Solyndra Finally Creates Jobs That Will Last

Solyndra received hundreds of millions from the the Obama green jobs slush fund and was supposed to create long-lasting jobs in the green tech field. It appears they have, just not in the way they or Obama expected:

The building’s owner, a company called iStar, claimed in court documents, “there may be serious environmental, health and safety issues” at the premises. According to the documents, they include, “numerous containers of solvents and chemicals…and processing equipment contaminated with lead.”

In my 20-years experience, I've never seen a a contaminated site that didn't get that way by mismanagement and poor hazardous waste handling practices. It's possible it was disturbed by kids or other means but nearly every time it was from sheer neglect and not following the rules established under RCRA. It will take a good amount of time and people to clean this up.

So what we may now have is a honest to goodness Superfund site since Solyndra blew all the money and I'm guessing that iStar doesn't have the money to clean it up. This site will require in-depth sampling and remediation if what they describe is true. I guarantee that the drums shown in the video are passed the 90-day storage allotted under regulatory requirements.

Based on what they've described, I know that lead, cadmium and solvents are most likely covered under RCRA but California law under Title 22 and DTSC regulations also brings numerous other metals and wastes into the mix. I'm curious, where was DTSC in this whole mess? They were always at my San Diego site and we had the best and cleanest hazardous waste site in Southern California.

I find it interesting that a supposed green company would refuse to pay for the clean-up of a site they have the responsibility for. Of course, we all know that they weren't a green company, they are nothing but cronies and they got paid well with our tax dollars.

Looking at the site, we may be on the hook for a hell of a lot more.