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May 27, 2012
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Not National News: Bankrupt Solyndra Destroys Millions of Dollars' Worth of Glass

By Tom Blumer | January 25, 2012 | 01:15

Change font size:  A |  A
Tom Blumer's picture

I guess what follows shouldn't be a total surprise, given that the Obama administration was perfectly comfortable ruining hundreds of thousands of perfectly good cars during the Cash For Clunkers program in 2009.

The video which follows from CBS News in San Francisco last Thursday (full transcript here) tells viewers what is happening to valuable parts at the main manufacturing plant of the now-bankrupt Solyndra. At the risk of belaboring what longtime readers here already instinctively know, it's not news based on searches on the company's name at at the Associated Press and the New York Times.

 

Story Continues Below Ad ↓

Here's the video:

Excerpts (bolds are mine; do not miss that last paragraph):

Bankrupt Solyndra Caught Destroying Brand New Parts

... At Solyndra’s sprawling complex in Fremont, workers in white jumpsuits were unwrapping brand new glass tubes used in solar panels last week. They are the latest, most cutting-edge solar technology, and they are being thrown into dumpsters.

... Solyndra paid at least $2 million for the specialized glass. A CBS 5 crew found one piece lying in the parking lot. Solyndra still owes the German company that made the tubes close to another $8 million.

... court documents reveal the company received permission from the bankruptcy trustee to abandon the high grade glass, the court agreeing that it was of “inconsequential value” because the cost of storing them exceeds their value.

An employee for Heritage Global Partners, the company in charge of selling Solyndra’s assets, told CBS 5 they conducted an exhaustive search for buyers but no one wanted them.

But how exhaustive was that search? The tubes were never included on the list of Solyndra assets put up for sale at two auctions last year.

If they were, David Lucky told CBS 5 he would have bought them. “We certainly would have bid on them, yes,” Lucky said.

Lucky owns several large warehouses near Las Vegas. He buys and then resells manufacturing equipment and components all the time.

... He said if given a chance he would have snapped up the tubes ...

... CBS 5 asked more than once for Solyndra, the auction company and the bankruptcy trustee to talk on camera. But they all refused.

CBS 5 also called the German company that made the glass tubes to see if they would have wanted the tubes back. After all, they are still owed almost $8 million dollars. A spokesman said he had no idea they were being destroyed.

Given the fact that the company has asked for $500,000 in bonuses so that allegedly key employees can stay around during the shutdown, it doesn't seem to be too much to ask that they attempt to get some value out of materials which remain. As demonstrated, there were clearly avenues which could have been explored, such as returning the glass to the vendor or finding a broker like Mr. Lucky who was willing to take it.

The segment also tells of a Santa Clara University professor who asked if any of the leftover tubes after the Solyndra auctions were completed could be donated. He was told "no."

I've seen enough troubled situations to know that it's hard to get rid of stuff which is seemingly valuable when time is tight and it seems that there's no ready market, and that things get thrown out which you would think wouldn't have to be. But $2 million worth of high-end glass?

A Google News search on "Solyndra glass" (not in quotes) returns 14 relevant items, of which only three are national establishment press stories.

There is little doubt that a similar episode of epic waste and destruction of perfectly good property under a Republican or conservative presidential administration would have been picked up as national news.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.

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Comments

Son of a -----

Submitted by matthewdean on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 1:17am.

&^%$@#%@#$.

MD

"The credibility of the story is undermined by the selection of sources." - (h/t Jer)
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I couldn't have said it any better, MD.

Submitted by UpNorth on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 1:22am.

Except to add, stupid a&^, *(&^% #@%#$^^&*!!!!

Apparently, I'm supposed to be more angry with what Mitt Romney does with his money, than what Obama does with mine
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The audacity of Dope

Submitted by Blonde on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 1:31am.

This is Obama's idea of "capitalism", in a nutshell.

I'll stop now. So I don't cry.

Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 138 (and Counting)

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Bye Bye Tax Dollars

Submitted by amlaml on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 1:47am.

I am sure am glad Solyndra is putting all that money we gave them to good use

In all seriousness, this is why the government has no business messing up the private sector. If Solyndra had failed on their own, I wouldn't care about this story.

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I grabbed 2 of them out of the dumpster.

Submitted by The Vet on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 2:22am.

I am using them to store my excess hopeychange from 2008.

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Chump change.

Submitted by big.league.slider on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 2:57am.

Sure, Solyndra's destruction of $2M of taxpayer property is disgusting. But compare that to the $60B per year in Medicare fraud and waste. Or the $48B that GM owes US taxpayers.

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The Republican campaign commercials are writing themselves

Submitted by CO2Maker on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 6:24am.

Fast and Furious
Cash for Clunkers
Cash for Broken Glass
Solyndra
No budget for 3 years
Obamacare
Keystone Pipeline
Gulf Oil Permissions

These are all policy failures. Nothing here about golf or dueling jets to Martha's Vinegar of soirees of the month in the WH.

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Fast and Furious COVERUP

Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 6:53am.

is the real story. Compared to Obysmal, the Nixon administration was a bunch of pikers. One question: was anyone MURDERED in the Watergate break-in?

Obysmal and Holder should both be facing felony charges, along with the BATFE chain of command right down to Brian Terry's watch commander.

Of course, the American Narcissus wouldn't have the decency to resign when facing charges. That would be racist.

"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me

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Nope

Submitted by CO2Maker on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 7:30am.

Nobody drowned there, too.

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Policy Failures

Submitted by FaulknerFan on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 9:12am.

Of course the republican establishment, like McCain, wouldn't want to bring any of that up because it might be viewed as being overly critical of the One and the MS news media wouldn't wouldn't like it.

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Why cover this

Submitted by KornKing on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 6:51am.

Move along folks,nothing to see here

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Green Police: alerting all hybrids!

Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 2:00pm.

They didn't even recycle them? Where's the Green Police when you need them?

That "specialized glass" (it's "special" because of it's extreme purity, by the way) is worth money, even as "trash." Any glass manufacturer in the country would have been more than willing to buy those glass tubes. They would have even came and picked them up, at no additional charge.

That kind of ultra-pure glass is very expensive to make, but very easy, very cheap, to recycle. They could have been used in the production of, say, fiber optic lines, for example. But, no, let's just toss them into the dumpster, shall we? Let's just contaminate them by allowing them to come into contact with air, so they're nothing more than a plate glass window in quality, shall we? I mean, really, we, Solyndra, doesn't need them anymore, right?

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution

Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court

Or Anwar al-Awlaki.

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Cobra,

Submitted by Agnostic on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 2:05pm.

They used to teach children the value of what they earned. Now there is no value because it is not earned - Government 'give me' items are easily tossed aside.

. . Socialist = Modern Liberal = Parasitoid
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And, yet...

Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 2:13pm.

And, yet, Obama, himself, gave a speech about how this company is a "model" of how all companies should be run, for future generations.

What's black and white, and red all over? Obama's face, after reading about what his "model" company has been doing!

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution

Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court

Or Anwar al-Awlaki.

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Cobra,

Submitted by Agnostic on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 2:26pm.

being liberal means never having to say your sorry or be embarrassed by your actions - the media has your back.

For all President Obama knows that type of waste in normal business practice. Usually you have to go to the government for that type of waste and corruption. Well, at least to a tax payer funded excuse to recycle Democrat election funds.

. . Socialist = Modern Liberal = Parasitoid
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By the way...

Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 2:15pm.

By the way, it's interesting that those glass tubes came from Germany. I'm sure the American glass manufactures just LOVED that! What's that Obama said about increasing the American labor force? Only if those laborers are Americans living in Germany, I guess.

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution

Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court

Or Anwar al-Awlaki.

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