Solyndra, Solyndra, Solyndra was all we heard when the man-made climate change science-deniers were trying to malign the Obama Administration's efforts to help launch solar energy. If you don't recall, here's how it went:
The economy tanked and cut demand, and at the same time Solyndra could not compete with subsidized companies located in China as they rapidly scaled up. So Solyndra ran out of money. Conservatives and oil interests are using the bankruptcy as a platform to attack green energy and the idea of green jobs in general, solar power in particular, President Obama as always, stimulus funding and the idea of developing a national strategic industrial policy to push back on China and others who have their own national policies to win this key industry of the future.
As the oil industry did their damndest to sabotage any competition to their polluting monopoly and stranglehold on our energy production, they had plenty of help from the right wing media. (Fox News has been promoting this “scandal” story heavily. (It should be noted here that Fox’s parent company News Corp’s 2nd-largest shareholder is oil billionaire Saudi Prince al-Waleed – an “oil interest” if ever there was one.)
The Washington Free Beacon actually ran a piece complaining that President Obama wants to spend money on preventing the exacerbation of climate change AND investing in green energy. These environmentally destructive monsters could care less what kind of planet their children will inherit. To paraphrase conservative hero Grover Norquist, they are trying to shrink the solar industry to the size where they can drown it in a bathtub. Don't forget how ALEC has been crafting laws to quash the renewable energy sector.
What's so incredible is these conservatives (which couldn't be more oxymoronic) are so pro-waste and pro-environmental destruction, they are really griping about concern for the planet, stimulating the economy and funding very beneficial early-childhood education. Here's the "shocking" revelation by the right-wing tabloid which is reporting environmental concerns addressed in Obama's 2015 budget.
“Deep, persistent drought. Longer, fiercer wildfire seasons. High tides flooding downtowns. Severe storms wreaking havoc. This is the picture from the front lines of climate change in communities across America,” the budget reads. “As they face these immediate climate crises, cities, towns, counties and Tribes of every size and in every region of the United States have stepped up to be part of the solution.”
In response, Obama has asked for $239 million for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to “address climate change,” $7.4 billion for clean energy technology programs, and $20 million for “Climate Change Resilience Toolkits.”
The budget also increases research and development spending for the entire government by 5.5 percent, to a total of $146 billion. This includes $7.7 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and $31.3 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which will provide 10,000 new grants.
The president is still asking for billions for his “preschool for all” initiative, which would cost $66.042 billion over the next decade.
Such a nerve, that damned Obama Administration who acknowledges the findings of the NOAA. Republicans argue that the federal reports spread "alarmist" claims about the globe's climate.
Climate change prevention is much like vaccination. If you stop the disaster from happening, you save millions of lives and trillions of dollars. Funny how these conservatives care about neither.
