President Obama's administration played favorites on clean-energy loans while improperly blocking a carmaker and a related technology company from receiving millions in aid, according to two lawsuits filed Thursday.
XP Vehicles and Limnia filed complaints against the Energy Department in two federal courts in Washington, seeking damages for what they say were abuses of the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan program. XP Vehicles, which has dissolved, and Limnia are asking for $450 million in a case filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and at least $225 million in U.S. District Court.
"Defendants used the ATVM loan program as nothing more than a veil to steer hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to government cronies," according to the district court complaint.
The lawsuits are the latest challenge to clean-energy loan programs administered by the Energy Department, which has come under scrutiny over a $535 million loan guarantee to now-bankrupt solar-panel maker Solyndra, based in Fremont.
The companies, which list the same mailing address on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco, are being represented by Daniel Epstein, who previously worked for a foundation started by Koch Industries Chief Executive Officer Charles Koch, a billionaire contributor to Republican-leaning causes.
XP Vehicles said it applied in 2008 for a $40 million loan in an effort to mass produce an SUV-style electronic vehicle with doors and other parts made from foam. The starting price for the vehicle was to be less than $20,000.
The carmaker said it believed the review of its application would take "a matter of weeks." After meeting with the agency in May 2009, XPV said, it discovered that two of its competitors - Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive - were receiving special assistance from agency staff with the loan application process.
Tesla received a $465 million loan in June 2009 with an interest rate of 1.6 percent, according to the complaint. Fisker received a $528.7 million loan. The department blocked Fisker from receiving the bulk of the loan in May 2011 after the company didn't meet milestones for producing its first model. Tesla and Fisker representatives had no comment on the lawsuits.
Source: http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=ec4054c8d38553767411077e700da541
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