Will Cape Wind Be the Next Solyndra?

GOP Rep. Darrell Issa hopes so.

Andy S-D/Flickr

After more than a year of failing to find a scandal in the Obama administration’s loan to bankrupt solar company Solyndra, House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is now probing whether the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval of the Cape Wind project was “politically based.”

Issa and Transportation Committee Chair John Mica (R-Fla.) sent a letter to FAA chief Michael Huerta last week saying that they have “significant questions” about the project’s approval, based on emails among staff that noted that the project consideration was “political.” The letter strongly indicates that the White House might have pressured the FAA to approve the offshore wind project, which would be the first in the nation, as part of its green energy agenda. ”A politically based determination of the Cape Wind project by FAA is an unacceptable use of federal authority, contravenes FAA’s statutory mandate, and raises significant safety concerns for aviation in Nantucket Sound,” they wrote.

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