The folks at LA Observed have slogged through the Solyndra SEC filing and have found what may be a stunning discovery, adding insult to injury.
For more background on Solyndra, read Curt’s post here and Dr. John’s post here.
Turns out that Solyndra, the now-bankrupt solar panel manufacturer so highly touted by the Obama administration applied for a second loan which would be guaranteed by the US Department of Energy.
This second loan was to be in the amount of $469 million dollars (for Phase II Part 1):
On September 11, 2009, we submitted Part 1 of an application for an approximately $469 million guaranteed loan to be utilized to finance the construction of Phase II. As with the financing facility for Phase I, the loan would be made by the Federal Financing Bank and guaranteed by the DOE. On November 4, 2009, we were notified by the DOE that our Part 1 application was complete and that Phase II was determined to be a Section 1703 eligible project and to have the credit subsidy cost for the project paid out of funds allocated under Section 1705. We submitted Part 2 of our loan guarantee application on November 17, 2009.
While writing this post, and reading through the filing, I discovered something else. Notice the line in bold above.
A loan application was also made for Phase II, Part 2. We don’t, as of yet have a monetary value for Part 2.
The earlier $535 million loan (for Phase I) was separate and distinct from the second one:
Phase I Financing
We were the first company to secure a guaranteed loan facility under Title XVII. On September 3, 2009, we and one of our subsidiaries, Solyndra Fab 2 LLC, entered into financing agreements with the Federal Financing Bank, a government corporation under the general supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury, and the DOE that provide for a $535 million loan to Solyndra Fab 2 LLC, which we refer to as the Fab 2 Borrower, that is guaranteed by the DOE. The estimated aggregate project costs of Phase I are approximately $733 million…
It’s unclear from the filing if the second loan was ever actually received by Solyndra and, so far, the administration has not made any effort to address that issue one way or the other:
Solyndra applied for that extra $469 million the same year it received the $535 million of ultimately wasted taxpayer money which is the subject of a current congressional investigation. According to the company’s SEC filings, that $535 million was only intended to cover Phase I of the construction of its “Fab 2″ solar panel manufacturing facility.
…
It’s unclear if the now-bankrupt and scandal-embroiled green energy company actually received a second loan. Department of Energy officials did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller’s request for comment, and the company’s SEC filing left the question open.
As Ace points out, the administration is really in a classic catch 22 situation here. If they rush out paper work which shows that the second request was denied then they cast their earlier $535 million “Yea” in an even worse light.
If confirming evidence emerges that the additional $469 million was actually issued then that will serve as pure, high octane gasoline on a fire that is already burning pretty well.
Combine the $469 million with the earlier $535 million loan guarantee and the US taxpayer, you and I, are now on the hook for over $1 billion.
Add on the unknown dollar figure of loans for Phase II, Part 2 (if any) and who knows what the final cost to the taxpayer is going to be.