Energy Department Altered Loan-Related Releases

greenwashBy Eamon James

Someone affiliated with the Department of Energy has been going back to make changes to press releases posted on the Internet weeks and months ago, CNBC has found.

The changes occurred in two press releases from the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program – the same program that has been the center of controversy surrounding the failed solar company Solyndra.

Both were changed to remove the name of a company that has received negative press attention in recent days, SunPower, and replace it with the name of another company, NRG Energy.

Generally, it is not considered correct procedure to revise old press releases retroactively on the Web. More commonly, government agencies will issue a new press release with a current date explaining any changes that have occurred.

Read the rest at CNBC.

9 Responses to Energy Department Altered Loan-Related Releases

  1. NEIL F. AGWD/BSD October 20, 2011 at 5:34 am #

    I don’t think I care that much about this one. It wasn’t illegal, just incorrect prceedure. It was probably a case where someone told an underling, or an intern to go and do it, and they had no idea they were supposed to make a statement about the correction, so they just changed it. I don’t see it as a big deal. So there is a govt contractor that is incompetent. Is that news?

  2. Joe October 20, 2011 at 6:56 pm #

    When it is not “Transparent” and you are dealing with billions, yes, it is news Neil.

    • NEIL F. AGWD/BSD October 21, 2011 at 5:41 am #

      Sorry Joe, this is a story about someone changing a press release to show a revision to the story that is essentually true. NRG energy did aquire the solar ranch project from SunPower. It doesn’t change anything about the loan, in fact it has nothing to do with the loan. It’s a press release that was updated incorrectly, and it was the press that said “hey, wait a second”, and after that it was changed back to the original. I really don’t see a problem here other than the person, or people that made the change is a/are moron(s). This story has no bearing on the loan, so it has nothing to do with the billions of dollars.
      Now if the changes were made and nobody said anything about it, and let it stand, then that would be a story about collusion from the press. But this was slapped down by the press so in my opinion there is no story here that has anything to do with the loans, or the failed green energy “industry”.

  3. Joe October 23, 2011 at 7:40 pm #

    Thanks for the correction.

  4. Dan McGrath October 24, 2011 at 12:03 am #

    It’s called scrubbing – essentially a whitewash designed to deceive. Changing details in a public document after it was published, but leaving the original date on it is an attempt tp hide something from the public. I see that as a problem. Glad it was caught this time, but it likely happens all the time and goes unnoticed.

    • NEIL F. AGWD/BSD October 24, 2011 at 8:55 pm #

      Ok Dan. If that’s what it was I agree 100%. But do we really know if that’s what happened? I think it is entirely possible that this could have been just a mistake. But I could be wrong. Still, on a scale of 1-10 as far as importance I would give this a 4 1/2, even if it was “scrubbing”. It was just a press release, not exactly the official record.

  5. Joe October 24, 2011 at 9:21 pm #

    Kind of like the alter ego theory? Thanks for the correction Dan!

  6. Rob N. Hood December 10, 2011 at 1:48 pm #

    Scrub this: For the Koch brothers and their kind, less democracy is better. They fund campaigns with millions of dollars in checks that have helped elect the likes of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Ohio Governor John Kasich. And ALEC has made it clear, through its ambitious “Public Safety and Elections Task Force,” that while it wants to dismantle any barriers to corporate cash and billionaire bucks’ influencing elections, it wants very much to erect barriers to the primary tool that Americans who are not CEOs have to influence the politics and the government of the nation: voting.

  7. joe December 15, 2011 at 11:46 pm #

    I know Scott Walker. Excellent man. Seems to me you have a problem?

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