Remember Solyndra? Loss of taxpayer millions now seems forgotten, expert says

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News

It's been exactly ten years since the Solyndra solar power company accepted a loan of half a billion taxpayer dollars that would never be repaid. Now one industry expert says he's not sure any lessons have been learned in the years since.

On March 20, 2009, then-Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced Solyndra would be the recipient of a $535 million loan from his department under the Obama administration's revamped loan guarantee program. Solyndra used the money, along with hundreds-of-millions more from private investors, to build a new facility where it would be mass-producing its easy-to-install cylindrical solar "panels." The whole thing lasted about two years.

The ill-fated energy company had initially asked President George Bush for cash under the loan guarantee program, which was created to help companies working with clean energy technologies that might be considered too risky for private investors.

But it wasn't until President Obama launched his sweeping stimulus spending plan that Solyndra's application was approved, launching the California company to poster-child status despite what were apparently growing concerns about its long-term (and even short-term) viability.

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Whatever happened to the Solyndra scandal?