Candidate Obama also promised that lobbyists wouldn’t work in his White House, and President Obama claimed, “we’ve excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs,” but we know that's not the case at all, as reflected in the Washington Examiner's July 2013 list of "50 of the more than 100 former lobbyists who hold or have held senior policy making jobs in the Obama administration."
Still, there is one top DC lobbyist that will be featured in this month's Green Corruption File: energy lobbyist, McBee Strategic Consulting, of which in March 2011, Tim Carney of the Washington Examiner, made this charge, "K Street is the epicenter of this green-industrial complex, and ground zero might be the firm founded by Democratic revolving-door earmark lobbyist Steve McBee, who reportedly wrote key provisions in the stimulus bill to open the spigot of green corporate welfare."
With seven down, this is the final installment of "The RAT in the Recovery and the Gang of Eight”: those individuals and groups that were involved in crafting the energy sector of the 2009-Recovery Act, and who ultimately financially benefited from the $100 billion that was earmarked for renewable energy. Not to mention that under the Obama administration, besides climate change policies that costs taxpayer more money (and a gift to his climate cronies), additional clean-energy funds have been doled out from various budgets and departments.
With the exception of those inside the Department of Energy (DOE) that have cashed in on the green energy funds ("The DOE Dirty Dozen"), these stimulus authors demonstrate the depth and length of this Green Corruption scandal. Staring with the fact that the stimulus package –– the president's trillion-dollar spending spree –– was sold to the American people as a means to save our economy from the brink of disaster and create jobs. However, "2012 revelations," as well as those of us that have been following the money, exposed the fact that the stimulus was about implementing the Obama administration’s agenda: "a key tool for advancing clean-energy goals and fulfilling a number of campaign commitments." And forget about the green jobs, a topic that Marita Noon (energy columnists at Townhall.com and my cohort in exposing President Obama’s clean-energy dirt) and I have hashed out many times.
Top D.C. Lobbyist, via the 2009-Stimulus, changed the DOE loan program's provision designed to protect taxpayers
Since 2002, McBee Strategic Consulting has financially supported both sides of the political isle, with a huge increase in campaign contributions in the 2008, 2010 and 2012 cycles. However they have given predominately, and more significantly to Democrats.
As Carney noted in 2011, “With McBee's former boss being a senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, McBee Strategic used to be an earmark factory. After Obama's election, though, McBee pivoted to green energy and saw revenues soar in 2009.” Yes, indeed, revenues for McBee soared alright, and as documented by Center for Responsive Politics (graph left) –– not all from clean-energy, but plenty of dirt to share –– McBee Strategic Consulting’s total lobbying income went from under $5 million in 2005, then doubled to just over $11 million in 2009, and it peaked in 2010 at $13,160,000.
But if we go back in time when the 2005 energy bill created a new Department of Energy loan guarantee program for renewable energy facilities, it's important to note that in order to protect taxpayers, the 2005 law required from the beneficiary a sort of "down payment," to cover the risk of default. Yet as reported and confirmed by Carney, “the 2009 stimulus bill removed that requirement, allowing DOE to give out loan guarantees without the down payment. Energy lobbyists on Capitol Hill say that this provision, which opened the spigot on the DOE loans, was written by Steve McBee.”
Keep in mind that since March of 2012 I've been covering the Energy Department's Loan
Program, more specifically the stimulus-created 1705, whereas over $16 billion of taxpayer money was used to fund 26 alternative energy projects, of which 23 were "junk" rated, as revealed by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in March 2012, and hashed out at quite a few subsequent hearings.
Did you get that? Not only did the Obama administration fund "junk loans" for high risk projects, but NO down payment required, thus putting taxpayers at risk at every turn. Yet, this big D.C. lobbyist and those inside this clean-energy scheme, while they gambled with other peoples money, most likely laughed all the way to the bank –– the Green Bank of Obama that is.
The DOE’s "junk bond portfolio" (the entire $34.4 billion loan guarantee program) is where you’ll discover that 96 percent of the firms representing these projects have meaningful ties (bundlers and donors) to President Obama and other high-ranking Democrats; or both, with five to Senator Harry Reid alone.
McBee Strikes Gold
Client #1: VANTAGEPOINT MANAGEMENT, INC* – SAN BRUNO, CA
While McBee's clients such as Amyris, Rentech, and Solazyme (as well as many others) were also recipients of millions in stimulus grants, we'll begin with the DOE loan program. But before we dive into the big win for McBee, BrightSource Energy and its $1.6 billion of taxpayer funds, I'll first give some insight into three key players inside this deal –– all three are McBee Strategic Consulting energy clients.
First up is VantagePoint, and as mentioned they are a huge VC firm where Steve McBee is also a Senior Advisor. From what I gather, McBee has been lobbying on their behalf since 2009, of which according to Center for Responsive Politics, McBee has raked in $720,000 from VantagePoint since that time.
What's relevant at this juncture is that SolarCity and SunRun are in cahoots with P.G.&E. Corporation, the California utility holding company's tax-equity fund to finance residential solar installations. And as reported by the New York Times in 2010, "SunRun and other companies that lease solar energy systems qualify for a 30 percent tax credit against the cost of the arrays. Since most start-ups have no use for such tax credits, they give them to investors in exchange for financing installations."
Meanwhile, according to the Heritage Foundation last year, "Sungevity also has major ties to the Obama Administration. Tom Steyer, the “main financial backer” of Sungevity investor Greener Capital and a major Obama donor, is an aggressive activist for more federal environmental regulation and taxpayer backing for green energy companies. Steyer “said he had spent time consulting with the Obama administration after last November’s [2008] election,” according to the New York Times.
On a side note, Mr. Steyer, the "Climate Change Radical" is a Big Oil investor and another bundler and billionaire buddy of President Obama. I covered him briefly during my April post on the newly bankrupt Chinese solar producer Suntech, who was a stimulus tax credit winner and contractor to the Energy Department’s $337 million "junk loan." This is the Mesquite Solar I, LLC (Sempra Mesquite) project (of which PG&E is part of) for a solar power plant in Arizona that is scheduled to be up sometime in 2013, which projects that it would create more than 300 construction job and 7 operating jobs.
But back to PG&E...
As reported by the Washington Free Beacon last year, "PG&E has become an aggressive buyer of power supplied by solar, wind, and other renewable sources, in large part due to statutory requirements under California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, which mandated that 20 percent of the utility’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2010 — and 33 percent by 2020." Still, the big win for this huge energy corporation is that they have an invested interest in $7.6 billion of Energy Department stimulus loans. While the details into these taxpayer-funded projects can be found in my April 2013 post, here's the breakdown.
Client #4: BrightSource Energy*
BrightSource Energy has a three-unit power system project known as “Ivanpah,” located near the California/Nevada border, south of Las Vegas, which uses a proprietary power-tower solar thermal system. Despite the fact that all three phases of this solar project was rated as "speculative," on April 11, 2011, the DOE finalization $1.6 billion in loan guarantees for BrightSource’s Ivanpah project, which was projected to create approximately 1,000 construction jobs with 86 operations and maintenance.
As part of this deal, the electricity from the Ivanpah project will be sold under long-term power purchase agreements with Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison Company (SCE). Last year, it was revealed through a Government Reform and Oversight subcommittee hearing that then-CEO of PG&E, Peter Darbee, got involved: "Darbee at PG&E talked directly to Obama about the program's challenges and the bad situation it puts him in." This Intel came from a January 4, 2010 email written by then president and CEO of BrightSource Energy, John Woolard (he resigned in June of this year), to then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu's senior advisor, Matt Rogers, both key players inside this "green" scam.
Now we discover that "the project is being constructed by Bechtel," another big corporation with their hand in the stimulus –– a piece of this scandal that I divulged in my June "Nuclear Crimes and Misdemeanors" story with the main focus on the billion-dollar Colorado-based consulting, engineering and construction firm CH2M Hill. But it was in May of 2009 that the Washington Post exposed the fact that "as far back as December [2009], when it became clear that Obama would introduce a huge spending bill to create jobs, Energy Department staff members began meeting with the contractors, including representatives from Bechtel National, CH2M Hill and other large firms."
As detailed earlier, Google aimed its "search engines" at green technology and many of have received government help. But as far as this deal goes: Google had made a $10 million equity investment in BrightSource in 2007. Then on April 11, 2011, the day that the DOE had finalized BrightSource's billion-dollar DOE loan, Google announced its largest investment in renewable energy to date: $168 million into the Ivanpah project.
Enter in NRG Energy, another huge energy corporation that sometime in October 2010, during the time of the BrightSource DOE loan review process, “NRG became the lead investor ($300 million) in the Ivanpah solar project of the 392 MW Ivanpah project." It so happens that NRG Energy –– a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 Index company –– and its subsidiaries was the recipient of most of 1705 stimulus loans worth $5.2 billion of taxpayer money... and counting.
With seven down, this is the final installment of "The RAT in the Recovery and the Gang of Eight”: those individuals and groups that were involved in crafting the energy sector of the 2009-Recovery Act, and who ultimately financially benefited from the $100 billion that was earmarked for renewable energy. Not to mention that under the Obama administration, besides climate change policies that costs taxpayer more money (and a gift to his climate cronies), additional clean-energy funds have been doled out from various budgets and departments.
With the exception of those inside the Department of Energy (DOE) that have cashed in on the green energy funds ("The DOE Dirty Dozen"), these stimulus authors demonstrate the depth and length of this Green Corruption scandal. Staring with the fact that the stimulus package –– the president's trillion-dollar spending spree –– was sold to the American people as a means to save our economy from the brink of disaster and create jobs. However, "2012 revelations," as well as those of us that have been following the money, exposed the fact that the stimulus was about implementing the Obama administration’s agenda: "a key tool for advancing clean-energy goals and fulfilling a number of campaign commitments." And forget about the green jobs, a topic that Marita Noon (energy columnists at Townhall.com and my cohort in exposing President Obama’s clean-energy dirt) and I have hashed out many times.
 |
| Graph from Center for Responsive Politics |
Since 2002, McBee Strategic Consulting has financially supported both sides of the political isle, with a huge increase in campaign contributions in the 2008, 2010 and 2012 cycles. However they have given predominately, and more significantly to Democrats.
As Carney noted in 2011, “With McBee's former boss being a senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, McBee Strategic used to be an earmark factory. After Obama's election, though, McBee pivoted to green energy and saw revenues soar in 2009.” Yes, indeed, revenues for McBee soared alright, and as documented by Center for Responsive Politics (graph left) –– not all from clean-energy, but plenty of dirt to share –– McBee Strategic Consulting’s total lobbying income went from under $5 million in 2005, then doubled to just over $11 million in 2009, and it peaked in 2010 at $13,160,000.
But if we go back in time when the 2005 energy bill created a new Department of Energy loan guarantee program for renewable energy facilities, it's important to note that in order to protect taxpayers, the 2005 law required from the beneficiary a sort of "down payment," to cover the risk of default. Yet as reported and confirmed by Carney, “the 2009 stimulus bill removed that requirement, allowing DOE to give out loan guarantees without the down payment. Energy lobbyists on Capitol Hill say that this provision, which opened the spigot on the DOE loans, was written by Steve McBee.”Keep in mind that since March of 2012 I've been covering the Energy Department's Loan
 |
Graph by Veronique de Rugy,
senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center
Jun 19, 2012
|
Did you get that? Not only did the Obama administration fund "junk loans" for high risk projects, but NO down payment required, thus putting taxpayers at risk at every turn. Yet, this big D.C. lobbyist and those inside this clean-energy scheme, while they gambled with other peoples money, most likely laughed all the way to the bank –– the Green Bank of Obama that is.
The DOE’s "junk bond portfolio" (the entire $34.4 billion loan guarantee program) is where you’ll discover that 96 percent of the firms representing these projects have meaningful ties (bundlers and donors) to President Obama and other high-ranking Democrats; or both, with five to Senator Harry Reid alone.
McBee Strikes Gold
According to their website, “McBee Strategic has one of the largest energy practices in Washington, advising a diverse portfolio of Fortune 500 companies, innovative start-up companies, and investors advancing new energy technologies.”
It’s interesting that Carney noted that McBee's clients "included SolarCity and the Green Tech Action Fund as well as electric-car maker Better Place Inc., waste-to-power company Ze-gen, and solar-power developer BrightSource Energy. But the big guys –– Boeing, JP Morgan, and Google –– also hire McBee to lobby for green-energy subsidies.” But if you look into McBee’s client list, which currently counts 23 as "energy clients," and if you snoop around you'll discover that there are others that won "green" taxpayer money.
Besides the few mentioned above, other familiar big corporations of McBee's energy clients comprise of General Electric, Honeywell, and Pacific Gas and Electric. Moreover, McBee Strategic Consulting also helped secure taxpayer funds for VantagePoint Capital Partners, where Steve McBee sits as Senior Advisor, and a firm that is considered "one of the largest venture funds in the United States." They also lobbied on behalf of a few notorious Energy Department loans that went to Solyndra and Tesla, but that's only scratching the surface.
In full disclosure (context is key), McBee may have entered the lobbying arena of a few of these energy firms and projects after they snagged their stimulus money, however, it's important to point out that the Obama administration is still dishing out taxpayer money to green energy (so-called) investments, even as they plan on expanding the auto loan program.
Nevertheless, my research reflects the fact that I found 31 McBee energy clients with 19 (over 60 percent) that received green-government subsidies under the Obama administration, totaling approximately $13.7 billion of taxpayer money. Additionally, with only two clients (Honeywell and Telsa) that were hired prior to 2009, when the Recovery Act was approved, I calculated that from these 31 energy clients, McBee Strategic Consulting "green kickbacks" thus far is close to $9 million, and that's just from energy.
These calculations include twelve DOE loans (marked with an asterisk*), of which we know that Steve McBee was instrumental in "changing the game" by his involvement in eliminating the so-called "required down payment." And while I'm only counting BrightSource's $1.6 billion DOE loan (and a few other duplicates) once, this $15 billion does not factor in Silver Spring Networks, that is tied to at least $1.3 billion in smart-grid stimulus grants, as well as OPower, who has indirectly benefited from the $4 billion of smart grid grants doled out by the DOE as part of the 2009-stimulus packaged. There are also a few unknowns (or incomplete research) in these calculations such as First Wind, The Babcock and Wilcox Co, GreatPoint Energy, JPMorgan Chase, and Serious Materials Inc. I'm sure when it's all said and done, those figures, $13.7 billion and McBee's $9 million, is much higher.
Besides the few mentioned above, other familiar big corporations of McBee's energy clients comprise of General Electric, Honeywell, and Pacific Gas and Electric. Moreover, McBee Strategic Consulting also helped secure taxpayer funds for VantagePoint Capital Partners, where Steve McBee sits as Senior Advisor, and a firm that is considered "one of the largest venture funds in the United States." They also lobbied on behalf of a few notorious Energy Department loans that went to Solyndra and Tesla, but that's only scratching the surface.
In full disclosure (context is key), McBee may have entered the lobbying arena of a few of these energy firms and projects after they snagged their stimulus money, however, it's important to point out that the Obama administration is still dishing out taxpayer money to green energy (so-called) investments, even as they plan on expanding the auto loan program.
Nevertheless, my research reflects the fact that I found 31 McBee energy clients with 19 (over 60 percent) that received green-government subsidies under the Obama administration, totaling approximately $13.7 billion of taxpayer money. Additionally, with only two clients (Honeywell and Telsa) that were hired prior to 2009, when the Recovery Act was approved, I calculated that from these 31 energy clients, McBee Strategic Consulting "green kickbacks" thus far is close to $9 million, and that's just from energy.
These calculations include twelve DOE loans (marked with an asterisk*), of which we know that Steve McBee was instrumental in "changing the game" by his involvement in eliminating the so-called "required down payment." And while I'm only counting BrightSource's $1.6 billion DOE loan (and a few other duplicates) once, this $15 billion does not factor in Silver Spring Networks, that is tied to at least $1.3 billion in smart-grid stimulus grants, as well as OPower, who has indirectly benefited from the $4 billion of smart grid grants doled out by the DOE as part of the 2009-stimulus packaged. There are also a few unknowns (or incomplete research) in these calculations such as First Wind, The Babcock and Wilcox Co, GreatPoint Energy, JPMorgan Chase, and Serious Materials Inc. I'm sure when it's all said and done, those figures, $13.7 billion and McBee's $9 million, is much higher.
The $1.6 Billion BrightSource Energy Shady DOE Deal and its "Obama Players"
Client #1: VANTAGEPOINT MANAGEMENT, INC* – SAN BRUNO, CA
While McBee's clients such as Amyris, Rentech, and Solazyme (as well as many others) were also recipients of millions in stimulus grants, we'll begin with the DOE loan program. But before we dive into the big win for McBee, BrightSource Energy and its $1.6 billion of taxpayer funds, I'll first give some insight into three key players inside this deal –– all three are McBee Strategic Consulting energy clients.
First up is VantagePoint, and as mentioned they are a huge VC firm where Steve McBee is also a Senior Advisor. From what I gather, McBee has been lobbying on their behalf since 2009, of which according to Center for Responsive Politics, McBee has raked in $720,000 from VantagePoint since that time.
Due to the fact that their "green portfolio" overlaps with another huge VC firm, I briefly touched upon them in my January 2012 post about President Obama's ultra-rich climate cronies, John Doerr and Al Gore. With Doerr as another stimulus author and former Jobs Council member, via his big VC firm Kleiner Perkins, where Gore is also a partner, I exposed the fact that their "Greentech Portfolio" (as of January 2013) had 66 investments, and that 36 were confirmed 2009-Recovery Act winners –– over 50 percent. Combine those figures with Kleiner Perkins' collaboration with Gore’s UK-based Generation Investment Management (GIM), and we at least $10 billion of "green" taxpayer funds.
As I noted, Kleiner Perkins is also in cahoots with other fat-cat Obama bundles and donors that were huge winners at the Green Bank of Obama: Goldman Sachs, Khosla Ventures, and The Westly Group as well as Google Ventures and VantagePoint Capital Partners –– and these Big VC's as well as Wall Street are also found in this Green Corruption File.
VantagePoint is where we find DOE Insider Sanjay Wagle, who was an Obama fundraiser for the 2008 campaign through his Clean Tech for Obama group. After the 2008 election, Wagle joined the administration as an advisor at the Energy Department under then-Secretary Chu. As stated on his UC Berkeley bio, "At DOE, Sanjay served in the Office of the Secretary of Energy helping to oversee implementation of $11 billion in programs for clean energy. Sanjay also served as Associate Director for Commercialization at the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), the newly created agency funding high-risk, high reward energy technologies."
Prior to arriving in Washington, Wagle was a principal at VantagePoint, where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is also a Partner and Senior Advisor. However, according to some greentech defenders, "Wagle gave up any interests in VantagePoint and the companies it invested in before joining the DOE." Wagle left the DOE sometime in 2012, but in September 22, 2009, he was part of Valerie Jarrett's "CLEAN ENERGY SUMMIT" held at the White House, whereas it was reported that "attendees struck gold, cashing in on $5.3 billion in taxpayer funds from the Obama administration."
While this data was dated June 5, 2012, and is a collective tally, during the course of my research I fount that VantagePoint's portfolio has at least nine clean-energy firms/projects, which includes three DOE loans, that came out winners in the 2009 "green" stimulus spending spree. Thus far I have calculated that VantagePoint's total so far is about $3 billion. (NOTE: there are four Kleiner Perkins investments here as well: Amprius, FloDesign, Mascoma and MiaSole).
Client #2: GOOGLE, INC* – MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA
Google Inc, who spends millions of dollars on lobbying each year, has plenty of high-profile lobbyists in their pocket. In fact according to Center for Responsive Politics, Google spent a whopping $18,220,000 in 2012, and it seems that they hired McBee Strategic Consulting sometime in 2009. And while Center for Responsive Politics lists work for Google as "Computers/Internet," McBee has them listed as an energy client, and if you do the math, since 2009, Google has paid them $950,000.
We also know that McBee, labeled by Timothy P.Carney, of the Washington Examiner, as "a premier lobbying force on green energy subsidies," in December 2012, there were a slew of Obama allies that fought to save a tax credit for wind energy that was set to expire. It turns out that McBee pushed for it on behalf Google, which, according to Carney, "has invested a billion dollars in wind farms and other green energy." This and much more I addressed in my January Big Wind story that involved the looming and controversial Production Tax Credit (PTC), of which many high-powered energy corporations have taken advantage of, rely heavily upon, and were fiercely lobbying for. It was revived once again as part of the 2012 midnight “fiscal cliff” deal.
As I noted, Kleiner Perkins is also in cahoots with other fat-cat Obama bundles and donors that were huge winners at the Green Bank of Obama: Goldman Sachs, Khosla Ventures, and The Westly Group as well as Google Ventures and VantagePoint Capital Partners –– and these Big VC's as well as Wall Street are also found in this Green Corruption File.
VantagePoint is where we find DOE Insider Sanjay Wagle, who was an Obama fundraiser for the 2008 campaign through his Clean Tech for Obama group. After the 2008 election, Wagle joined the administration as an advisor at the Energy Department under then-Secretary Chu. As stated on his UC Berkeley bio, "At DOE, Sanjay served in the Office of the Secretary of Energy helping to oversee implementation of $11 billion in programs for clean energy. Sanjay also served as Associate Director for Commercialization at the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), the newly created agency funding high-risk, high reward energy technologies."
Prior to arriving in Washington, Wagle was a principal at VantagePoint, where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is also a Partner and Senior Advisor. However, according to some greentech defenders, "Wagle gave up any interests in VantagePoint and the companies it invested in before joining the DOE." Wagle left the DOE sometime in 2012, but in September 22, 2009, he was part of Valerie Jarrett's "CLEAN ENERGY SUMMIT" held at the White House, whereas it was reported that "attendees struck gold, cashing in on $5.3 billion in taxpayer funds from the Obama administration."
While this data was dated June 5, 2012, and is a collective tally, during the course of my research I fount that VantagePoint's portfolio has at least nine clean-energy firms/projects, which includes three DOE loans, that came out winners in the 2009 "green" stimulus spending spree. Thus far I have calculated that VantagePoint's total so far is about $3 billion. (NOTE: there are four Kleiner Perkins investments here as well: Amprius, FloDesign, Mascoma and MiaSole).
- *BrightSource Energy and the $1.6 Billion Shady DOE Deal
- *1366 Technologies: $150 million 1705 DOE loan tied to General Electric as well as the Former Obama Jobs Czar, Jeffrey Immelt and their "big green" stimulus bucks
- *Tesla Motors and the Big Cronyism Tale: $465 million DOE ATVM loan
- Amprius: $3 million and $5 million from different stimulus-funded programs
- FloDesign: over $8 million stimulus grant and $4 million funding from the state of Massachusetts
- Mascoma: $80 million from the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy EERE funded by the stimulus as well as close to $200 million from 2006 to 2008 under the Bush administration
- MiaSole': $101.8 million stimulus tax credit
- Serious Energy, formally Serious Materials got a stimulus-related tax credit of $548,100. We also know that the stimulus package included “$8 billion in weatherization and energy efficiency grants for things like new windows in office buildings, as well as tax credits for homeowners who buy new, energy efficient windows." However, it’s hard to say how much of that $8 billion business Serious got, but we do know that they snagged government contracts via their QuietRock products.
- Solazyme: $21.7 million stimulus grant / Plus part of the $12 million biofuel contract with the U.S. Navy
Client #2: GOOGLE, INC* – MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA
Google Inc, who spends millions of dollars on lobbying each year, has plenty of high-profile lobbyists in their pocket. In fact according to Center for Responsive Politics, Google spent a whopping $18,220,000 in 2012, and it seems that they hired McBee Strategic Consulting sometime in 2009. And while Center for Responsive Politics lists work for Google as "Computers/Internet," McBee has them listed as an energy client, and if you do the math, since 2009, Google has paid them $950,000.
We also know that McBee, labeled by Timothy P.Carney, of the Washington Examiner, as "a premier lobbying force on green energy subsidies," in December 2012, there were a slew of Obama allies that fought to save a tax credit for wind energy that was set to expire. It turns out that McBee pushed for it on behalf Google, which, according to Carney, "has invested a billion dollars in wind farms and other green energy." This and much more I addressed in my January Big Wind story that involved the looming and controversial Production Tax Credit (PTC), of which many high-powered energy corporations have taken advantage of, rely heavily upon, and were fiercely lobbying for. It was revived once again as part of the 2012 midnight “fiscal cliff” deal.
Google plays the political game well: it's all about access and influence, starting with campaign contributions. Google’s $814,540 contribution to then-Senator Obama’s campaign made it the fifth largest donor in 2008, and in 2012 moved up to the number three spot with a whopping $805,119. Furthermore, Google's CEO at the time, Eric Schmidt, served as an informal advisor to President Obama. Schmidt, Google Executive Chairman, was also an Obama donor in 2008, and since April 2009, is (was) a member of the president's Science and Technology Advisory Council (PCAST).
Another Google political connection is Dan Reicher, director of climate and energy initiatives at Google, who was one of the founders of Cleantech and Green Business Leaders for Obama. There are other interesting folks behind the Google scenes such as John Doerr, mentioned earlier, who has served as a member of Google's board of directors since May 1999. And according to Michelle Malkin, "Google cofounder Sergey Brin, Chief Legal Officer and Senior Vice President David Drummond, and Google Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf are all vocal Obama supporters and top donors."
Meanwhile, Google co-founders Sergey Brin & Larry Page, invested in Tesla Motors, while Google, in 2011, partnered with SolarCity to create a $280 million fund for residential solar projects –– both big winners of taxpayer money and stories that will be told here because Tesla and SolarCity were both McBee clients.
Again, like many of these Big VC's, their "cleantech" (and dirt) overlaps, and I briefly touched on Google in my January 2012 post about John Doerr and Al Gore. After some leg work, I discovered that Google Ventures –– via their "Energy Investments" and other "green deals" that I tracked down, Google has ten verified stimulus and other green funds winners, which places their investment score at close to $5 billion of taxpayer cash. This figure does not include Silver Spring Networks and their connection to $1.3 billion in smart-grid stimulus grants that I divulged a few times, due to the fact that they are an investment of Kleiner Perkins and Foundation Capital. (NOTE: five are part of Kleiner Perkins' greentech portfolio: Amprius, AltaRock Energy, Clean Power Finance, Silver Spring Networks, and Transphorm.)
- *BrightSource Energy and the $1.6 Billion Shady DOE Deal
- *Google joined GE in April 2011 for the Caithness Shepherds Flat wind project that snagged a $1.3 billion DOE 1705 loan in October 2010
- *Tesla Motors and the Big Cronyism Tale: $465 million DOE ATVM loan
- SolarCity: approximately $429 million in stimulus grants
- Alta Wind Energy Center: this was covered in my January Big Wind story, and what I found then is that the Alta Wind Energy Center, who has taken advantage of the PTC, in just over a year time period (July 2011 to August 2012), scored 21 of the 1603 grants with a grand total close to $500 million of taxpayer money. In June 2011, Reuters reported, "Google Inc and Citigroup are investing another $204 million in the Alta Wind Energy Center in Southern California's Tehachapi Mountains, bringing their total combined investment in the project to $314 million."
- Amprius: $3 million from the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Technology Innovation Program (TIP), funded by the 2009-Stimulus. And $5 million from the DOE's Vehicle Technologies Program funded by the 2009-Stimulus
- AltaRock Energy, Inc: Sometime in 2008, Google invested approximately $6.25 million AltaRock Energy, a renewable energy development company focused on the research and development of geothermal systems. AltaRock received $36 million in grants from the Bush administration, and a $25 million grant from the 2009-stimulus package, plus $1.45 million/ $6 million for their California project.
- Clean Power Finance (CPF): While both Google and Kleiner Perkins became new parties of CPF on September 2, 2011, participating in a $25 million investment, CPF has snagged at least $4.5 million in grants from the DOE's SunShot Initiative funded by the 2009-Recovery Act, of which was awarded after the September 2, 2011 date.
- Silver Spring Networks: Back by Google in 2009, and besides the fact that Silver Spring has massive contracts with PG&E (more on them later, which is another McBee customer), Silver Springs is linked to another White House "friend," and is tied to at least $1.3 billion in smart-grid stimulus grants.
- Transphorm: listed with Enphase Energy, where they collectively received over $9 million in grants from ARPA-E program funded by the 2009-Stimulus
Unknown at this time:
- CoolPlanetBioFuels
- Nest
- Next Autoworks, also backed by Kleiner Perkins at one point, was seeking a huge taxpayer-backed loan, but thanks to the Solyndra saga, in late 2011, they withdrew their application for a $320 million loan from the DOE's Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) program.
While the huge utility corporation Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. (PG&E) had a banner year in 2010, with "total lobbying expenditures of $45,510,000" (as documented by Center for Responsive Politics), it seems that they didn't hire McBee Consulting until 2011, of which so far they have raked in $320,000, and PG&E remains an "energy client" of McBee.
My latest insight into PG&E can be found at “Smart Gird, Dirty Devices," which exposes their partnership with Silver Spring Networks on many fronts (PG&E is their top customer) –– the lucky smart-grid technology company that I mentioned earlier, who has an array of White House connections –– Foundation Capital, Kleiner Perkins and Google –– and as of January 2013 is linked to at least $1.3 billion in smart-grid stimulus grants.
Nevertheless, PG&E, a strong Obama and Democrat donor, is all over this "green scam," as well as the fact that they are jam-packed with Washington "green cronies," including Cathy Zoi, who is the "most controversial former PG&E employee to hold an influential government." Zoi, an Al Gore acolyte was a DOE Insider from 2009 until 2011, and since Serious Materials was also an energy client of McBee, I'll get to her later. In the meantime, I’ve tackled PG&E several times and here a few relevant highlights:
My latest insight into PG&E can be found at “Smart Gird, Dirty Devices," which exposes their partnership with Silver Spring Networks on many fronts (PG&E is their top customer) –– the lucky smart-grid technology company that I mentioned earlier, who has an array of White House connections –– Foundation Capital, Kleiner Perkins and Google –– and as of January 2013 is linked to at least $1.3 billion in smart-grid stimulus grants.
Additionally, with their high-powered connections all the way up to the president and inside the DOE, PG&E won a significant amount of stimulus money for various projects: at least seventeen to date and over $55 million.
As reported by the Washington Post mid December, a trio of solar companies –– SolarCity, SunRun and Sungevity –– had "received subpoenas from the Treasury Department’s office of inspector general for financial records to justify more than $500 million in federal grants and tax credits the firms tapped for performing work." But what's interesting here is that all three of these solar companies have major political ties.
Since SolarCity was a client of McBee, I'll be hitting them up later, yet SunRun, due to the fact that they have "friend" of the White House via Foundation Capital, and SunRun's connection to another "clean-energy stimulus author," TJ, Glauthier, I tackled that solar company in May of this year. Then again in July: "Subsidizing Obama’s Algae: Its advisors and allies."
As reported by the Washington Post mid December, a trio of solar companies –– SolarCity, SunRun and Sungevity –– had "received subpoenas from the Treasury Department’s office of inspector general for financial records to justify more than $500 million in federal grants and tax credits the firms tapped for performing work." But what's interesting here is that all three of these solar companies have major political ties.
Since SolarCity was a client of McBee, I'll be hitting them up later, yet SunRun, due to the fact that they have "friend" of the White House via Foundation Capital, and SunRun's connection to another "clean-energy stimulus author," TJ, Glauthier, I tackled that solar company in May of this year. Then again in July: "Subsidizing Obama’s Algae: Its advisors and allies."
But back to PG&E...
As reported by the Washington Free Beacon last year, "PG&E has become an aggressive buyer of power supplied by solar, wind, and other renewable sources, in large part due to statutory requirements under California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, which mandated that 20 percent of the utility’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2010 — and 33 percent by 2020." Still, the big win for this huge energy corporation is that they have an invested interest in $7.6 billion of Energy Department stimulus loans. While the details into these taxpayer-funded projects can be found in my April 2013 post, here's the breakdown.
- *Agua Caliente Solar Power Project located in Yuma, Arizona, of which "PG&E will purchase the project’s power and deliver it to customers in California." Project by NRG Solar: $967 million loan guarantee
- *BrightSource Energy development located in Baker, CA, of which "electricity from the project will be sold under long-term power purchase agreements with Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison Company (SCE)." Project by NRG Energy, Inc. (BrightSource): $1.6 billion loan guarantee
- *California Valley Solar Ranch of which the 250-megawatt is under construction in eastern San Luis Obispo County, and "is generating clean, reliable solar power for transmission over PG&E’s utility grid." Project by NRG Solar and SunPower is still involved: $1.237 billion loan guarantee
- *Desert Sunlight Project located in Riverside, CA, with the PPA (purchase power agreement) listed as Southern California Edison and PG&E. This is a First Solar Project that is co-owned by NextEra Energy Resources, GE Energy Financial Services, and Sumitomo Corporation of America: partial guarantee of $1.46 billion
- *Genesis Solar Energy Project located in Riverside County, CA of which "power from the project will be sold to Pacific Gas and Electric Company." Project by NextEra Energy Resources, LLC: partial guarantee of $852 million loan
- Mesquite Solar 1, LLC located in Maricopa County, AZ, of which Bloomberg News had reported at the time the DOE loan was approved, "Sempra will sell electricity from the Mesquite Solar 1 plant to California’s largest utility, PG&E Corp., under a 20- year contract." Project by Sempra Mesquite: $337 million loan guarantee
- *Mojave Solar located in San Bernardino County, CA, of which at the time of the DOE loan approval (September 2011), "Abengoa signed a power-purchase agreement with PG&E to buy the energy produced by the project for a period of 25 years." Project by the Spanish firm Abengoa Solar, Inc.: $1.2 billion loan guarantee
I've already presented the big players with ties to President Obama behind this billion-dollar DOE deal (VantagePoint, Google and PG&E), but there are plenty more players to expose. Today, I'll give a summary, while in my next post I'll be exposing more dirt on this expensive clean-energy deal.
First it's important to be clear that BrightSource Energy's $1.6 billion was basically a bailout, which is a clear violation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. As Peter Schweizer put it in his bombshell book, Throw Them All Out, in describing the financial issues they were having (bleeding money), "BrightSource badly needed this infusion of taxpayer cash."
First it's important to be clear that BrightSource Energy's $1.6 billion was basically a bailout, which is a clear violation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. As Peter Schweizer put it in his bombshell book, Throw Them All Out, in describing the financial issues they were having (bleeding money), "BrightSource badly needed this infusion of taxpayer cash."
In the summer of 2012, Marita Noon and I covered the BrightSource’s green-energy crony-corruption story due to the fact that they were part of our Special Seven Series, where we had chronicled those that received billions in Energy Department loans, despite the fact that these projects were rated as “non-investment” and “junk” grade status.
Additionally, many of them were awarded grants –– all part of the president’s stimulus spending spree. But the kicker with these seven (located in Nevada and California) was that they also received “special” Department of Interior (DOI) treatment through a March 11, 2009 Secretarial Order, which provided these projects –– the majority solar –– with fast-tracked approval, while receiving little scrutiny over environmental damages.
Additionally, many of them were awarded grants –– all part of the president’s stimulus spending spree. But the kicker with these seven (located in Nevada and California) was that they also received “special” Department of Interior (DOI) treatment through a March 11, 2009 Secretarial Order, which provided these projects –– the majority solar –– with fast-tracked approval, while receiving little scrutiny over environmental damages.
As part of this deal, the electricity from the Ivanpah project will be sold under long-term power purchase agreements with Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison Company (SCE). Last year, it was revealed through a Government Reform and Oversight subcommittee hearing that then-CEO of PG&E, Peter Darbee, got involved: "Darbee at PG&E talked directly to Obama about the program's challenges and the bad situation it puts him in." This Intel came from a January 4, 2010 email written by then president and CEO of BrightSource Energy, John Woolard (he resigned in June of this year), to then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu's senior advisor, Matt Rogers, both key players inside this "green" scam.
Now we discover that "the project is being constructed by Bechtel," another big corporation with their hand in the stimulus –– a piece of this scandal that I divulged in my June "Nuclear Crimes and Misdemeanors" story with the main focus on the billion-dollar Colorado-based consulting, engineering and construction firm CH2M Hill. But it was in May of 2009 that the Washington Post exposed the fact that "as far back as December [2009], when it became clear that Obama would introduce a huge spending bill to create jobs, Energy Department staff members began meeting with the contractors, including representatives from Bechtel National, CH2M Hill and other large firms."
As detailed earlier, Google aimed its "search engines" at green technology and many of have received government help. But as far as this deal goes: Google had made a $10 million equity investment in BrightSource in 2007. Then on April 11, 2011, the day that the DOE had finalized BrightSource's billion-dollar DOE loan, Google announced its largest investment in renewable energy to date: $168 million into the Ivanpah project.
We also know that VantagePoint was the majorty stakeholder in BrightSource before NRG Energy got in the game. And it's important reiterate that Sanjay Wagle, who was a principal at that VC firm, was also an advisor at the DOE at the time the loan was approved. Also that Steve McBee is on VantagePoint's advisory panel, with his lobbying firm listed as a "Strategic Partner."
The apparent “payoffs” in the BrightSource deal to Democrats are myriad — the company having donated at least $21,600 to Democrats since 2008 (and zero dollars to Republicans). According to a Washington Free Beacon report, Senator Harry “Reid received almost $4,000 from Brightsource executives in the 2010 cycle, including $2,400 from then-CEO (and shareholder) John Woolard, who hosted a fundraiser for the majority leader. Woolard was also a Barack Obama donor and has visited the White House 10 times since Obama took office.” Meanwhile John Bryson, BrightSource Chairman, became Obama’s Secretary of Commerce (although he resigned in June of 2012 following a series of mysterious auto accidents) and has ties to an organization that helped craft the stimulus package.
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Graph by Veronique de Rugy,
senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center
Jun 19, 2012
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Needless to say, NRG has plenty of political access and influence, of which I documented in my post on the "Left-wing billionaire George Soros: Obama’s "Agent of Green." Soros is another member of the "Gang of Eight" –– as he too was involved in crafting the trillion-dollar stimulus package, which President Obama signed into law in February 2009.
The most corrupt aspect here is the fact that in the first quarter of 2009, Mr. Soros then went on a stock-buying spree in companies that ultimately benefited from the federal stimulus," of which twelve were alternative energy and utility companies, including 500,000 shares of NRG Energy. Soros' green tab as of the beginning of 2013 exceeds $11 billion of stimulus money –– and you, the taxpayer, footed the bill. And that's not factoring in the huge profit Soros is making off of these investments.
But I digress...
But the bombshell comes with the fact that internal Energy Department lobbying began as early as 2009, maybe even before that time, because we now know that since 2007, BrightSource has spent about $1.3 million in lobbying fees, of which McBee Strategic Consulting, who was hired in 2009, raked in $480,000 of that sum, as found at Center for Responsive Politics.
We've divulged plenty of BrightSource investors, which are also high-powered Obama donors, however, the BrightSource DOE deal got a little darker after I read all those pesky House Oversight internal e-mails in the fall of 2012 –– a treasure trove of DOE Intel, which not only revealed a series of questionable practices, including coercion, cronyism and cover ups at the Energy Department, but it incriminates this top lobbyist as a major player in the midst of this clean-energy scheme. Inside the 350+ page Appendix II, I found ongoing interaction and pressure from the heavyweight K Street firm McBee Strategic Consulting as wells as BrightSource executives and stakeholders, David Crane of NRG Energy, DOE officials, Obama’s Green Team, and several in Congress from the Democrat side.
Needless to say, I'll be saving that piece of, and more clean-energy dirt on the BrightSource $1.6 billion shady DOE deal for another time. In the meantime, the rest of this Green Corruption File reveals McBee Strategic Consulting's energy clients (and their "green kickbacks") that were winners at the Green Bank of Obama, the majority from the 2009 Recovery Act. Interesting enough, like the BrightSource deal, most are accompanied by crony, corruption tales, whereas even though many of them I've shared before, there are some new parts to reveal.
In summary, lobbying is not illegal, but besides the obvious broken promise of "change" by President Obama to eliminate lobbyists from setting the agenda and policymaking, this research is just more evidence that this green-energy scam (legislation and money) was used as political payback (QUID PRO QUO). Taxpayer money is being funneled to millionaires, billionaires, and large corporations in order to fund their pet projects, no matter the risk. Sadly our environment has been hijacked, and is being used as a means to fuel corporate welfare and indulge crony capitalism that has run amok.
As we continue to expose more, you'll discover the fact that "We the People" are no longer in charge, and how our government is run by, in the words of Peter Schweizer and Steve Bannon, "the permanent political class" who are in bed with Wall Street, Big Money, Big Corporations, special interests, lobbyists, and in this particular case, Big VC and Big Energy. The worst part is that while those inside this scam enrich themselves with our money, we (citizens) are going broke –– both individually and as a nation.
Wake up America, you've been robbed!
=================
Client #1: VANTAGEPOINT MANAGEMENT, INC.* –– Total taxpayer money from the Green Bank of Obama as of 9/2013: VantagePoint's (where Steve McBee is also a Senior Advisor) portfolio has at least nine clean-energy firms that have snagged green-government subsidies, with includes three DOE loans. Also, the majority of the monies came from the 2009-stimulus package, and totals about $3 billion.
Client #10: Amyris –– $25 million stimulus grant for a biofuel project in California (12/28/2009)
Client #16: OPower is indirectly benefited from the $4 billion smart grid grants that were doled out by the DOE as part of the 2009-stimulus package
Client #17: RENTECH, INC –– $23 million stimulus grant for a biofuel project in Colorado (01/29/2010)
Client #5: Solyndra*
What started as an unworthy investment, snagged a 2010 White House endorsement, only to become a public relations nightmare that included a loan restructuring (an apparent violation of the law) and even a plot to hide the company’s troubles from the 2010 midterm glare. Solyndra became a cautionary tale of sorts: a failed Obama green investment, one of the first to go kaput, unethical executive bonuses included, leaving in its wake FBI raids, executives taking the "Fifth" before Congress, and a trail of DOE resignations.
Adding to the dirt inside this saga, despite the fact that it was well known to those making the loan guarantee decisions, that Solyndra (also rated as a "junk" loan) was a "bad bet." This included then-White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, and we also found out later that additional internal emails prove that both President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden’s staff were actively involved in the process.
Besides lobbying power, there were plenty of players involved the Solyndra Saga, such as Obama bundlers, George Kaiser and Steve Spinner. Adding to the mix was David Prend of Rockport Capital (both Spinner and Prend were DOE Insiders at the time) as well as Goldman Sachs, another top 2008 Obama donor, whom reports show that Goldman was credited as the “exclusive financial adviser” for Solyndra.
But I digress...
In March of 2011, just a month prior to the finalization of the huge DOE loan, BrightSource warned Energy Department officials that “delays in approving a $1.6 billion U.S. loan guarantee would embarrass the White House and force the solar-energy company to close.” According to Bloomberg News in June of 2012, “the 2011 appeal was part of a lobbying push by BrightSource that included hiring as a lobbyist the former chief of staff for Senator Joe Biden, now the vice president, and visits to the White House by executives.” The loan was approved the following month.
The lobbyists here is Bernie Toon, a 29‐year Washington veteran, who prior to joining THE FIRST GROUP as a partner, was a Principal Vice President of Bechtel Corporation. Mr. Toon’s “extensive experience on Capitol Hill includes serving as Chief of Staff to quite a few U.S. Democrat Senators, including Joe Biden," and on March 6, 2011 he became a lobbyist for BrightSource Energy, which Toon via his firm FIRST Group, snagged $40,000 of lobbying money from the energy deal.
In addition to these high-profile connections (with more details at our summer of 2012 columns), as well as VantagePoint, Google, PG&E, NRG Energy, and McBee BrightSource Energy’s investors include other top Obama donors such as Morgan Stanley, and BP Alternative Energy — though, according to Forbes, “the federal loan guarantee is financing the bulk of Invanpah’s construction costs.”
The lobbyists here is Bernie Toon, a 29‐year Washington veteran, who prior to joining THE FIRST GROUP as a partner, was a Principal Vice President of Bechtel Corporation. Mr. Toon’s “extensive experience on Capitol Hill includes serving as Chief of Staff to quite a few U.S. Democrat Senators, including Joe Biden," and on March 6, 2011 he became a lobbyist for BrightSource Energy, which Toon via his firm FIRST Group, snagged $40,000 of lobbying money from the energy deal.
In addition to these high-profile connections (with more details at our summer of 2012 columns), as well as VantagePoint, Google, PG&E, NRG Energy, and McBee BrightSource Energy’s investors include other top Obama donors such as Morgan Stanley, and BP Alternative Energy — though, according to Forbes, “the federal loan guarantee is financing the bulk of Invanpah’s construction costs.”
But the bombshell comes with the fact that internal Energy Department lobbying began as early as 2009, maybe even before that time, because we now know that since 2007, BrightSource has spent about $1.3 million in lobbying fees, of which McBee Strategic Consulting, who was hired in 2009, raked in $480,000 of that sum, as found at Center for Responsive Politics.
We've divulged plenty of BrightSource investors, which are also high-powered Obama donors, however, the BrightSource DOE deal got a little darker after I read all those pesky House Oversight internal e-mails in the fall of 2012 –– a treasure trove of DOE Intel, which not only revealed a series of questionable practices, including coercion, cronyism and cover ups at the Energy Department, but it incriminates this top lobbyist as a major player in the midst of this clean-energy scheme. Inside the 350+ page Appendix II, I found ongoing interaction and pressure from the heavyweight K Street firm McBee Strategic Consulting as wells as BrightSource executives and stakeholders, David Crane of NRG Energy, DOE officials, Obama’s Green Team, and several in Congress from the Democrat side.
Needless to say, I'll be saving that piece of, and more clean-energy dirt on the BrightSource $1.6 billion shady DOE deal for another time. In the meantime, the rest of this Green Corruption File reveals McBee Strategic Consulting's energy clients (and their "green kickbacks") that were winners at the Green Bank of Obama, the majority from the 2009 Recovery Act. Interesting enough, like the BrightSource deal, most are accompanied by crony, corruption tales, whereas even though many of them I've shared before, there are some new parts to reveal.
As we continue to expose more, you'll discover the fact that "We the People" are no longer in charge, and how our government is run by, in the words of Peter Schweizer and Steve Bannon, "the permanent political class" who are in bed with Wall Street, Big Money, Big Corporations, special interests, lobbyists, and in this particular case, Big VC and Big Energy. The worst part is that while those inside this scam enrich themselves with our money, we (citizens) are going broke –– both individually and as a nation.
Wake up America, you've been robbed!
=================
McBee Strategic Consulting Energy Clients
Green Kickbacks Chart and Crony, Corruption Tales
Green Kickbacks Chart and Crony, Corruption Tales
NOTE:
- *Denotes DOE loan (s)
- Client data: Green Corruption Files research
- McBee Strategic Consulting lobbying data from Center for Responsive Politics
Client #1: VANTAGEPOINT MANAGEMENT, INC.* –– Total taxpayer money from the Green Bank of Obama as of 9/2013: VantagePoint's (where Steve McBee is also a Senior Advisor) portfolio has at least nine clean-energy firms that have snagged green-government subsidies, with includes three DOE loans. Also, the majority of the monies came from the 2009-stimulus package, and totals about $3 billion.
Client #2: GOOGLE, INC.* –– Total taxpayer money from the Green Bank of Obama as of 9/2013: Google has ten verified Recovery Act and other clean-energy fund winners, totaling close to $5 billion from American taxpayers, which includes three DOE loan. However, this total doesn't reflect Silver Spring Networks and its connection to $1.3 billion in smart-grid stimulus grants.
McBee Strategic Consulting Google: since 2009, $950,000
Client #3: PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY* –– Total taxpayer money from the Green Bank of Obama as of 9/2013: Besides direct stimulus cash that PG&E got, they also have an invested interest in$7.6 billion of Energy Department stimulus loans, including BrightSource Energy. Plus the following...
- Partnership with Silver Spring Networks on many fronts: the lucky smart-grid technology company linked to at least $1.3 billion in smart-grid stimulus grants.
- PG&E won a significant amount of stimulus money for various projects: at least seventeen to date and over $55 million.
- SolarCity and SunRun, who both got large sums of stimulus grants, are in cahoots with P.G.&E. Corporation, the California utility holding company's tax-equity fund to finance residential solar installations.
Client #4: BrightSource Energy* –– $1.6 billion DOE stimulus loan (finalized April 11, 2011)
McBee Strategic Consulting BS = 2009 to 2012, $480,000
Client #5: Solyndra* –– $535 million DOE stimulus loan (September 2009) as well as a $25.1 million California tax credit
McBee Strategic Consulting Solyndra: from 2009 to 2011, $380,000
Client #6: Tesla Motors* –– $465 ATVM million loan (closed January 2010) /plus federal and state subsidies for the purchase of each car
McBee Strategic Consulting Telsa: from 2008 to 2011, $370,000
Client #7: SolarCity –– Since 2009, at least $429 million in stimulus grants
McBee Strategic Consulting SolarCity: from 2009 to 2010, $350,000
Client #8: GENERAL ELECTRIC ENERGY* –– at least $3.3 billion, which includes three large DOE stimulus loans:
- $1.3 billion for the Caithness Shepherds Flat, which was closed October 2010 / This project also snagged other subsidies: about $500 million from the stimulus created 1603 grant program, and recently received three separate tax credits totaling $30 million from the state of Oregon
- $150 million for 1366 Technologies Inc. (closed September 2011)
- Tied to $1.2 billion DOE stimulus loan for the Desert Sunlight project (closed September 2011)
McBee Strategic Consulting GE Energy: since 2012, $360,000
Client #9: FIRST WIND* –– $117 million stimulus loan for their wind energy project in Kahuku, HI (closed July 2010), a project that also received over $35 million in 1603 stimulus grants. In fact, First Wind's projects have received over $452 million in grants through the stimulus' 1603 Grant Program. Total for First Wind: over $569 million tax dollars
McBee Strategic Consulting First Wind: unknown date of lobbying services and fees generated
Client #10: Amyris –– $25 million stimulus grant for a biofuel project in California (12/28/2009)
McBee Strategic Consulting Amyris: from 2009 to 2011, $220,00
Client #11: THE BABCOCK AND WILCOX COMPANY (B&W) –– $101 million for the mPower America Project in Tennessee for development and licensing of the company’s small modular reactor technology, which is scheduled for commercial demonstration by 2022. Plus, contracts totaling more than $510 million for the manufacture of nuclear components to support U.S. defense programs.
McBee Strategic Consulting B&W: in 2009, $1,230,000.
McBee Strategic Consulting B&W: in 2009, $1,230,000.
Client #12: GreatPoint Energy (GPE): Stimulus winner, but date and amount unknown
McBee Strategic Consulting GPE: from 2009 to 2010, of which McBee was paid $210, 000.
Client #13: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL –– In just a brief look I found the that in 2009 they were awarded $25 million stimulus grant for a biofuel project Hawaii. And two stimulus-related contracts worth $90 million
Client #14: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO –– amount of "green" taxpayer money is unknown at this time
McBee Strategic Consulting JPMorgan Chase & Co: Since 2009, McBee has raked in over $1.3 million
- $79 million renewable-energy and building-retrofit contract with Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill.
- $11.4 million contract from the Energy Department to help upgrade California's energy infrastructure with a peak-pricing response program.
Client #14: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO –– amount of "green" taxpayer money is unknown at this time
McBee Strategic Consulting JPMorgan Chase & Co: Since 2009, McBee has raked in over $1.3 million
Client #15: Lanza Tech is tied the Range Fuels debacle, which costs taxpayers $92.5 million ($80 million USDA loan from Obama in 2009). And besides DOE and DOD deals, which includes purchasing the Range Fuels factory, Lanza also got at least $11 million tax dollars from the DOE and DOT
McBee Strategic Consulting LanzaTech: In 2009, $50,000 for lobbying in "misc energy"
Client #16: OPower is indirectly benefited from the $4 billion smart grid grants that were doled out by the DOE as part of the 2009-stimulus package
McBee Strategic Consulting OPower: hired McBee in 2013, paying them $70,000 thus far
Client #17: RENTECH, INC –– $23 million stimulus grant for a biofuel project in Colorado (01/29/2010)
McBee Strategic Consulting: hired McBee lobbying in 2011, of which so far they've paid them $430,000.
Client #18: Serious Materials Inc –– stimulus tax credit, stimulus money and government contracts via their QuietRock products, of which all amounts are unknown at this time
McBee Strategic Consulting: 2009, $30,000
McBee Strategic Consulting: 2009, $30,000
Client #19: SOLAZYME, INC –– $21.8 million stimulus grant (December 2009) for a biofuel project in Pennsylvania / Plus part of the $12 million biofuel contract with the U.S. Navy
McBee Strategic Consulting Solazyme: Since 2012, $170,000
The Clean-Energy Dirt of Clients #5 through #19
Client #5: Solyndra*
Solynrda, by the way, spent nearly $1.9 million on lobbying activities over a period of 43 months from 2008 to 2011, even as the DOE failed to comply with the stimulus law by reporting on all lobbying activity. Still, McBee represented the solar panel company from 2009 to 2011, and received $380,000 over that time period.
What started as an unworthy investment, snagged a 2010 White House endorsement, only to become a public relations nightmare that included a loan restructuring (an apparent violation of the law) and even a plot to hide the company’s troubles from the 2010 midterm glare. Solyndra became a cautionary tale of sorts: a failed Obama green investment, one of the first to go kaput, unethical executive bonuses included, leaving in its wake FBI raids, executives taking the "Fifth" before Congress, and a trail of DOE resignations.
Adding to the dirt inside this saga, despite the fact that it was well known to those making the loan guarantee decisions, that Solyndra (also rated as a "junk" loan) was a "bad bet." This included then-White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, and we also found out later that additional internal emails prove that both President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden’s staff were actively involved in the process.
Besides lobbying power, there were plenty of players involved the Solyndra Saga, such as Obama bundlers, George Kaiser and Steve Spinner. Adding to the mix was David Prend of Rockport Capital (both Spinner and Prend were DOE Insiders at the time) as well as Goldman Sachs, another top 2008 Obama donor, whom reports show that Goldman was credited as the “exclusive financial adviser” for Solyndra.
Solyndra, which came from humble "junk" beginnings in September 2009, and went bust in September 2011, eventually found its place in history: an art exhibit at the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley –– costing American taxpayers over $535 million, as well as a $25.1 million California tax credit.
Client #6: Tesla Motors*
Tesla signed on with McBee days after Obama's election for a measly $10,000. Yet by 2009, McBee starting raking in $120,000 each year from Tesla until 2011, making their cut of the deal $370,000. In the middle of these money transfers, in 2009, the DOE offered the electric carmaker a huge loan, of which in January 2010, the Tesla $465 million loan arrangement was closed.
Tesla Motors is where we also find its CEO and founder billionaire (PayPal co-founder) Elon Musk, who is also a major DNC contributor, and in 2011 donated to the Obama Victory Fund. However, there are additional ties that Tesla carries with the president (donors and bundlers) as well as key positions inside the DOE and Obama's former jobs council. The biggest was Steve Westly, who is the Founder and Managing Partner of the Westly Group, whose portfolio includes Tesla Motors. In fact the Westly Group is another Big VC group whose portfolio snagged a truckload of government subsidies –– as of January 2013, when I last looked, they had a list of 20 firms (exited and current), and at least 50 percent were winners.
Westly is a two-time Obama bundler, of which in 2011 he was tagged as the "Green bundler with the golden touch." Westly also was part of Obama's 2008 National Finance Committee, and was the co-chair of the 2012 Technology for Obama group. He was briefly considered for a cabinet level position in the Obama administration, and in August 2010, Westly secured a top advisory role inside the DOE, close to Energy Secretary Chu. Westly "currently serves on the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board as a representative for the venture capital industry."
Others that I’ve mentioned in the past include Steve Spinner, Nicholas Pritzker (brother of Penny Pritzker), as well as VantagePoint (2006 investor) and Goldman Sachs. Also, Tesla’s third round of financing (in 2006) included investment from prominent entrepreneurs including Google co-founders Sergey Brin & Larry Page, and the fourth round included The Bay Area Equity Fund managed by JPMorgan Chase.
Good News: Tesla's low-interest loan was recently paid back, whereas this has given our new Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz; those on the Left; and many that have an invested interest in the billions of tax dollars, a reason to herald the entire loan program a success.
Tesla signed on with McBee days after Obama's election for a measly $10,000. Yet by 2009, McBee starting raking in $120,000 each year from Tesla until 2011, making their cut of the deal $370,000. In the middle of these money transfers, in 2009, the DOE offered the electric carmaker a huge loan, of which in January 2010, the Tesla $465 million loan arrangement was closed.
Tesla Motors is where we also find its CEO and founder billionaire (PayPal co-founder) Elon Musk, who is also a major DNC contributor, and in 2011 donated to the Obama Victory Fund. However, there are additional ties that Tesla carries with the president (donors and bundlers) as well as key positions inside the DOE and Obama's former jobs council. The biggest was Steve Westly, who is the Founder and Managing Partner of the Westly Group, whose portfolio includes Tesla Motors. In fact the Westly Group is another Big VC group whose portfolio snagged a truckload of government subsidies –– as of January 2013, when I last looked, they had a list of 20 firms (exited and current), and at least 50 percent were winners.
Westly is a two-time Obama bundler, of which in 2011 he was tagged as the "Green bundler with the golden touch." Westly also was part of Obama's 2008 National Finance Committee, and was the co-chair of the 2012 Technology for Obama group. He was briefly considered for a cabinet level position in the Obama administration, and in August 2010, Westly secured a top advisory role inside the DOE, close to Energy Secretary Chu. Westly "currently serves on the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board as a representative for the venture capital industry."
Others that I’ve mentioned in the past include Steve Spinner, Nicholas Pritzker (brother of Penny Pritzker), as well as VantagePoint (2006 investor) and Goldman Sachs. Also, Tesla’s third round of financing (in 2006) included investment from prominent entrepreneurs including Google co-founders Sergey Brin & Larry Page, and the fourth round included The Bay Area Equity Fund managed by JPMorgan Chase.
Good News: Tesla's low-interest loan was recently paid back, whereas this has given our new Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz; those on the Left; and many that have an invested interest in the billions of tax dollars, a reason to herald the entire loan program a success.
Keep in mind that all this "payback" was after Tesla has been plagued with design problems, and in 2012, they were seemingly "running very low on cash." Even the the New York Times took notice and in October 2012 wrote, "The federal government eased terms of its $465 million loan to Tesla to ensure the company didn’t breach key financial hurdles."
Success? Sure, if you think it's appropriate for taxpayer to foot the bill for billionaires and millionaires pet projects, because that's who wins. Insanity at best. And worse is that we American taxpayers are still subsidizing Tesla: "Along with the federal loan, Tesla also relies on support from politicians through a complex series of federal and state subsidies," noted Christopher Koopman, a research associate at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, in his illuminating June 2013 piece for U.S. News & World Report entitled, "Tesla Is No Success Story."
Koopman is correct: I went to go buy the Tesla Model S Design, and my price is $63, 570, which includes $7,500 federal tax credit. If I want to lease the Model S, my payments would be $579/mo. Hmmm
Client #7: SolarCity
This brings me to another Elon Musk company, where he remains the largest shareholder and sits as the Chairman of SolarCity, while his cousin Lyndon Rive is the CEO and co-founder. SolarCity is a "full-service solar power system design, financing, installation and monitoring services," and it turns out that SolarCity, from 2009 to 2010, employed McBee's lobbying expertise, of which they snagged $350,000 for two years of work. However in 2012, they switched to another infamous "green" lobbyist, the Podesta Group.
Needless to say, SolarCity raked in huge amounts of "green" stimulus funds, but before we get into the details, it should be noted that I covered SolarCity in my February post. Like Tesla Motors, this solar company is "related" to the mega-rich Penny Pritzker via her brother, Nicholas Pritzker. Penny Pritzker, the Chicago hotel and real estate heiress, is a longtime friend of, and mega-bundler for Obama. Penny was also national finance chairwoman for the Obama campaign throughout his 2008 presidential effort, and was part of Obama's Jobs Council. This year Ms. Pritzker became our newest Commerce Secretary.
SolarCity also has developed partnerships with a few other stimulus winners like PG& E (mentioned earlier), Google, San Jose's GreenWaste Recovery, and they even teamed up with Tesla (along with an $800,000 California grant).
As I noted under my PG&E section, in December 2012, "Shortly before going public, [SolarCity] disclosed in an SEC statement that...."it had received subpoenas from the Treasury Department's Office of the Inspector General," as reported by Fox News and others. Translation: potential fraud "in order to squeeze more stimulus money out of taxpayers."
What's not widely known is that SolarCity was a DOE loan applicant, seeking $275 million, and made it through the first phase. However, in the end (September 2011), it was rejected –– SolarCity said "The [Solyndra] scrutiny prompted the agency to request additional information," and apparently they couldn't get it done in time.
Ironically a month earlier (August 2011), this loan for SolarCity's "Project SolarStrong™ was a GO by the White House, then-Secretary Steven Chu and a few other players inside the DOE –– and that’s according to the House Oversight DOE emails that I’ve been unleashing since they surfaced on October 31, 2012.
The energy giant General Electric has a boatload of lobbyists, of which it seems that GE
hired McBee in 2008, representing GE Commercial Aviation Services. However, GE Energy is listed as a McBee energy client, of which GE Energy, since 2012 (the beginning of their reported lobbying efforts), has employed McBee, paying the lobbying firm $360,000 thus far.
In July 2012, I began to track GE, and discovered they have been "making bank" off Obama's “green” stimulus money. At that time I counted over $3 billion of taxpayer money.
It turns out that the heavily subsidized Caithness Shepherds Flat commenced operations in September 2012, and sadly, the project created 400 construction jobs, and only 35 permanent jobs for the facility’s operation. Meanwhile, the smaller DOE project was 1366 Technologies Inc. for $150 million (closed In September 2011), of which it has been, and is currently listed on VantagePoint's portfolio, was "estimated to support 50 construction jobs and 70 permanent jobs."
Kahuku Wind Power, LLC, a project of First Wind in Kahuku Oahu, HI, was granted a $117 million Energy Department loan in July 2010, which created 200 construction jobs, and a whopping 10 permanent jobs. And then on February 3, 2012 this same project received a 1603 grant for over $35 million [docket #2594 –- $35,148,839].
Amyris was covered in my biofuel post last month, “Billions of Obama biofuel bucks funded "not so shovel-ready" risky projects, fueled by more green corruption,” and is quite the crony-corruption tale that implicates California Senator Dianne Feinstein. However, we can also add in the three Big VC's with direct ties to the Obama White House: Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, and The Westly Group. Last but not least is Goldman Sachs –– a Wall Street Obama buddy –– is not only credited as the “exclusive financial adviser” for now bankrupt Solyndra, but and 2010, they handled the IPO of both Tesla Motors and Amyris.
Client #11: THE BABCOCK AND WILCOX COMPANY – CHARLOTTE, NC
The Babcock & Wilcox Company, "a leading, international provider of energy and products and services," it seems, retained McBee, amongst other lobbying firms, in 2009. As documented at Center for Responsive Politics, since that time, B&W has spent over a million a year on lobbying expenditures in the misc energy category, of which McBee has snagged about a fifth of that money: $1,230,000.
While B&W hasn't been on my radar, I did find that last month, the DOE "provided additional funding to support B&W mPower™ project," at the tune of $20.5 million under the Small Modular Reactor Licensing Technical Support Program –– to support "private industry in the development and deployment of small modular reactor technology." This project –– the Clinch River mPower Plant near Oak Ridge, Tennessee –– is made up of what they call the "mPower America team," which is comprised of B&W, the Tennessee Valley Authority and Generation mPower. "B&W mPower and Bechtel (who together formed Generation mPower LLC) will provide licensing and engineering support for the mPower America Project."
According to an August 27, 2013 B&W Press Release, "The first installment of $79 million was allocated by the DOE upon the signing of the formal agreement with B&W mPower in April 2013. The DOE has also provided approximately $2 million to national laboratories to perform important analyses and evaluation work related to this project, bringing the total DOE investment to $101 million during this initial project period." And they may get more money, because "the agreement allows for $226 million or more in federal funding."
In a February 5, 2013, B&W announced, The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) (NYSE:BWC) announced that "its subsidiary, Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. (B&W NOG), was awarded contracts totaling more than $510 million for the manufacture of nuclear components to support U.S. defense programs including the manufacture of naval nuclear power systems for submarines and aircraft carriers."
The Press Release goes on, "Of this work, more than $445 million was issued as options under the $2 billion contract awarded to B&W NOG in 2010 and more than $65 million is issued under a new agreement awarded for fiscal year 2013."
I'm sure if I spent more time digging, I'd find much more government subsidies for for B&W, but I'm just a one-woman researcher. Maybe a future post.
Client #12: GreatPoint Energy
Even though Hawaii BioEnergy is not listed on the Khosla Ventures' sustainability portfolio, they are part of Gigaom.com 2007 "10 Khosla Biofuel Bets" and Hawaii BioEnergy does include Khosla as one of its partners. Khosla is another huge VC winner of "green" taxpayer money tied to President Obama that I've addressed many times in other posts, and I share a bit more in this Green Corruption File, when I reach LanzaTech, another McBee client. In the meantime, let's stick with Honeywell...
According to a January 2010 Market Watch report entitled, "Honeywell set to benefit from more Fed stimulus money," it stated, "In the recent quarter, the business saw its orders for efficiency-related products and services jump 45% to more than $650 million, including a $79 million renewable-energy and building-retrofit contract with Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill."
Market Watch goes on, "Aside from improving the efficiency of buildings, there's the upgrading of the country's power grid, a task Honeywell claims it uniquely can profit. The company said its "smart-grid" technology business, which improves the balance between power supply and demand, was also up for the quarter." And "In November [2009], the Honeywell was awarded an $11.4 million contract from the Energy Department to help upgrade California's energy infrastructure with a peak-pricing response program."
Sometime in 2007, when the Bush administration awarded "six Cellulosic Ethanol Plants up to $385 million in federal funding," Range Fuels (formerly Kergy Inc.) of Broomfield, Colorado, got up to $76 million. The proposed plant was to be constructed in Soperton (Treutlen County), Georgia.
Under the Obama administration, Range Fuels "secured a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture out of the 2008 Farm Bill worth $80 million to help the company finish construction of its commercial scale plant near Soperton, GA," reported Gigaom in January 2009.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (ACJ) later revealed that this $80 million USDA deal for Range Fuels "was approved despite repeated warnings and strong opposition by some of the federal officials who vetted the project." ACJ goes on, "The documents obtained by the AJC show that three USDA officials who vetted the project approved it. Three opposed it. And three others who made critical comments had their opinions redacted."
By December 2011, Range Fuels had failed, of which Bloomberg News gave an account: "The closely held company, which counts Vinod Khosla, a venture capitalist and Sun Microsystems Inc. co-founder, as an initial investor, shuttered the factory in Soperton, Georgia, in January after not delivering on its promise to convert woodchips into ethanol, which was intended to help the U.S. become less dependent on foreign oil, " noting that "The ethanol project received $46.3 million of a $76 million grant from the Energy Department and half of an $80 million loan from the Agriculture Department."
Interesting enough, Range Fuels facility in Soperton, GA, was sold to the New Zealand-based LanzaTech for $5.1 million, of which LanzaTech’s main financial backer is none other than Vinod Khosla. This revolving door green deal was documented at The Blaze on January 5, 2012, using detailed data of Mr. Chapman's reporting at where he goes on, "Although LanzaTech hasn’t been given the same type of loans Range Fuels received, the company is still getting $7 million from the U.S. departments of Energy and Transportation to assist in the development of alternative fuels."
Yet, I found that in December 2011, LanzaTech got a $3 million contract from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), through the Department of Transportation. And that LanzaTech has snagged more government contracts and funds from the Obama administration. In November 2010, LanzaTech entered into a research and development agreement with the DOE's America's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), of which it was reported by the Global Bioenergy Industry News, "The first phase of the work will take place over a year with equal funds from the DOE and LanzaTech."
In September 2011, The New England Herald announced, "LanzaTech will be eligible for "up to US$4 million to develop a cost-effective technology that converts biomass-derived ethanol into jet fuel using catalysts." This funding came from the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. "The DOE win is one of three similar small-scale projects to be funded up to US$12 million, and comes after LanzaTech picked up a contract [for an unknown amount of funds] with the US Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Agency in June to help develop drop-in bio-fuels for military aircraft," the Herald went on.
Client #16: OPower
Opower –– listed by Center for Responsive Politics as the "Computers/Internet" industry –– hired McBee in 2013, paying them $70,000.
OPower is another Kleiner Perkins investment that was covered in my “Bank of Obama" post. In January 2013, I noted that OPower ("a software as a service company that helps utilities meet their efficiency goals through effective customer engagement") indirectly benefited from the $4 billion of smart grid grants doled out by the DOE as part of the 2009-stimulus packaged. However, I gave more details in my post about Silver Spring Networks entitled, "Smart Grid, Dirty Devices."
In July 2009, Obama met with OPower President and other energy leaders such as two former cabinet members (former Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson) on creating green jobs. Then in June 2010, OPower, the energy efficiency and Smart Grid software, became part of AEP Ohio's "Smart Grid customer engagement strategy" (AEP Ohio’s gridSMARTSM Demonstration Project), which was funded with the Energy Department's smart grid money (Obama stimulus grants for advanced electricity-grid projects), and doled out in 2009 –– AEP Ohio's take, $75 million.
While Kleiner Perkins came aboard as an investor in OPower sometime in November 2011, my 2010 research reflects that Silver Spring had already formed a partnership with AEP, on AEP's initiative called gridSMARTSM. Directly from Silver Spring Networks site, it states, "the leader in networking technologies that modernize today’s power grid," states, "Indiana Michigan Power initiated its Smart Meter pilot project in South Bend, Indiana in late 2008. The initial success of that project led AEP Ohio to select Silver Spring for the expansion of its AEP Ohio gridSMARTSM Demonstration Project in northeast central Ohio."
Since then, OPower has made customers out of many of the utility companies that were winners of the smart grid grants, like AES –– Indianapolis Power & Light, Baltimore Gas & Electric, CenterPoint Energy, Commonwealth Edison, PG&E, Progress Energy, Sacramento Municipal Utilities District, and much more. Exactly how much stimulus funds OPower is linked to would require further investigation.
Client #17: RENTECH, INC. – LOS ANGELES, CA
Client #19: SOLAZYME, INC. – SAN FRANCISCO, CA
It seems that McBee took on Solazyme in 2012, and they've raked in $170,000 thus far. This was the same renewable energy company that I covered in my biofuel post last month, but more so in my July 24th post, "Subsidizing Obama’s Algae: Its advisors and allies" and Marita Noon in her July 28th column "The Dirty Politics of Clean Energy," which implicates another stimulus author and part of this Gang of Eight.
TJ Glauthier, who held key positions in the Clinton administration, the DOE and served on Obama’s 2008 White House Transition Team, is tied to at least four clean-energy firms that raked in hundreds of millions of green energy funds. The interesting twist here is that the majority of these funds came from the stimulus package, of which Mr. Glauthier is widely credited with helping to develop the energy provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The one that is relevant here is that Mr. Glauthier is a "Strategic Advisor” for Solazyme, a green company whose officials, including Glauthier, contributed at least $360,000 to Democrats between 2007 and 2012. Other Solazyme Obama/Democrat connections include:
Stay tuned for more on the $1.6 Billion BrightSource Energy Shady DOE Deal
Thanks for reading yet another Green Corruption File, with much more in the works. Your attention and financial support (via my site or at C.A.R.E.) is much appreciated. Together we must fight corporate welfare, crony capitalism, and special interests, which is corrupting our Republic and costing taxpayers tens of billion of dollars.
God Bless America,
–– Christine
Success? Sure, if you think it's appropriate for taxpayer to foot the bill for billionaires and millionaires pet projects, because that's who wins. Insanity at best. And worse is that we American taxpayers are still subsidizing Tesla: "Along with the federal loan, Tesla also relies on support from politicians through a complex series of federal and state subsidies," noted Christopher Koopman, a research associate at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, in his illuminating June 2013 piece for U.S. News & World Report entitled, "Tesla Is No Success Story."
Koopman is correct: I went to go buy the Tesla Model S Design, and my price is $63, 570, which includes $7,500 federal tax credit. If I want to lease the Model S, my payments would be $579/mo. Hmmm
Client #7: SolarCity
This brings me to another Elon Musk company, where he remains the largest shareholder and sits as the Chairman of SolarCity, while his cousin Lyndon Rive is the CEO and co-founder. SolarCity is a "full-service solar power system design, financing, installation and monitoring services," and it turns out that SolarCity, from 2009 to 2010, employed McBee's lobbying expertise, of which they snagged $350,000 for two years of work. However in 2012, they switched to another infamous "green" lobbyist, the Podesta Group.
Needless to say, SolarCity raked in huge amounts of "green" stimulus funds, but before we get into the details, it should be noted that I covered SolarCity in my February post. Like Tesla Motors, this solar company is "related" to the mega-rich Penny Pritzker via her brother, Nicholas Pritzker. Penny Pritzker, the Chicago hotel and real estate heiress, is a longtime friend of, and mega-bundler for Obama. Penny was also national finance chairwoman for the Obama campaign throughout his 2008 presidential effort, and was part of Obama's Jobs Council. This year Ms. Pritzker became our newest Commerce Secretary.
Meanwhile the billionaire Nicholas J. Pritzker (Penny's bro) is an investor in both Tesla and SolarCity. In fact Mr. Pritzker (partner at Tao Ventures and senior development advisor for Hyatt Hotels Corp.) and Mr. Musk, as recent as February 2012, participated in an $81 million "Growth Capital" round into SolarCity, which was led by Silver Lake Kraftwerk, the private equity firm, who in early 2011, George Soros teamed up with to invest in “the energy and resource sectors." This Intel and much more on the left-wing billionaire George Soros (mentioned in the NRG Energy and BrightSource section), can be found in my March 2013 post: Obama’s "Agent of Green," whose "green" tab exceeds $11 billion of stimulus funds.
Besides Musk, Pritzker, and Soros, the SolarCity story includes other players and Obama Wall Street buddies such as, Al Gore's firm Generation Investment Management LLP, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Citigroup.
SolarCity also has developed partnerships with a few other stimulus winners like PG& E (mentioned earlier), Google, San Jose's GreenWaste Recovery, and they even teamed up with Tesla (along with an $800,000 California grant).
As I noted under my PG&E section, in December 2012, "Shortly before going public, [SolarCity] disclosed in an SEC statement that...."it had received subpoenas from the Treasury Department's Office of the Inspector General," as reported by Fox News and others. Translation: potential fraud "in order to squeeze more stimulus money out of taxpayers."
Ironically a month earlier (August 2011), this loan for SolarCity's "Project SolarStrong™ was a GO by the White House, then-Secretary Steven Chu and a few other players inside the DOE –– and that’s according to the House Oversight DOE emails that I’ve been unleashing since they surfaced on October 31, 2012.
While SolarCity's $275 million DOE deal fell apart due to the 2011 Solyndra "red flags," we do know that as of December 2012, "SolarCity currently benefits from tax credits totaling as much as 30 percent of the cost of these systems," noted Bloomberg. Moreover, as documented, SolarCity has applied for $341 million in grants, but I found 27 1603 grants for "USB SolarCity Master Tenant," which ranges over 15 states, totaling over $88 million. With this type of tally, it's difficult to say exactly how much tax-free cash SolarCity has received or will be given in the future, but for now we'll just call it at $429 million.
Client #8: GENERAL ELECTRIC ENERGY* – WASHINGTON, DC
Client #8: GENERAL ELECTRIC ENERGY* – WASHINGTON, DC
The energy giant General Electric has a boatload of lobbyists, of which it seems that GE
hired McBee in 2008, representing GE Commercial Aviation Services. However, GE Energy is listed as a McBee energy client, of which GE Energy, since 2012 (the beginning of their reported lobbying efforts), has employed McBee, paying the lobbying firm $360,000 thus far.
In July 2012, I began to track GE, and discovered they have been "making bank" off Obama's “green” stimulus money. At that time I counted over $3 billion of taxpayer money.
GE is a heavy donor to both Republicans and Democrats, and CEO Jeffrey Immelt "plays the role of typical corporate donor who hedges his bets on both sides of the fence," and in 2008, GE gave the Obama campaign $529,855, marking them a top Obama donor.
Nevertheless, GE is a major player on the clean-energy scene as well as in this green energy scheme. Even the New York Times recognized GE’s “green power,” noting that in 2009, GE lobbied Congress to help expand the “clean-energy subsidy programs, and it now profits from every aspect of the boom in renewable-power plant construction,” including “hundreds of millions in contracts to sell its turbines to wind plants built with public subsidies.
Due to Mr. Immelt's role as Obama's Jobs Czar from 2011 to 2013, I revisited GE and posted this: "The Green Five: Spreading the Wealth to Obama’s Ultra-Rich Jobs Council Members" whereas in Part One I exposed the fact that the October 31, 2012 emails prove that in September 2010, the White House pressured for the approval of the $1.3 billion Energy Department loan to GE's wind project.
In fact there were two 1705 loan guarantees belonging to GE that I had outlined in April of last year. The biggest was the Caithness Shepherds Flat for $1.3 billion (mentioned above), which was closed in October 2010, and just over a six months later (April 2011) Google (McBee's client since 2009) invested in Caithness, "the world’s largest wind farm" located in Oregon.
With Shepherds Flat as a case study, the release of internal interactions revealed an October 2010 memo to President Obama by three senior White House advisors, who had raised concerns over the DOE allowing companies to "double dip" in government subsidies that they didn’t need, which left them with “little skin in the game.” And besides this huge DOE loan, the Shepherds Flat wind farm won about $500 million from the stimulus created 1603 grant program, and recently received three separate tax credits totaling $30 million from the state of Oregon –– the latter subsidy under scrutiny and review.
Due to Mr. Immelt's role as Obama's Jobs Czar from 2011 to 2013, I revisited GE and posted this: "The Green Five: Spreading the Wealth to Obama’s Ultra-Rich Jobs Council Members" whereas in Part One I exposed the fact that the October 31, 2012 emails prove that in September 2010, the White House pressured for the approval of the $1.3 billion Energy Department loan to GE's wind project.
In fact there were two 1705 loan guarantees belonging to GE that I had outlined in April of last year. The biggest was the Caithness Shepherds Flat for $1.3 billion (mentioned above), which was closed in October 2010, and just over a six months later (April 2011) Google (McBee's client since 2009) invested in Caithness, "the world’s largest wind farm" located in Oregon.
With Shepherds Flat as a case study, the release of internal interactions revealed an October 2010 memo to President Obama by three senior White House advisors, who had raised concerns over the DOE allowing companies to "double dip" in government subsidies that they didn’t need, which left them with “little skin in the game.” And besides this huge DOE loan, the Shepherds Flat wind farm won about $500 million from the stimulus created 1603 grant program, and recently received three separate tax credits totaling $30 million from the state of Oregon –– the latter subsidy under scrutiny and review.
Nevertheless, GE is all over the place (smart grids, wind turbines, and son on..), but they are also tied to "The First Solar Three Billion Dollar Swindle" via another large junk-rated loan worth $1.2 billion for the Desert Sunlight project in California. In September 2011, a day after the loan was approved, First Solar (a Goldman Sachs investment), the project developer/owner sold Desert Sunlight to NextEra Energy Resources, LLC and GE Energy Financial Services. Well, the two CEO's were members of the president's job council, Immelt and Lewis Hay of NextEra Energy –– the latter is another green energy crony, corruption tale that Marita Noon and I shared last summer: "Third Largest Power Company in the World is the Third Largest Recipient of Risky Loans."
Not only is GE active in clean-energy advocacy and lobbying, they have joined forces with others that have benefited from Obama’s alternative-energy taxpayer funds. Two in particular –– the Advanced Metering Partners, another John Doerr “venture” via Silver Spring Networks, as well as Energy Technology Ventures formed in 2011 with NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips. And it goes, on and on and on...
Not only is GE active in clean-energy advocacy and lobbying, they have joined forces with others that have benefited from Obama’s alternative-energy taxpayer funds. Two in particular –– the Advanced Metering Partners, another John Doerr “venture” via Silver Spring Networks, as well as Energy Technology Ventures formed in 2011 with NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips. And it goes, on and on and on...
Client #9: FIRST WIND* – BOSTON, MA
First Wind, "an independent renewable energy company focused on the development, financing, construction, ownership and operation of utility-scale power projects in the United States, which is headquartered in Boston, MA," has an array of meaningful political ties. While McBee lists First Wind as a client, there is no documentation reflecting when they retained the services of, or how much money McBee has generated from First Wind.
However, what I did expose a while back is that Larry Rasky's lobbying firm with ties to the White House, in 2009, about the time the 2009-Recovery Act passed, First Wind retained his firm (Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications) as well as Brownstein, Hyatt et al, who is primarily a Democrat donor, with some Republicans in the mix –– and as of 2012 had retained the work of Rasky.
In case you missed it: Larry Rasky, "a longtime confidant and campaign strategist" of Vice President Joe Biden, was also a 2012 Obama bundler, and since Obama took office, "Rasky has visited the White House at least 21 Times," half of which were during the course of the DOE loan review process (Data.gov, Accessed 7/18/12).
This past January, one of my best posts, “Big Wind Energy Subsidies: A Hurricane of Carnage, Cronyism and Corruption,” is where I covered the twister of sweetheart deals that were found in the Department of Energy’s four risky wind projects. And First Wind was huge, so I'll share a snippet:
Sadly, in August 2012 a fire that destroyed First Wind’s battery storage facility and sent toxic fumes into the air, left ratepayers in the dark over costs and safety. As I keep an eye on this project, there is more corruption to expose...
The First Wind plan was to secure taxpayer money and then go public. Now they achieved their first objective from the Green Bank of Obama –– since he took office (and as of 7/18/12), First Wind's projects have received over $452 million in grants through the Stimulus' 1603 Program.
- First Wind's Stetson Wind Farm in Maine –– $40,441,471
- Cohocton Wind Farm in New York, $52,352,334
- Dutch Hill Wind Farm In New York, $22,296,494
- Milford Wind Corridor Phase I In Utah; $120,147,809
- Milford Wind Corridor Phase II In Utah, $80,436,803
- Rollins Wind Farm In Maine; $53,246,347
- Sheffield Wind Farm In Vermont, $35,914,864
- Kahuku Wind Farm In Hawaii, $35,148,839
- Steel Winds II Wind Farm In New York, $12,778,75
However, in November 2010, Bloomberg announced, “First Wind Holdings Inc., the operator of wind-energy projects backed by D.E. Shaw & Co. and Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, said it withdrew its initial public offering because of unfavorable market conditions” –– that’s code for “weak demand.”
Speaking of IPO's...
Within the House Oversight leaked emails that were unleashed late October 2012, you'll discover that these correspondences basically prove that the White House, Secretary Chu, and certain DOE Officials lied about how they handled the green energy loans on various fronts –– a story I have emphasized in many of my recent green corruption posts. In the 350+ page Appendix II, I discovered a series of intriguing emails dated in May 2010, where the DOE staff was discussing the Kahuku loan, just months prior to the final approval in July 2010. These interactions, which can be read at my Big Wind post, are pretty damning and show how First Wind was a big mess, yet someone was pressing Jonathan Silver, the former Executive Director of the Loan Program Office, who was pressing hard due to the fact that the "sponsor has an IPO in the works."
While there's no mention of where that pressure came from, the first-rate, high-powered political ties to First Wind are vast, which goes beyond the top lobbyists outlined here that now includes McBee. In 2012, the GOP found that "Julia Bovey, First Wind's Director of External Affairs, was formerly Director of External Affairs for Obama's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (June 2009 to June 2010)," but there are much bigger fish here.
Starting with D.E. Shaw & Co, a New York-based investment firm –– "a $39 Billion Hedge Fund Giant" (also a First Solar investor), which so happens to be one of the three top contributors to Democrats –– is a backer of First Wind Holdings Inc. The founder David Shaw, is a two-time Obama bundler, who employed Larry Summers before heading to the Obama White House, as the top economic advisor. Towards the end of 2011, Summers left the Obama administration and rejoined the firm as a consultant.
As revealed by Peter Schweizer, “another 42 percent of First Wind is owned by Madison Dearborn Partners, an investment firm with close ties [and friend of] to then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual. The founder of the firm, David Canning, had been a bundler for George W. Bush. But he switched sides in 2008 and gave heavily to Obama. Madison Dearborn gave more to Emanual’s congressional campaigns than did any other business.”
Client #10: Amyris
Center for Responsive Politics lists Amyris Biotech's lobbying industry as "Pharmaceuticals/Health Products," yet we know that they employed the lobbying services of McBee from 2009 to 2011 of which they raked in $220,00.Amyris was covered in my biofuel post last month, “Billions of Obama biofuel bucks funded "not so shovel-ready" risky projects, fueled by more green corruption,” and is quite the crony-corruption tale that implicates California Senator Dianne Feinstein. However, we can also add in the three Big VC's with direct ties to the Obama White House: Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, and The Westly Group. Last but not least is Goldman Sachs –– a Wall Street Obama buddy –– is not only credited as the “exclusive financial adviser” for now bankrupt Solyndra, but and 2010, they handled the IPO of both Tesla Motors and Amyris.
Amyris, Inc.*: $25 million stimulus grant (12/28/2009) to "produce a diesel substitute through the fermentation of sweet sorghum" @ Emeryville, CA –– Status: With an anticipated jobs of 35 full-time, the 2013 second quarter places this project as completed. / Unrelated to the CA biofuel plant, Amyris also snagged a DoD DARPA contract in 2012 worth $8 million, as part of DARPA's Living Foundries research program.
Client #11: THE BABCOCK AND WILCOX COMPANY – CHARLOTTE, NC
The Babcock & Wilcox Company, "a leading, international provider of energy and products and services," it seems, retained McBee, amongst other lobbying firms, in 2009. As documented at Center for Responsive Politics, since that time, B&W has spent over a million a year on lobbying expenditures in the misc energy category, of which McBee has snagged about a fifth of that money: $1,230,000.
While B&W hasn't been on my radar, I did find that last month, the DOE "provided additional funding to support B&W mPower™ project," at the tune of $20.5 million under the Small Modular Reactor Licensing Technical Support Program –– to support "private industry in the development and deployment of small modular reactor technology." This project –– the Clinch River mPower Plant near Oak Ridge, Tennessee –– is made up of what they call the "mPower America team," which is comprised of B&W, the Tennessee Valley Authority and Generation mPower. "B&W mPower and Bechtel (who together formed Generation mPower LLC) will provide licensing and engineering support for the mPower America Project."
According to an August 27, 2013 B&W Press Release, "The first installment of $79 million was allocated by the DOE upon the signing of the formal agreement with B&W mPower in April 2013. The DOE has also provided approximately $2 million to national laboratories to perform important analyses and evaluation work related to this project, bringing the total DOE investment to $101 million during this initial project period." And they may get more money, because "the agreement allows for $226 million or more in federal funding."
In a February 5, 2013, B&W announced, The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) (NYSE:BWC) announced that "its subsidiary, Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. (B&W NOG), was awarded contracts totaling more than $510 million for the manufacture of nuclear components to support U.S. defense programs including the manufacture of naval nuclear power systems for submarines and aircraft carriers."
The Press Release goes on, "Of this work, more than $445 million was issued as options under the $2 billion contract awarded to B&W NOG in 2010 and more than $65 million is issued under a new agreement awarded for fiscal year 2013."
I'm sure if I spent more time digging, I'd find much more government subsidies for for B&W, but I'm just a one-woman researcher. Maybe a future post.
Client #12: GreatPoint Energy
Center for Responsive Politics lists Great Point Energy in the "Oil & Gas" lobbying industry, yet we know that they employed the services of McBee from 2009 to 2010 where they were paid $210, 000.
GreatPoint Energy, who "produces clean, low cost natural gas from coal, petroleum coke, and biomass utilizing its bluegas™ catalytic hydromethanation process," was covered in my “Bank of Obama" post in January 2013, where my research on John Doerr and Al Gore of Kleiner Perkins can be found.
Again Kleiner Perkins, along with their collaboration with the Gore's London based Generation Investment Management (GIM) are tied to at least $10 billion of Obama's taxpayer funded green-energy spending spree. Back then I noted that GreatPoint Energy, which is listed in Peter Schweizer’s book as a stimulus winner. However, despite the fact that I found that GreatPoint Energy was part of certain projects that received 2009-stimulus funds, I was unable to determine the exact amount that they received. Stay tuned?
Client #13: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL – MORRISTOWN, NJ
GreatPoint Energy, who "produces clean, low cost natural gas from coal, petroleum coke, and biomass utilizing its bluegas™ catalytic hydromethanation process," was covered in my “Bank of Obama" post in January 2013, where my research on John Doerr and Al Gore of Kleiner Perkins can be found.
Client #13: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL – MORRISTOWN, NJ
While Center for Responsive Politics places Honeywell International lobbying industries as "defense" and "misc manufacturing & distributing," McBee has them listed as an energy client, and it seems that Honeywell became a client of McBee sometime in 2006, and from what I gather has paid them over $1.3 million.
Nevertheless, Honeywell International Inc, the billion-dollar corporation, who has a huge lobbying presence in D.C., spending $8,120,000 in 2012 alone with top issues that included "energy and nuclear power," is also considered a "heavy hitter" inside politics.
Nevertheless, Honeywell International Inc, the billion-dollar corporation, who has a huge lobbying presence in D.C., spending $8,120,000 in 2012 alone with top issues that included "energy and nuclear power," is also considered a "heavy hitter" inside politics.
Honeywell contributes to both parties, and as of 2012, I found that thirteen members of Congress own shares in this firm, including House Speaker John Boehner. And in 2008 they "shared their wealth" with Senator Barack Obama ($47,295), Senator John McCain ($28,910) as well as Senator Hillary Clinton ($25,243). Meanwhile, during the 2012 election, Honeywell donated $47,626 to President Obama and $53,820 to candidate Mitt Romney.
Honeywell is also a big player in this clean-eneryg scheme, and has been on my radar for quite some time, yet I haven't had time to dig into their entire footprint. However, I can share a few of my findings, which I covered in my biofuel post last month, “Billions of Obama biofuel bucks funded "not so shovel-ready" risky projects, fueled by more green corruption.”
In 2009, UOP, LLC, a Honeywell (NYSE: HON) company was awarded "$25 million stimulus grant to build a demonstration unit in Hawaii to convert cellulosic biomass into green transportation fuels." According to Honeywell press release, dated January 2010, the demonstration plant refinery in Kapolei, Hawaii, which broke ground in August 2011, "is expected to start up in 2014."
It turns out that the Pilot-Scale Biorefinery UOP Project includes other participants : Tesoro; Ensyn; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Ambitech; Hawaii BioEnergy (remember this name); Group70; Michigan Technological University; Ceres; Cargill, Inc.; Grays Harbor Paper LP; Imperium Renewables; Mesa Engineering; Countrymark Petroleum; Kern Oil; Honeywell; Boeing; and General Motors.
In 2009, UOP, LLC, a Honeywell (NYSE: HON) company was awarded "$25 million stimulus grant to build a demonstration unit in Hawaii to convert cellulosic biomass into green transportation fuels." According to Honeywell press release, dated January 2010, the demonstration plant refinery in Kapolei, Hawaii, which broke ground in August 2011, "is expected to start up in 2014."
It turns out that the Pilot-Scale Biorefinery UOP Project includes other participants : Tesoro; Ensyn; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Ambitech; Hawaii BioEnergy (remember this name); Group70; Michigan Technological University; Ceres; Cargill, Inc.; Grays Harbor Paper LP; Imperium Renewables; Mesa Engineering; Countrymark Petroleum; Kern Oil; Honeywell; Boeing; and General Motors.
Even though Hawaii BioEnergy is not listed on the Khosla Ventures' sustainability portfolio, they are part of Gigaom.com 2007 "10 Khosla Biofuel Bets" and Hawaii BioEnergy does include Khosla as one of its partners. Khosla is another huge VC winner of "green" taxpayer money tied to President Obama that I've addressed many times in other posts, and I share a bit more in this Green Corruption File, when I reach LanzaTech, another McBee client. In the meantime, let's stick with Honeywell...
According to a January 2010 Market Watch report entitled, "Honeywell set to benefit from more Fed stimulus money," it stated, "In the recent quarter, the business saw its orders for efficiency-related products and services jump 45% to more than $650 million, including a $79 million renewable-energy and building-retrofit contract with Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill."
Market Watch goes on, "Aside from improving the efficiency of buildings, there's the upgrading of the country's power grid, a task Honeywell claims it uniquely can profit. The company said its "smart-grid" technology business, which improves the balance between power supply and demand, was also up for the quarter." And "In November [2009], the Honeywell was awarded an $11.4 million contract from the Energy Department to help upgrade California's energy infrastructure with a peak-pricing response program."
By late 2011, the stimulus "contributed to a 79% jump in stocks of the four leading energy-efficiency companies identified by IDC, including diversified companies such as Johnson Controls and Honeywell," which was documented in a 2011 USA TODAY 'Stimulus' stocks analysis.
This is another big corporation worthy of more digging.
Client #14: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. – WASHINGTON, DC
Center for Responsive Politics labels JPMorgan Chase & Co as a "heavy hitter" inside our political system, of which JP Morgan retained McBee's services sometime in 2009, and they are also found as a McBee energy client. Since that time McBee has raked in over $1.3 million from the "too-big-to-fail" Big Bank.
According to J.P. Morgan's Energy Investments & Banking stats, "J.P. Morgan’s Energy Investments group is focused on putting capital to work in U.S.-based renewable energy projects, including wind, solar, biomass and geothermal. With a focus on utilizing the tax benefits provided by Congress to support renewable energy, the group provides long-term financing for clients through lease and structured partnership transactions."
"The group’s renewable energy portfolio has grown to more than 6,600MW from 2003 through 2010. Its holdings include 67 wind farms and two solar projects in 19 states, owned jointly with 15 different energy firms. As lead investor, J.P. Morgan has funded $3.2 billion of projects from its own capital and raised an additional $3.5 billion from other institutional co-investors..."
After a quick glance, we find that J.P. Morgan is in cahoots with NextEra Energy's Capricorn Ridge wind farm in West Texas as well as Goldman Sach's solar company SunEdison –– both Goldman and NextEra were huge winners of green energy stimulus funds with, as I touch upon, NextEra as the "Third Largest Recipient of DOE Risky Loans."
Still, we also know that J.P. Morgan, along with Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Google and General Electric –– all in this post –– were top donors for then-Senator Obama's 2008 election, giving his campaign $736,771 (through "PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families") making them number six on this influential list. However, tracking down these 67 wind farms and two solar projects would take months of research –– maybe a future project that ends up like "Citigroup’s Massive 'Green' Money Machine."
Client #14: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. – WASHINGTON, DC
Center for Responsive Politics labels JPMorgan Chase & Co as a "heavy hitter" inside our political system, of which JP Morgan retained McBee's services sometime in 2009, and they are also found as a McBee energy client. Since that time McBee has raked in over $1.3 million from the "too-big-to-fail" Big Bank.
According to J.P. Morgan's Energy Investments & Banking stats, "J.P. Morgan’s Energy Investments group is focused on putting capital to work in U.S.-based renewable energy projects, including wind, solar, biomass and geothermal. With a focus on utilizing the tax benefits provided by Congress to support renewable energy, the group provides long-term financing for clients through lease and structured partnership transactions."
"The group’s renewable energy portfolio has grown to more than 6,600MW from 2003 through 2010. Its holdings include 67 wind farms and two solar projects in 19 states, owned jointly with 15 different energy firms. As lead investor, J.P. Morgan has funded $3.2 billion of projects from its own capital and raised an additional $3.5 billion from other institutional co-investors..."
After a quick glance, we find that J.P. Morgan is in cahoots with NextEra Energy's Capricorn Ridge wind farm in West Texas as well as Goldman Sach's solar company SunEdison –– both Goldman and NextEra were huge winners of green energy stimulus funds with, as I touch upon, NextEra as the "Third Largest Recipient of DOE Risky Loans."
Still, we also know that J.P. Morgan, along with Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Google and General Electric –– all in this post –– were top donors for then-Senator Obama's 2008 election, giving his campaign $736,771 (through "PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families") making them number six on this influential list. However, tracking down these 67 wind farms and two solar projects would take months of research –– maybe a future project that ends up like "Citigroup’s Massive 'Green' Money Machine."
Client #15: Lanza Tech
Lanza Tech, a biofuel company that was also covered in my biofuel post last month, paid McBee $50,000 in 2009 for lobbying in "misc energy."
While the Range Fuels debacle, of which later Lanza Tech took over, is quite amazing, it's the Big VC behind the story that really captured my attention, and where you will find another Obama billionaire buddy: Vinod Kholsa, who is labeled as "one of the most influential venture capitalists in Silicon Valley." Khosla was an affiliated partner of Kleiner Perkins (now a PARTNER EMERITUS). It turns out that Khosla Ventures has also invested in some of the same companies as Kleiner Perkins, and is part of the Big VC winners of the taxpayer-funded $100 billion clean-energy spending spree, which includes at least $800 million of biofuel bucks.
While the Range Fuels debacle, of which later Lanza Tech took over, is quite amazing, it's the Big VC behind the story that really captured my attention, and where you will find another Obama billionaire buddy: Vinod Kholsa, who is labeled as "one of the most influential venture capitalists in Silicon Valley." Khosla was an affiliated partner of Kleiner Perkins (now a PARTNER EMERITUS). It turns out that Khosla Ventures has also invested in some of the same companies as Kleiner Perkins, and is part of the Big VC winners of the taxpayer-funded $100 billion clean-energy spending spree, which includes at least $800 million of biofuel bucks.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (ACJ) later revealed that this $80 million USDA deal for Range Fuels "was approved despite repeated warnings and strong opposition by some of the federal officials who vetted the project." ACJ goes on, "The documents obtained by the AJC show that three USDA officials who vetted the project approved it. Three opposed it. And three others who made critical comments had their opinions redacted."
A month later, "The failed Range Fuels wood-to-ethanol factory in southeastern Georgia that sucked up $65 million in federal and state tax dollars [although my calculations place it closer to $92.5 million] was sold for pennies on the dollar to another bio-fuel maker with equally grand plans to transform the alternative energy world,” wrote Dan Chapman of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Yet, I found that in December 2011, LanzaTech got a $3 million contract from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), through the Department of Transportation. And that LanzaTech has snagged more government contracts and funds from the Obama administration. In November 2010, LanzaTech entered into a research and development agreement with the DOE's America's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), of which it was reported by the Global Bioenergy Industry News, "The first phase of the work will take place over a year with equal funds from the DOE and LanzaTech."
In September 2011, The New England Herald announced, "LanzaTech will be eligible for "up to US$4 million to develop a cost-effective technology that converts biomass-derived ethanol into jet fuel using catalysts." This funding came from the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. "The DOE win is one of three similar small-scale projects to be funded up to US$12 million, and comes after LanzaTech picked up a contract [for an unknown amount of funds] with the US Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Agency in June to help develop drop-in bio-fuels for military aircraft," the Herald went on.
Client #16: OPowerOpower –– listed by Center for Responsive Politics as the "Computers/Internet" industry –– hired McBee in 2013, paying them $70,000.
The OPower Connection
While Kleiner Perkins came aboard as an investor in OPower sometime in November 2011, my 2010 research reflects that Silver Spring had already formed a partnership with AEP, on AEP's initiative called gridSMARTSM. Directly from Silver Spring Networks site, it states, "the leader in networking technologies that modernize today’s power grid," states, "Indiana Michigan Power initiated its Smart Meter pilot project in South Bend, Indiana in late 2008. The initial success of that project led AEP Ohio to select Silver Spring for the expansion of its AEP Ohio gridSMARTSM Demonstration Project in northeast central Ohio."
Since then, OPower has made customers out of many of the utility companies that were winners of the smart grid grants, like AES –– Indianapolis Power & Light, Baltimore Gas & Electric, CenterPoint Energy, Commonwealth Edison, PG&E, Progress Energy, Sacramento Municipal Utilities District, and much more. Exactly how much stimulus funds OPower is linked to would require further investigation.
Client #17: RENTECH, INC. – LOS ANGELES, CA
Rentech Inc –– listed at Center for Responsive Politics in the "Agricultural Svcs" industry –– hired McBee lobbying in 2011, of which so far they have paid McBee $430,000.
Rentech, who "is a supplier of wood chips, wood pellets and nitrogen fertilizers," also dabbles in biofuels, and I covered them my biofuel post last month, noting their biofuel project in Colorado.
As documented by Center for Responsive Politics, Serious Materials Inc hired McBee sometime in 2009, paying them $30,000. What's interesting is that I briefly mentioned Serious in the beginning of this post as a VantagePoint investment, but the company is now called Serious Energy.
Beside McBee in their corner, Serious Energy has serious White House friends, which leads to Foundation Capital, another Big VC and big supporter of President Obama with their hands in the cookie jar. I tackled Foundation Capital in May 2013 post on Silver Spring Networks, noting that this well-connected investment firm is has a total of 12 clean-energy firms, of which 60 percent winners totaling over $175 million of taxpayer money. And that figure does not take into account Silver Spring Network's $1.3 billion in contracts related to the smart-grid stimulus grants.
Serious has had serious issues, of which I highlighted in my 2012 Green Alert list of taxpayer-funded clean-energy failures. Yet it seems that in 2009 the Recovery Act bailed them out. Taxpayer money aside, Serious Energy troubles, which started in October 2009 continued through July 2012, as reported by Green Tech Enterprises as well as the San Francisco Chronicle.
Serious Energy also had a connection inside the DOE. Cathy Zoi, who also benefited from the Landis+Gyr green deals (over $50 million in stimulus contracts for their smart-grid meters), and marks her as one of the "DOE Dirty Dozen," owned shares in Serious. In 2010, John Stossel and a few others exposed the following, “The interesting twist is that Zoi happens to be the wife of Robin Roy, who happens [ed] to be vice president of policy at Serious Windows."
Rentech ClearFuels: $23 million stimulus grant (01/29/2010) to "produce renewable diesel and jet fuel from woody biomass by integrating ClearFuels’ and Rentech’s conversion technologies" @ Commerce City, CO –– Status: With anticipated job creation for this project at 12 sustained and 50 peak construction, Recovery.org doesn't go past the final quarter of 2012, which at that time, placed it at "more than 50% completed." It was noted at that their Product Demonstration Unit (PDU) facility in Commerce City, was designed, built and operated," however, in March of this year, BiofuelsDigest.com reported, "In California, Rentech announced plans to cease operations at, reduce staffing at, and mothball its research and development Product Demonstration Unit, in Commerce City, CO, and to eliminate all related R&D activities." Translation, Rentech will be closing their Colorado demo unit, and is "currently seeking parties interested in purchasing the PDU and/or the site."
Client #18: Serious Materials Inc
As documented by Center for Responsive Politics, Serious Materials Inc hired McBee sometime in 2009, paying them $30,000. What's interesting is that I briefly mentioned Serious in the beginning of this post as a VantagePoint investment, but the company is now called Serious Energy.
I can confirm that
Serious Materials got a stimulus-related tax credit of $548,100. We also know that the stimulus package included “$8 billion in weatherization and energy efficiency grants for things like new windows in office buildings, as well as tax credits for homeowners who buy new, energy efficient windows." However, it’s hard to say how much of that $8 billion business Serious got, but we do know that they snagged government contracts via their QuietRock products.
Serious Energy also had a connection inside the DOE. Cathy Zoi, who also benefited from the Landis+Gyr green deals (over $50 million in stimulus contracts for their smart-grid meters), and marks her as one of the "DOE Dirty Dozen," owned shares in Serious. In 2010, John Stossel and a few others exposed the following, “The interesting twist is that Zoi happens to be the wife of Robin Roy, who happens [ed] to be vice president of policy at Serious Windows."
Zoi, served as chief of staff for environmental policy under President Clinton and was CEO of Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection. In April 2009, Zoi became the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency, who oversaw the disbursement of more than $30 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment funding in her DOE position at the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
While we know the funds Zoi oversaw at the EERE, some was for weatherization programs that benefited Serious, we also know that she testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in favor of a HOMESTAR program, also known as cash for caulkers, which became another subsidy for Serious.
Later in 2010, during a series of DOE vacancies, Zoi briefly filled the role of Acting Undersecretary for Energy, and it was noted that not only did she manage the $30 billion in stimulus funds, but she had "a base budget of over $10 billion in applied research and development and nuclear waste management." Then in February 2011, Zoi jumped the DOE ship to work for George Soros’ new venture capital firm focused on green energy –– another Obama crony and key villain in this Green Corruption scandal that I've mentioned in this post and many times before.
Later in 2010, during a series of DOE vacancies, Zoi briefly filled the role of Acting Undersecretary for Energy, and it was noted that not only did she manage the $30 billion in stimulus funds, but she had "a base budget of over $10 billion in applied research and development and nuclear waste management." Then in February 2011, Zoi jumped the DOE ship to work for George Soros’ new venture capital firm focused on green energy –– another Obama crony and key villain in this Green Corruption scandal that I've mentioned in this post and many times before.
Client #19: SOLAZYME, INC. – SAN FRANCISCO, CA
It seems that McBee took on Solazyme in 2012, and they've raked in $170,000 thus far. This was the same renewable energy company that I covered in my biofuel post last month, but more so in my July 24th post, "Subsidizing Obama’s Algae: Its advisors and allies" and Marita Noon in her July 28th column "The Dirty Politics of Clean Energy," which implicates another stimulus author and part of this Gang of Eight.
TJ Glauthier, who held key positions in the Clinton administration, the DOE and served on Obama’s 2008 White House Transition Team, is tied to at least four clean-energy firms that raked in hundreds of millions of green energy funds. The interesting twist here is that the majority of these funds came from the stimulus package, of which Mr. Glauthier is widely credited with helping to develop the energy provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
- Sanjay Wagle was a Solazyme investor through VantagePoint (mentioned in detail in the beginning of this post and the BrightSource Energy deal). He was an Obama fundraiser for the 2008 campaign and joined the administration, as a “renewable energy grants advisor” at the DOE.
- Drew Littman, head of Solazyme’s Washington lobbying office, who was chief of staff for Senator Al Franken (D-MN).
- Jerry Fiddler, chairman of the board of directors, is a large Democrat donor, who contributed $24,000 to Obama’s Victory Fund.
- Jonathan Wolfson, Solazyme co-founder, sat on the board for the Center for American Progress (CAP) Clean Tech Council. CAP is responsible for crafting and promoting many key Democratic policies and is a major force behind Obama's green-energy agenda.
Solazyme, Inc.*: $21.8 million stimulus grant (December 2009) to "produce algae oil that can be converted to oil‐based fuels" @ Riverside, PA, but it states that their pilot project is in Peoria, IL / Plus part of the $12 million biofuel contract with the U.S. Navy –– Status: 2013 second quarter, more than 50% completed. While you can find the complete Green Corruption story on Solazyme in my last post, it should be pointed out again that, according to Forbes, "Last year Solazyme posted a net loss of $83 million last year on sales of $44 million," and it seems that Solazyme's "green fuel" is not the money maker in the family.
Stay tuned for more on the $1.6 Billion BrightSource Energy Shady DOE Deal
Thanks for reading yet another Green Corruption File, with much more in the works. Your attention and financial support (via my site or at C.A.R.E.) is much appreciated. Together we must fight corporate welfare, crony capitalism, and special interests, which is corrupting our Republic and costing taxpayers tens of billion of dollars.
God Bless America,
–– Christine
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