>> invest $150 million to create up to 5 million new jobs. >> can green jobs rescue the economy. >> part of the ground breaking technology it's such a great experience. >> we are spending billions on cutting edge technology. >> that's what government should be doing. >> electric cars. >> then didn't back somebody well on their way to becoming a winner. >> high speed race. >> rail, rail, rail. >> what i call it is high speed train wreck. >> will they really put america back to work? >> they are the perfect team. >> are taxpayers getting scammed. >> did you feel dirty doing it? >> fox news reporting, green jobs, help wanted, from west orange, new jersey here is bret baier. >> i am standing here in thomas edison's laboratory complex now part of the national park system. here is the great entrepreneur invented or improved upon so many of the technologies and

industries that over the years generated millions of jobs and trillions of dollars for america. the light bulb, phone no graph, x-ray machine stock ticker moeks pictures. we thought it would be a great starting place to look at president obama's plan for equally transform tive wave of innovation one he promises will create the jobs and the wealth of the next century. clean energy technology. the president backed his vision with billions of taxpayer dollars. where has all of your money gone and where are the jobs it's supposed to create. is the president's green jobs plan a visionary goal or a potential nightmare? we begin with this solar deal that wasn't as bright a prospect as the president claims. >> you both swear that the number you are about to give is the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? >> yes. >> friday, the most dramatic moment yet in the scandal

surrounding solindrum the solar panel maker who got a half million in help and then went belly up. >> you made sure to get the life boats first. >> the investigator ceo pry an harrison and bill stoberg with sharp questions. >> what is the plan to pay back taxpayers? >> were they duped by solyndra. >> was this a violation of federal law? >> the executives invoked their rights not to incriminate themselves. >> will you invoke your h amendment right to all questions today? >> yes. >> the story of solyndra goes back to 2006 when the company applied for the department of energy for a government loan guarantee under a bush administration program to reduce

greenhouse gases. while solyndra was awaiting a decision then candidate barack obama was promising to spend even bigger thon green technolo. >> my energy plan will invest 150 billion to establish a green energy spector that will create 5 million job overs the next two decades. >> after taking office his administration moved quickly. it put solyndra's stalled loan application on the fast track. >> joe biden was announced a $535 million loan guarantee for solydra the first such grant under the obama administration. >> it will serve a foundation for a stronger american economy. >> in may 2010 the president highlighted solngra as a shining example of creating jobs for the future. >> the true engine of economic growth will always be companies

like solyndra. >> how does a company go from having the president of the united states visited to having the fbi confiscate his files? >> was it fraud 1234>> the investigating the crime scene tape and taking it on the building. >> you believe it is a smoke screen to shield the administration's gross negligence. >> what interaction did they have with the white house during this process? >> we need to put our investigation into sproes. >> the future will be long to the country that invests in clean energy. >> but with more than 14 million americans out of work, 2 million more than when president obama took office, americans also need to ask whether the u.s. government really can transform the entire u.s. economy as it wishes. the economic decisions to 300 million americans. this hour we will go beyond the headlines to see the human face

of president obama's green energy policies. for the last ten months we have traveled coast to coast, visited bustling factories and shuttered plants and listened to tales of despair and hope. we didn't get a chance to talk to president obama orny one in his administration, a repeated interview requests were denied. but we did talk to a number of supporters of the president's green job policy including two men who got a presidential shout out in this year's state of the union address. >> robert and gary allen are brothers who run a small michigan roofing company that have half of their factory went enunused and the recession hit them hard. >> they found an upside to the downturn with a big assist from the american taxpayer. >> they with the help of the government loan that empty space is being used to manufacturer solar shingles being sold all across the country.

>> when did the government first start getting involved? >> from the very beginning telling us how we can make a business out of this and helping us to do that and using their resources to prod us along. >> when the allen brothers found themselves low on cash for supplies, uncle sam was there again. >> when we were in our hour of need i turned to the government and i said i have to have a quarter million dollars or else bad things are going to happen. they found a way to give us a low were loan. for us it was a godsend. >> how many people have you been able to hire? >> the plan is to hire 18 but we have hired 6. >> would you been able to thierz folks without the government assistance? >> it certainly would have been a lot harder. maybe no. >> this was a jump start? >> it was a big help.

o >> chris knew come is one of the men they did hire. >> i hope to have the job the rest of my life. >> his job is still on life support. not only did the government pay for his company to convert its production line it's also paying consumers to buy the allen brother's solar singles. >> i was watching the president's speech and i thought it's worthed me looking into. >> lisa and mike of new jersey discovered the government grants and loans given to companies like the allen brothers are only one way taxpayers are paying for the green economy. install sole shingles on their home allowed them to write off one-third of the 60,000 dollar cost on their federal taxes. for them a pharmacist and stay at home mom it was a 19,0500 dollar deduction. new jersey renewable energy mandates made the deal even

sweeter. it would issue them solar renewable energy certificates each month every month the power company will purchase them and pass the costs on to the other customers. >> on average we were getting 7-per month back. we could walk away with 150,000 dollars in profit. we should start getting checks in 3-4 months but they will back date it from where the system comes on. >> the first check will be between 24 and 2,500 dollars. >> would they have installed the allen brother solar shingle system without their fellow tax payer picking up the tab? >> no. without reet bait it wouldn't make any sense to do. >> they told us without these subsidies paying for the installation it wouldn't make any sense for them to do it. you agree with that? >> at this point. there's still a lot of work to do to get to the business to be sufficie self sufficient. >> they say they are creating jobs and that's what's good for

the country. >> get off the truck and put it in place to the contractors that hooked it up to the grid and even to the utility company that has to hire more personnel to inspect these solar systems. it's jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs , jobs. >> to spur on more success stories we have begun to reinvest our energy policy. >> the government money is key? >> it is what government should be doing. when you think go innovation through out history when the government gets behind it's a good thing. >> is it really always a gad 'n synk thomas edison never got low interest loans from the government or taxpayer funded rebates for its consumers. he probably would be stunned our next story. training programs for green jobs that don't exist.

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>> twoeld you about the government givingour money to solar energy companies. and then more of your money to people who buy their subsidized products. the goal, to create green jobs. and guess what? the government is also training workers to fill them. even if those jobs don't exist, at least not yet. >> screw driver. the module is going to catch right here. >> in 2010 the u.s. department of labor gave nearly $3 million of taxpayer money to the work force connection, a nonprofit organization that in partnership with the college of central florida set out to train the unemployed for new green jobs. >> solar panel installation, weatherzation, landscaping,

construction related skills. >> thomas rusty skinner is the ceo of the work force connection. >> those were all options that the participants coming into the program had. >> over the next 8 months work force connection awarded training certificates to 298 students. >> i learned to install solar panels and all about how we should be able to install these things and give power back to the power company. >> robert wilson who lost his job as a warehouse manager earned more than half a dozen green job certificates. >> it took me anywhere from 6 to maybe 7 months. i got installation and solar thermal installation. >> brian williams earned about a dozen certificates. it took him 8 months to do it. >> monday through friday 8-5 pretty much every day. >> neither wilson nor williams nor the vast majority of work

force connection graduates jgot the jobs they trained for. >> hard to look at your wife and say i didn't find a job today. >> work force connection tells us one reason their graduates couldn't grind jobs is that? 2010 the florida state legislature stopped writing rebate checks to homeowners and businesses who installed solar systems. florida taxpayers used to pay up to 50 percent of the cost of those panels when that subsidy vanished demand drastically dropped realizing the students were the geeing the jobs the program trained him for rusty skinnard decided to do something that may surprise you. more on that in a moment. first this man says what happened in owe calima, florida is happening around the country. it is costing the tax payer dearly. he used to be a high ranking department of labor official in the bush administration he went to work for one state's

community college system. we agreed to hide his identity so he could tell us how he pursued millions of dollars of federal grants to train students for green jobs he said didn't exist. >> what were the criteria? >> you had to identify a particular sector or fine data that showed where the jobs are. >> you are saying did you not see those jobs? >> that's correct. >> they weren't there? >> they were not there. grant writers would take a look at it. the data wasn't there to support the grant application. >> what did you tell your grant writers to do? >> toiled them to do t-- i told them to do the best they could making up the numbers. >> making them up? >> that's right. >> what did they do? >> they tried to figure out their angles to make the actual mainstream job to fit under a green job definition. >> were your efforts successful? did you get the funding?

>> the college i worked at was very successful and won many grants. >> how many? >> 5 or 6 green jobs grants. >> how much money are we talking about? >> probably around 10-12 million dollars. >> 10-12 million of your money. >> did you feel dirty doing it? >> no. the federal department of labor didn't have a definition of what a green job did. it was left completely up to us to decide what a green job was or wasn't? >> did other college doss the same thing? >> i think everybody is doing it. i think it is happening all across the country. >> if your college gets 10-12 million dollars it's a common practice you multiply that it starts to become real money. >> it's in the hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars. >> we received no response from the department of labor. we wanted to ask them of course about our whistleblower's allegation but also for any green job training success

stories. we wanted to ask them about the extraordinary story rusty skinnard of the work force connection told us. skinner says he wasn't willing to take the money and run. instead when he could not place the vast majority of green trainees in green jobs he called up the government and tried to return the tax payer's money. >> we are honest people. we are not going to spend your money just because we have got it. we are going to give the money back. we can't make this work. they said to us what will? >> he says the department of labor signed on to a proposal that would put green jobs on the back burner and work to get his grads any jobs at all. six months later robert wilson still does not have a job. green or otherwise. >> it's kind of hard getting training and the training is supposed to be for jobs supposed to be available out there. >> next it was thomas edison's prietest idea. it led to the creation of

general electric. a century later the green version means lights out for

>> in 1879 thomas edison patented the first commercially viable light bulb. it changed the world forever cre created millions of jobs and launched edison general electric, ge. can the government today create green jobs by banning edison's light bulb and forcing consumers to buy a more costly alternative? it's a burning question in winchester, virginia. >> for 35 years the general electric lamp plant in winchester virginia provided

hundreds of americans with good high paying jobs. >> when i first got hired on there were 900 plus plies. everybody wants add job. >> duane worked flaent for almost 14 years. >> i made $30 an hour. with the pay i was making it was two incomes basically. >> in other words, you were doing well. >> yeah, we were doing real good. >> doing real good until president george w. bush signed the energy independence and security act of 2007. (applause) >> the law in effect banned the incandescent light bulb gradually starting in january, 2012. the main idea was to reduce greenhouse gases. but one of the measures co-sponsors congressman fred upton said it would create jobs, too. the michigan republican wrote in a press release saying quote today's incandescent bulbs contain the bulbs thomas edison

created 120-years ago. this common sense by partisan approach partners with american industry to save energy as well as help foster the creation of new domestic manufacturing jobs. president obama predicted more jobs, too. when democrats beefed up the light bulb bill, a year and a half later. >> today we are announcing actions that will create jobs in the short run and save money and reduce emissions in the long run. >> within a month ge told winchester employees their jobs would be shipped to mexico. >> what was the reaction from workers when you were all told the plant was closing? >> it wasn't a good thing. it is never a good thing when you are told you are going to lose your job. >> ge held out one last reason for help the possibility of retrofitting the winchester factory to make new kind of b l bulbs that conformed to the nationally mandated requirements. >> they did test runs and

checked the marines to see if they could run them. >> in the end ge closed the plant even though ge employees offered to slash their wages and benefits to save their jobs. what did they tell you? >> we would have to work for nothing before they would think of considering it. >> to add insult to you ajury g offer to do keep some of the soon to be employunemployed on extra couple weeks only if they trained their mexican replacements to do their jobs. >> did you volunteer to go? >> no. to go down and train somebody to do now job when i am losing my job, i couldn't do it. >> one thing seems certain, however, if the light bulb ban does create new jobs, it looks as though it will create them overseas. >> whale it has shut down the virginia plant ge will consider manufacturing the compact fluorescent bulbs.

we made repeated interview requests to general electric to get their side of the story. they declined our offer. >> what do you think the lesson is to be learned here? >> congress should understand that passing such legislation has unintended consequences. >> texas republican ted poe has led the charge against the light bulb provision of the act. >> the other thing of consequence are that americans are out of work. >> what do you say to people out there it has to do something as a nation to conserve energy? >> we have to give americans a choice when it comes to energy efficiency the federal government saying you shall go to green energy because there's not going to be an alternative is not the way to proceed. >> last july poe along with majority of republica colleagues voted to appeal the ban but it allowed democrats to sustain it.

>> among those voting for the repeal one of the ban's proponents congressman fred upton. he wouldn't talk to us on camera about his change of mind but in a statement to fox news he says quote it was never my goal for washington to decide what kind of light bulbs they should use. he says he and republican colleagues will keep pushing to repeal the ban. >> how would you feel if the bill was repeal snd>> it will be a slap in the face. if i could step up in front of congress or whoever passed the bill or go off one it would. they would put me in cuffs and put me in the car. >> in an effort to move the united states to green energy needs to understand there are consequences for legislation. this legislation affected real people. >> you think those jobs are gone forever? >> i think those jobs for those 200 people in virginia are gone. they are not coming back to the

united states. >> simple fact is they cost me my job. >> president barack obama is betting big on green jobs. consider this. when he visits the company outside washington chances are it has a green connection and a federal subsidy. leads to one innovation thomas edison could never quite make work. president obama thinks he can with a lot of your money. know what it is? we will show you after the you go next if you had a hoveround power chair? the statue of liberty? the grand canyon? it's all possible with a hoveround. tom: hi i'm tom kruse, inventor and founder of hoveround. when we say you're free to see the world, we mean it. call today and get a free hoveround information kit that includes a video and full color brochure. dennis celorie: "it's by far the best chair i've ever owned." terri: "last year, 9 out of 10 people got their hoveround for little or no money."

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get you back to fox news reporting green jobs, help wanted. >> this is thomas edison's chemistry lab. here in the 1900s edison tried to develop a battery to make electric cars commercially viable. he never succeeded. his version didn't run long enough, didn't power a car to run fast enough and gasoline was a lot cheaper fuel.

would a couple hundred million dollars from taxpayers help? we will find out soon. the electric automobile could be the key to barack obama's green jobs future or a disastrous nonstarter. >> hello everybody. i am speaking to you from the gm auto plant in detroit, michigan. they are hard at work building the high quality fuel efficient cars of tomorrow. cars like the plug in hybrid chevy volt that can run 40 miles without taking a sip of gasoline. >> to build the gm cars of tomorrow president po bam ma says taxpayers must help pay the salaries of gm workers today. >> oh oo it is super exciting to be a part of this. >> he tests the cells in baur michigan. >> to be a part of the ground breaking technology is a great experience. >> norton is one of 4,000 workers building the volt in

america. >> how much taxpayer money through the federal government went into the volt program to gm? >> this is very much a gm funded effort. >> mare bee bette is director of environmental and regulatory affairs. >> we are delighted we pay contributions in key areas. >> 200 million? >> around 200 million. >> start with around 200 million or more precisely a $240 million grant from the department of energy in 2009. then there's the $150 million in tax payer's money for a company in korea that makes the volts batteries. even with those sub citisidies volt sticker price is around 40,000 dollars compare that to 17,000 dollars for the chevy cruze. essentially the same car with a gasoline engine to help volt booirs to absorb the cityistick shock they give more subsidys in the showroom.

each can get up to $7,500 in tax payer funded rebates. >> do you think there would be a demand for this car if there wasn't the offer of the rebate? >> it is an incentive. >> how much of an incentive is debatable. since it's roll out gm which also received a $51 billion tax payer bail jut in 2009 sold almost 2 million cars. fewer than 4,000 of them have been volts. >> can the market make the car succeed without the federal subsidy? >> i think so. i really do. i think the subsidy is necessary for the early market introduction. i would also say in long-term the goal is to be self sustaining. >> the notion that the car is going to catch on and it won't need incentive is cred ue lus. >> people know what is out there with this volt but they are not

buying it. the notion that the government has figured out how to deliver product that consumers want better than markets is prevalent in washington. >> a million electric vehicles on the road by 2050. >> the chevy volt isn't the only electric car president obama puts behind. welcome to december law motors. -- tesla motors. >> they built a line of cars with a real cache among the rich and famous. >> government intervention has had a great effect on 450i job. >> he has the engineering tesla vehicle group. >> hoping to stimulate the need for this technology driving it forward. >> nearly $500 million of government intervention. that's how much u.s. taxpayers loaned tesla founded by internet mogul he lan moss. >> why do you think he needed tax payer money at all? >> let me remind you it's a loan. >> we wanted to introduce you to

moss who sold out donations of nearly 100,000 dollars of 2010 alone. the vast majority of which went to democratic candidates. tesla offered up the vice president of communications ricardo raez. >> tesla's all electric roadster starting price 109,000 dollars. >> you had some high profile leb britts buy them. george clooney, matt damon. that had to help. >> we try to respect the privacy of our owner, you said it not knee. >> people love the car. we have folks who have driven ferraris lamborghini and porsches their whole lives and this is their favorite. we hope to do that with a less expensive model. >> the model s is technically what tesla got government subsidies to build. it will start at 155,000 dollars that's before taxpayers kick in

even more cash in the showroom. >> what is the rebate? >> it is an>> all: terne tiff energy vehicle. 7500 that's a separate program. >> that is still tax payer generated. >> it's further incentive for folks to come in thand try a ca that is pretty much new on the scene. >> he had a think tank is generally against government subsidies but says tesla is different. >> how would you respond to somebody who said the government shunlt be in the business of picking winners and losers? >> i agree. when you are going into an industry that has no market potential so they need to be propped up with tax payer funding makes no sense. but they backed somebody well on their way. coming up, high speed rail and green joabs. is america on the right track? fox news reporting continues after the break.

>> this place is equipped to build everything from a lady's watch to a locomotive. >> in fact the electric railway that runs nearby was one of edison's last big enterprises. he went on-line in 1931 just before he died. millions of new jersey commuters still depend on him.

>> for president obama it's now about high speed rail. he says it will create more green jobs and he wants federal and state governments to spend billions on it. >> democrats and republicans have already agreed to cut spending by about a trillion dollars over the next decade. >> during his battles with republicans over the nation until debt the obama administration offered to cut trillions from the federal budgets social security medicare medicaid. >> rail, rail, rail, rail. >> spy spe high speed rail. >> we have 13 million for high speed rail. >> they have 84 mile line in florida. $810 million to start construction on another in wisconsin. and for california, billions more. >> right now it's around

$45 billion. >> california congressman devon n nuniez is a 4 term republican. >> who is paying for this? >> right now the federal tax payer is going to pay for it but the remainder of the money will have to be made up by californians which if anybody has paid attention california is also broke. >> he opposes the project. that hasn't necessarily been easy. his con at this tistituents suf much as any. the planned rail line from san diego to the bay area through the district. weighing down will create hundreds of thousands of temporary construction jobs. he points out it's a bit of a stretch to call those jobs green. >> any time you are using concrete and bulldozers it's a new job. >> we believe any job is a green

job. >> kurt pringle is the former chairman of the callal high speed rail authority the organization charged with developing the state's high speed rail system. he says every job is a green job because once the high speed rail is up and running, co2 emissions will drop by as much as 12 blol poun billion pounds per year. that assumes 117 million people a year will ride california's high speed trains. that's about 40 times more than the number of riders on amtrak high speed which runs from boston to new york to washington, d.c. a more densely populated corridor. >> you can't find any credible economist that isn't being paid for by one side or the other who will show you how this will work. >> not one? >> not one. a trio of gop governors scott walker of wisconsin, john kasich of ohio and rick scott of

florida already sent back a combined $3.6 billion in federal high speed rail grants. they had been set aside for their states. >> these projects always go over in cost always lose money. >> governor scott says the project is way too risky for his state. >> wisconsin governor walker feels the same way. >> to me it's a waste of money. >> he wishes he could make that call for california. >> what would you do with the billions of billions of dollars the administration has set aside? >> is this ever going to get off the ground? >> look, i mean there's $8 billion sitting there right now. they will construct something. >> and soon. construction crews are scheduled to break ground in 2012. >> coming up the president saw

spain as his green jobs inspiration. was he taken for a ride? after the break. [ male announcer ] when men don't choose what's right for their face, they can end up with shaving irritation. ♪ get gillette irritation defense shave gel and gillette fusion proglide razor to help defend against five signs of shaving irritation. ♪ try gillette fusion proglide and the irritation defense line. help defend your skin. ♪

>> it was prap the most important development in the industrialized world a large scale generation of electric power distib butted -- distributed to homes factories across cities, states, countries. image how many jobs that created. yes, we owe much of it to thomas edison who built the first commercial power station not far from here in new york city. can barack obama change the world with green energy? is another country has already tried. >> think about what is happening in countries like spain.

>> there is a model for president obama's plan to transform america's economy. >> spain. >> spain. >> what spain is doing -- >> it is true spain was the world's leader in the effort to build a green economy with the help of massive spublic sub citisid des. he sold it to the public saying it would create much needed jobs. then they claim it was working. but this man says it was nothing but lies. >> gabrielle cal zon is a spanish economic professor who offered a study on impact of spain's green energy policies on its economy. he found for every new green job created spain lost 2.2 nongreen jobs. and calzoda challenged president obama's belief that renew ability energy can create millions of additional jobs. calzada concluded spain's

experience proved obama's theory was flat out wrong. >> i tried to warn the experience of spain is sort of caution mare -- cautionary tale. >> a tale obama dismissed. robert gibbs tells wendell goaler that spain's green technology needs to work otherwise the u.s. wouldn't be buying so much of it. >> he warned the president not to try to follow spain's example. >> seems weird we are importing wind turbine parts from spain in order to build to meet renewable energy demand here if that were even remotely the case. >> is that a suggestion his study is simply flat wrong? >> i haven't read the study, but i think, yeah frments . >> in august of 2009 the laboratory of the doe issued this response to calzada.

energy policy has been a politically charged subject. while concluding that calzada's calculations of the precise numbers of jobs lost were flawed. >> when you don't like the message you shoot the messenger. >> at the time he was ranking member of the select committee for energy independence and global warming. >> in your opinion what was the point of the obama administration's rebuttal? >> it den grates the credentials and scientific study that professor calzada did. >> no doubt? >> not at all. >> in september 2009 brenner invited calzada to testify to the committee. he repeated his warning subsidizing renewable green energy does not provide more jobs. >> i am sure spain has a lot of economic good things to show your country but this policy related to renewable

specifically is not one of them. >> democrats in turn hammered him with the department of energy report. >> they have concluded that your research was not necessarily the gold standard on evaluating this issue. we will be following your conclusions and moving forward with this. >> as the obama administration was rejecting his findings his own government was concluding he was right. in february, 2011 spain severely curtailed green economy subsidies. >> we were creating more debt. the spanish government was on the verge of collapse because of this system. >> has the president stopped referencing spain? >> of course he stopped referencing spain. spain is an economic basket case. the reason this hasn't caught on is because it's much more expensive to generate this kind of electricity when you put it all in the capital and the

subsidy. >> here's the administration argument the market won't be established without some help from the government. they say give it a bump let the market establish itself then it takes off. >> how many bumps do they need? >> which brings us back to the solyndra saga. they voted to end the department of energy program that issued loan guarantees to solyndra and other green companies. >> that turned friday's hearings into something more than inquiry into one bankrupt company and one disastrous loan. >> i think it is important we don't throw the baby out with the bath water. >> both sides agreed their work was a long way from being over. >> as the hearing showed we are not done. >> the green jobs story isn't simply about a bad investment here a beltway scandal there. it is about the role of government and the use of public dollars to influence private

markets. president obama is committed to spending your money to boost industries and technologies that have not gained traction on their own. he says that america's financial future depends on it. and the planet, too. his critics believe that no group of white house advisors or government bureaucrats no matter how smart or enlightened can create real self sustaining jobs. they say when government second-guesses the wisdom of 300 million americans in the marketplace it leads to groene capitalism at best and economic disaster at worse. as the debate continues, so does the spending. neither can go on much longer. that's our program. i am bret baier. thanks for watching.