Sen. Orrin Hatch, a vocal critic of Solyndra, pushed for more than $20M for a bankrupt energy firm

[bigtree]

WASHINGTON — Sen. Orrin Hatch, a vocal critic of the Obama administration's backing of a Department of Energy loan guarantee to solar manufacturer Solyndra, pushed for more than $20 million in government funding for a bankrupt clean energy firm in his home state of Utah.

Hatch aides told USA TODAY earlier this month that the Republican lawmaker had never pushed for taxpayer money to be used for Raser Technologies, which operated a geothermal power plant in southern Utah and also developed hybrid plug-in vehicles. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in April, and recently re-emerged as a restructured company known as Cyrq Energy.

But on Friday, Hatch spokesman Matthew Harakal said that after an internal audit following publication of the USA TODAY story on Hatch's support for Raser, the Utah senator's office found that Hatch actually requested seven earmarks for more than $20 million from 2006 to 2008 to help fund research and development projects for the automotive wing of the company. The earmarks that Hatch's staff revealed on Friday included requests for:

• $1.2 million for the design of hybrid snowmobiles that would be used by the National Park Service.
•$9.2 million for research and development of "future power vehicle needs" for the Defense Department.
•$7.9 million for development for Integrated starter alternators for hybrid combat vehicles

. . . Presently, there's a ban on earmarks in both chambers.




read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-10-28/hatch-solyndra-cyrq-energy/50985576/1