At the Department of Energy, taxpayer funds held hostage

The United States Congress continues to kowtow to the Department of Energy, giving it free rein to impose energy choices onto consumers across the country.

Contrary to Congress' promise to advocate for the taxpayer, and despite the urging of numerous thought leaders, the current Congress has so far neglected to protect those who elected them. Despite continual failures by the solar industry to become a competitive source of energy, the department recently announced $65 million in solar subsidies through the SunShot Initiative designed to advance solar power technologies in America.

The SunShot Initiative, a chief culprit in green energy advocates' scheme to force solar energy on everyone, freely siphons taxpayer funds toward cronyist pet projects. Unsurprisingly, these "renewable" programs are chosen entirely without regard for their cost to the taxpayer. As a result, rampant solar subsidies have led to expensive failed schemes and embarrassing results for solar advocates. Nevertheless, obvious lessons remain unlearned by solar advocates and their cohorts.

Year after year, solar company after solar company files for bankruptcy or lays off employees. Recently, SunEdison declared bankruptcy, unsuccessfully tried to merge with another company, only to fall into $11.7 billion worth of acquisition debt. SunEdison is no outlier; the solar supplier joins a long list of massively subsidized solar companies that have utterly failed over the past several years. In April of this year, Sungevity filed for bankruptcy. Abengoa filed for bankruptcy back in 2016. Abound Solar filed for bankruptcy in 2012. Solyndra infamously filed for bankruptcy in 2011.

Notice a trend?