to replace petroleum fuel at a competitive cost. The project combines OPX’s technological capabilities with expertise in bacteria from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Stanford University (Stanford, CA) - ARPA-E funding $1.5 million – private funding $25 million
Professor Fritz Prinz at Stanford University is commercializing a new type of energy storage device that will perform many of the same jobs as a normal battery. It will also deliver greater energy and power and withstand 1,000s of charges without showing a significant drop in performance.

Transphorm (Goleta, CA) - ARPA-E funding $3 million – private funding $25 million
Transphorm is developing compact and efficient semiconductor devices that can quickly switch electrical currents. The aim is to reduce wasted power from electric motors, thereby reducing energy consumption.

http://arpa-e.energy.gov/media/news/tabid/83/vw/1/itemid/35/Default.aspx


17 posted on 11/16/2011 12:38:45 PM PST by kcvl
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To: Driftwood1

Eff’ing Kennedys are still screwing America.


18 posted on 11/16/2011 12:52:13 PM PST by crosshairs (Liberalism is to truth, what east is to west.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“RICO Act.”

The dims are so brazen. But the real problem is the RINO’s won’t do anything about it. They have Stupak types who fall on their sword to get things done and we have McConnell and Boehner types who tip toe through the tulips.


19 posted on 11/16/2011 12:53:30 PM PST by lodi90
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To: Driftwood1

Waiting for the MSM to cover this like the huge scandal it is


20 posted on 11/16/2011 12:55:02 PM PST by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
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