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Title: Solargate Update: Clean energy powers a revolving door to K Street
Source:
The Washington Examiner
URL Source: http://campaign2012.washingtonexami ... revolving-door-k-street/236716
Published: Dec 5, 2011
Author: Timothy Carney
Post Date: 2011-12-05 07:46:21 by Happy Quanzaa
Keywords: Obama-doma-ding-dong, Solargate Scam, Cony Capitalism
Views: 273
Solar panels and windmills have a reputation as unreliable sources of power, but they sure make the revolving door spin. The steady parade from government to K Street of green energy officials shows that President Obama's furious efforts to subsidize alternative energy undermine his stated goals of reducing special interest influence and shutting the revolving door through which public servants become mercenary lobbyists. Specifically, the Energy Department is churning out lobbyists faster than a coal-fired power plant spews carbon dioxide. Stephanie Mueller graduated from the Obama campaign to become spokeswoman for Energy Secretary Steven Chu. At Energy, Mueller "served as a strategist and primary spokesperson on energy efficiency, renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal, clean energy tax credits and grants," according to a current online biography. This was no small portfolio, as the Obama administration repeatedly expanded on the already generous portfolio of green energy subsidies the Bush administration had created. In November, Mueller cashed out of DOE to run the D.C. office of law firm Berlin Rosen. She is now "Senior Vice President in the National Issue Advocacy Practice." She will also run the firm's "interdisciplinary Energy and Environment practice group." In brief, she gained experience and connections on the taxpayer dime helping justify and defend subsidies to companies like Solyndra and General Electric, and now she's putting those connections and experience to work for private companies profiting from or seeking these subsidies. Jordan Collins is another DOE alumnus now helping subsidy seekers navigate the world of regulations and handouts. Collins started at DOE under President Bush in 2007 as an "embedded consultant." Specifically, he helped DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy craft legislation, and then had a hand in implementing it. This included the stimulus bill's loan guarantees and "tax credits" (they're really handouts) for renewable energy facilities and the manufacture of renewable energy equipment. Collins cashed out to K Street this fall, helping clients with -- you guessed it -- renewable energy and energy efficiency. As Collins puts it in his online bio, his job is to "advise clean energy clients on issues related to financing, capital markets, tax, technology commercialization, as well as policy and regulatory developments in these areas." Collins' official title is "Director of Government Relations" at ML Strategies. ML's green energy clients include Capstone Turbine Corp., the Solar Trust of America, BigBelly Solar, Deepwater Wind, the Coalition for Clean and Renewable Energy, and the American Biogas Council. At ML, Collins joins Clinton DOE alumnus David Leiter, who was also an energy staffer for Sen. John Kerry, a leading proponent of restricting greenhouse gas emissions. The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office, which produced Collins, is a hub of the DOE-industrial complex. Former EERE head Cathy Zoi now is a partner at Silver Lake Kraftwerk, a venture capital fund co-founded by liberal billionaire and Democratic Party financier George Soros. Kraftwerk, as you might guess, invests in firms specializing in energy efficiency and renewable energy. While most of the men and women who hand out green energy subsidies are nearly anonymous, you may know the name Steve Spinner. He was the DOE official who administered the loan guarantee program that put taxpayers on the hook for a half-billion loan to now-bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra. Spinner has returned to private venture capital, where he invests and advises investments in "cleantech" and helps firms with "government initiatives," according to his online resume. The Energy Department produced energy lobbyists long before Obama was president, of course. The Bush administration famously traded personnel with the coal and oil industry, but also plenty of Bush energy alumni went into green energy lobbying. Most notably, Bush's first energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, runs his own lobbying firm, the Abraham Group, where his old DOE chief of staff lobbies for offshore wind tax credits on behalf of Deepwater Wind. Bill Clinton's former energy secretary, Federico Pena, served on the Obama transition team while also working as a senior adviser at Vestar Capital Partners, where he "pursues investments in the field of alternative energy," according to the firm's website. Nobody can blame alternative energy investors like Vestar or green energy developers like Deepwater Wind for hiring DOE officials. After all, the only way to make money with wind and solar these days is by seeking subsidies -- either tax breaks, handouts, government loan guarantees, or mandates that force consumers to use these power sources that are far costlier than coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear. Although alternative sources are becoming more efficient, it's still true that if you want to generate power, you need fossil fuels. If you just want to generate profits, however, some solar panels and a former government official do nearly as well.
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) (R) listens to former U.S. Energy Secretary Frederico Pena speak at
a campaign stop at the Albuquerque Convention Center February 1, 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Photo by Chip
Somodevilla/Getty Images) "Pena served on the Obama transition team while also working as a senior adviser at Vestar
Capital Partners, where he 'pursues investments in the field of alternative energy,' according to the firm's website," writes
Examiner columnist Timothy P. Carney.
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