Barton: Solyndra Shouldn't End Solar Loan Guarantees

In an interview with energyNOW! producer Mark Hanner, U.S. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) talks about the Solyndra bankruptcy and the impact it will have on federal loan guarantees for other solar companies.

Solyndra was awarded a $535 million dollar loan guarantee in 2009 by the Obama administration. Its bankruptcy filing this month shows the company got “too much money, too fast, with too little oversight,” Barton says.

But the Texas Republican says the Solyndra collapse shouldn’t end loan guarantees for solar companies. More loan guarantees should be issued if “there is a reasonable expectation that taxpayers get their money back” and the company will produce a technology that “can be sold in the marketplace,” Barton says.