Stearns Alarmed with Reports Taxpayer-Funded Energy Companies Paid out Hefty Bonuses to Executives
Press Release
Rep. Cliff Stearns, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, expressed alarm upon learning of the news report:
"Any use of taxpayer dollars to reward failure is a betrayal of the public trust. The Obama administration either didn't know about the bonuses or stood by and did nothing to stop them. These latest reports represent another sad chapter in DOE's very poor stewardship of taxpayer dollars. There must be appropriate safeguards to prevent any instance of company executives who received federal support from stuffing their pockets with taxpayer dollars before going bankrupt. Energy Secretary Steven Chu will have some answering to do when he appears before the Energy and Commerce Committee this Thursday."
Green Firms Get Fed Cash, Give Exec Bonuses, Fail
In Case You Missed It
President Obama's Department of Energy helped finance several green energy companies that later fell into bankruptcy -- but not before the firms doled out six-figure bonuses and payouts to top executives, a Center for Public Integrity and ABC News investigation found.
Take, for instance, Beacon Power Corp., the second recipient of an Energy Department loan guarantee in 2009. In March 2010, the Massachusetts energy storage company paid cash bonuses of $259,285 to three executives in part due to progress made on the $43 million energy loan, Securities and Exchange Commission records show. Last October, Beacon Power filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
EnerDel, maker of lithium-ion battery systems, landed a $118.5 million energy grant in August 2009. About one-and-a-half years later, Vice President Joe Biden toured a company plant in Indiana and heralded its taxpayer-supported expansion as one of the "100 Recovery Act Projects That Are Changing America."
Two months after Biden's visit, EnerDel corporate parent Ener1 paid $725,000 in bonuses to three executives -- including $450,000 to then-CEO Charles Gassenheimer, who led Biden on the tour. This January, Ener1 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
At least two other firms that benefited from Energy Department funding -- one a $500,000 grant, the other a $535 million loan guarantee -- handed out hefty payouts to executives and later went bankrupt.
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