GOP’s Solyndra point man skeptical of White House's review of solar loans

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) – the GOP’s point man on the Solyndra solar loan guarantee probe – isn’t giving the White House much credit for ordering an independent review of the Energy Department’s green energy loan portfolio.

Stearns, who chairs the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, used Friday’s White House announcement to take several political shots at the Obama administration.

“We remain hopeful the administration's call to review the loan guarantee program will be different from previous internal reviews – like the regulatory reform and line-by-line reviews that the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee revealed as being merely PR campaigns without any real results,” said Stearns, who has criticized the White House budget review process.

Stearns is leading the House GOP’s probe of the $535 million Energy Department’s loan guarantee to California solar panel maker Solyndra in 2009. Solyndra went bankrupt in early September.

The White House on Friday afternoon said that former Treasury Department official Herb Allison would conduct a 60-day review of Energy Department loan programs and make recommendations to ensure effective monitoring and management.

“The president is committed to investing in clean energy because he understands that the jobs developing and manufacturing these technologies will either be created here or in other countries. And while we continue to take steps to make sure the United States remains competitive in the 21st-century energy economy, we must also ensure that we are strong stewards of taxpayer dollars,” White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley said in announcing the review.

But Stearns said the White House checkup should have occurred earlier.

“This 60-day review would have been more sensible before billions of dollars in loans were rushed out the door in the program's final hours on September 30,” Stearns said in a statement, referring to approval of $4.7 billion worth of loan guarantees for four solar projects late last month.

Still, Stearns called the selection of Allison “noteworthy,” because administration emails have revealed concerns among some Treasury officials about the Energy Department’s early 2011 restructuring of Solyndra’s loan guarantee.

Republicans and the Energy Department are sparring over the restructuring, which put private investors ahead of the government for repayment if the company liquidated. Republicans probing Solyndra say it was illegal, the Energy Department says it wasn’t.

Stearns’ Energy and Commerce Committee investigations panel is likely to vote to subpoena internal White House communications about Solyndra Thursday, escalating a clash with the administration over the documents.

White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler has rejected recent GOP requests for the internal White House communications dating back to the beginning of the Obama administration.

But Ruemmler has touted disclosure of scores of other documents in response to the GOP probe, noting release of over 70,000 pages worth of communications between the White House, Solyndra and other agencies about the 2009 loan guarantee.

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