Chu defends Solyndra Aid; Dodges Oil-Sands Question

[wtmusic]

Shell Oil is a platinum sponsor of the Washington Post's Smart Energy conference.

"Energy Secretary Steven Chu defended his department’s $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, a now-bankrupt California solar-panel manufacturer, saying the U.S. can’t afford to “wave the white flag” in the global clean-energy race.

“One has to take risks to promote innovative manufacturing,” Chu said at Washington Post Live’s Smart Energy conference, which is sponsored by energyNOW! Chu said about 50 other nations, including China, have similar financing programs and the U.S. will lose more jobs to those countries if clean-energy subsidies like the loan guarantee program are abolished.

Chu also refused to say whether the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil-sands crude from Canada to refineries in Texas, should be built. “I’m not going to commit one way or another,” said Chu, one of several cabinet members advising the White House and State Department on whether to approve the pipeline. In an interview with energyNOW! that aired in September, Chu indicated the Obama administration was leaning towards approving the pipeline."

http://www.energynow.com/blog/2011/11/03/chu-defends-solyndra-aid-dodges-oil-sands-question

[Nihil]

1. "I'm not going to commit one way or another ..."

"... but don't expect me to to piss off our paymasters in the
run-up to an election ..."

:thumbsdown: