White House Solar Promise Unkept

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2011/06/white-house-solar-promise-unkept

The Associated Press does some accountability journalism on President Obama's promise to install solar panels on the White House roof:

In last fall's announcement, at a conference of government officials and environmental groups, Energy Secretary Steven Chu was specific. "I'm pleased to announce that, by the end of this spring, there will be solar panels and a solar hot water heater on the roof of the White House," he wrote that day on his departmental website.

Yet, the AP says, "Spring has come and gone, and the promised panels have yet to see the light of day."

Environmentalist Bill McKibben has some fun with it: ""Nine months is a pretty long time. You can have a baby in that time...On the list of things that get done, this isn't all that hard. It doesn't require SEAL Team 6. It just requires a good-faith effort. You can just open the Yellow Pages and get page after page of solar installers."

The AP story makes the point that it takes the government a long time to do anything, attributing the delays to "federal contracting hurdles."

by Editor  |  Jun 21, 2011 at 9:24 am Related Topics:  Energy, President Obama receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list