As the Solyndra saga continues to unfold, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is being sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request Tuesday from two organizations trying to uncover which political appointees had contact with the now-bankrupt solar panel manufacturer.
Crossroads GPS and Wikicountability plan to send the FOIA request to the DOE seeking any and all communications, including emails, memos and meeting notes, between DOE staff and any “presidential appointment with Senate confirm.” (RELATED: Solyndra reps made multiple trips to White House)
The goal is to dig deeper into the relationship between the Obama Administration and Solyndra, which shuttered its doors August 31, even after receiving a $535 million loan guarantee as part of Obama’s stimulus package.
“With President Obama asking Americans to entrust him with even more stimulus spending, we need to find out who inside the administration knew what was going on at Solyndra and why taxpayers were left holding the bag,” Steven Law, president of Crossroads GPS, said in a statement.
After the August 31 announcement, new revelations about Solyndra’s business practices and close relationship with the Obama administration have thrust the loan guarantee program into the spotlight. Numerous Solyndra officals, The Daily Caller reported, made hefty financial contributions to the president’s campaign. They also visited the White House no less than 20 times before and after the deal was closed.
It is now known that there were warnings that Solyndra’s financial stability was in question. Two months before the president visited the firm and touted it as the future of a green-energy economy, an independent auditor found that the financial troubles were significant enough to raise “substantial doubt” about its sustainability.