Energy chief unbowed by Solyndra loan failure
Republicans fail to elicit Chu apology at hearing
WASHINGTON – Energy Secretary Steven Chu is a physicist, not a politician, but he was unflappable under attack from Republicans and refused to apologize for a $535 million loan guarantee given to now-bankrupt solar equipment maker Solyndra.
In his first appearance before Congress since the Solyndra controversy broke nearly three months ago, Chu firmly pushed back against allegations that political favoritism and bureaucratic incompetence led his agency to approve the Solyndra loan guarantee.
“Was there incompetence?” Chu said in response to Michigan Republican Fred Upton’s request for an apology. “Was there any influence of a political nature? So I would say no. It is extremely unfortunate what has happened to Solyndra.”
Chu is the highest-level Obama administration member so far to testify about his agency’s role in the decision to back the Fremont, Calif., manufacturer, which closed its doors in August.
Upton, the committee’s chairman, had framed the hearing as an inquiry into Chu’s involvement. “What did Secretary Chu know about the situation at Solyndra, when did he know it and how did he act on this information, if at all?”
Chu said he knew few of the details about Solyndra until the company began to falter late last year and needed its loan guarantee restructured. Many of the decisions about the loan were made by career civil servants, emails have shown.
Chu, a Nobel Prize winner and Washington outsider, parried often-repetitive questions over the nearly five hours of the hearing. During his testimony, he made clear that he had little hope of recovering most of the money backed by the Energy Department’s guarantee.
Solyndra was once the darling of the venture capital world, collecting accolades from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Wall Street Journal and more than $1 billion in private investment for its innovative solar technology.
Chu, reiterating explanations of others, said the company failed after demand for solar equipment slackened and panel prices plummeted from the effects of China’s heavy subsidies for its own manufacturers. House Republicans assert that Chu should have seen such a fall coming.