It’s another day, and another round of layoffs by a recipient of millions of dollars under the Obama Administration’s renewable energy initiatives, administered by the mismanaged Department of Energy.
This time the Recovery Act largesse – taken out of the hide of taxpayers – went to A123 Systems, Inc. The Massachusetts-based energy storage company was given $249.1 million to help launch two battery-manufacturing plants in Michigan. A123 also received grants and tax credits from the state that could total more than $135 million. In a separate federal grant as a subcontractor for another grantee, A123 received nearly $30 million for a wind energy storage project.
In the Wolverine State, the company will lay off 125 employees at the two plants in Livonia and Romulus. Officials said diminished production by a top customer – Irvine, Calif.-based Fisker Automotive – led to the cutbacks. A123 had expected to deliver batteries for 7,000 plug-in hybrid Karma models, but faulty wire harnesses in the vehicles reduced Fisker’s production to 1,500 for 2011, according to Crain’s Detroit Business .
NLPC’s Mark Modica reported in late October that Fisker itself benefitted from a $529 million loan from the Department of Energy. The Karma is priced at $97,000, has a range of only 30 miles per electric charge, and after that gets only 20 miles per gallon of gasoline. The car will be produced in Finland and is eligible for the $7,500 federal tax credit for purchasers. And a venture capital firm where former Vice President (and global warming guru) Al Gore is a partner is heavily invested in Fisker, and executives with the firm have contributed more than $1 million over the last two decades to mostly Democratic candidates and causes.
As for A123, which is also invested in Fisker, company executives there also have a penchant for supporting Democratic campaigns. According to records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, nearly $22,000 was donated to Democrat candidates during the 2008, 2010, and 2012 election cycles. A single $1,000 donation went to the Senate campaign of Republican Scott Brown in 2010. And A123 President and CEO David Vieau gave then-Senator Barack Obama $2,300 three weeks before he was elected president in 2008, and has given $5,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the last two years.
Vieau was also featured in a 30-second spot in late 2009 to promote energy and climate legislation promoted by President Obama and his fellow Democrats: