Need for solar still crucial

The Obama administration is facing a bubbling scandal over a $535-million loan guarantee to a solar panel firm once considered a model of its green energy initiative.

The firm, Solyndra Inc., went belly-up two weeks ago, sticking taxpayers with the bill. The California firm, once promoted for its sunny future in creating jobs, is casting shady implications of political influence because a prime investor was also a bundler of contributions in 2008 for candidate Barack Obama.

But the Solyndra mess shouldn't lead to the conclusion that there is no federal role in sponsoring the scientific research needed for the development of clean energy.

A House subcommittee trying to determine what went wrong with Solyndra has found troubling documents indicating that there was considerable pressure from the White House to get the deal done over the objections of regulators who wanted more time to review the company's financials. The FBI has seized Solyndra records and the inspectors general of the Treasury and Energy departments are involved.

While the administration denies the firm got special treatment, clearly it made a mistake promoting the loan guarantee as a jobs program. Still, the Energy Department's loan guarantees are the linchpin of its efforts to spur the development of technology that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Not too long ago, such an effort was supported by Republicans and Democrats as a way to confront climate change. The need to do that hasn't faded.