By Kevin McCauley
The idea of "green jobs" is nothing more than a propaganda tool used by the Obama administration to "provide legitimacy to a pre-determined outcome that benefits a political ideology rather than the economy or the environment," according to a scathing 33-page report released today by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Chaired by Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the committee rips the president for a green agenda that "has been driven b y political favoritism and accusations of pay-to-play relationships benefiting private investors with the security of public loan guarantees," as in the case of bankrupt solar panel producer Solyndra, which received a $535M loan guarantee.
The report charges that the administration backed by an alliance of environmentalists and labor groups pushes green energy at the expense of traditional fossil fuels.
"By sacrificing domestic carbon-based resources upon the altar of an ill-fated green energy experiment, the President has put U.S. economic security in jeopardy and wasted billions in taxpayer money at a time when our fiscal health is in peril."
The president’s green energy campaign has been pursued while it "simultaneously implemented a regulatory agenda that is choking American businesses and restricting access to abundant domestic natural resources which have traditionally provided cheap energy that supports economic growth."
The report does see one beneficiary of the U.S. green agenda: China. With its near-monopoly of "rare earth minerals," which are essential components in wind turbines, advanced batteries and solar panels, China has a competitive advantage in green technologies. That dominance could force U.S. manufacturers to shift production to China to gain access to those minerals, according to the report.
The study concludes that the administration’s push for a green energy economy "should not be touted as a jobs program: it is a program that has destroyed jobs at a time when our economy needs them the most."
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