The Obama administration said on Thursday its top energy loans official was stepping down, following a widening probe into the embarrassing collapse of a solar panel company that got $535 million in federal support.
Jonathan Silver, a venture capitalist who had also worked for the Clinton administration, was leaving because the loan program has allocated all its funding, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said.
Silver’s departure, however, comes as Republicans in Congress probe the White House’s role in backing government loans given to Solyndra, a California solar panel maker, in 2009.
Solyndra filed for bankruptcy in August, and is also under investigation by the FBI.
President Barack Obama, who spoke at a news conference before Silver’s resignation was announced, defended the Energy Department’s handling of loans program and said the government should not back down from its support for clean energy.
Silver joined the Energy Department after the loan guarantee was awarded, but he was in charge in February when the government agreed to restructure the debt as the company ran out of cash.
In that restructuring, some $75 million in private investment was ranked ahead of the government in the event of bankruptcy. That private fund was backed by a prominent Obama fundraiser.
Silver, under intense grilling by House of Representatives Republicans last month in a hearing, told them the decision was legal and heavily analyzed.
“So you’re saying no one should be fired?” asked Cliff Stearns, the lawmaker leading the probe.
“I’m saying that we are doing the best job we know how to do,” Silver said.