While discussing Oregon's recent political scandal, conservative media are reviving their favorite renewable energy bogeyman - the solar panel manufacturer Solyndra -- to push the false narrative that the clean energy industry is an economic failure that is widely infected with “crony capitalism.” Contrary to these claims, Solyndra was never a scandal, and renewable energy sources are increasingly cost-competitive with fossil fuels -- despite historically receiving far less in government subsidies.

When former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber announced he would resign due to the controversy surrounding undisclosed consulting fees his fiancée received while advising him on energy policies, conservative media were quick to compare the controversy to the government loan guarantee and bankruptcy of solar firm Solyndra. As Politico recently explained, the conservative strategy is to use the Kitzhaber scandal as “ammunition” against Democrats and environmentalists who they claim “have propped up failed clean-energy projects” and provided government aid that “ends up financially benefiting only the politically connected companies lobbying for it.”  Bloomberg News similarly stated that whether or not it is accurate, "[t]he argument being made is that clean energy lobbying is a way for Democrats to get rich."

That's exactly what we've seen in the conservative media. The Washington Times claimed the Oregon scandal once again brings to light “the failures of taxpayer-funded green energy companies such as Solyndra that had political ties to party bigwigs.” The National Review Online linked the situation in Oregon to Solyndra and what it claimed were other “green-energy scandals that piled up during [the Obama administration's] first term.” The Daily Caller alleged that in the case of both the Kitzhaber scandal and Solyndra, “government supported green energy programs based on political connections.” And Fox News also highlighted Solyndra while discussing the Oregon controversy -- twice.

But the simple truth is that the Solyndra episode was never a scandal, a fact that has been proven time and time again. The solar energy firm, which received a federal loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, filed for bankruptcy as a result of plummeting prices for solar panels, as detailed by Greenwire, among others. Conservative media responded by pushing baseless claims that Solyndra used unethical influence in the Obama administration to receive its loan, but an extensive investigation by House Republicans turned up no evidence of wrongdoing.

In addition to pushing the cronyism charge, conservative media have also used the Oregon scandal as an opportunity to broadly claim that renewable energy is not economically viable in the marketplace. For example, National Review Online purported that these sources of energy can't “survive in the marketplace without giant subsidies or special tax favors.” During an interview on WSJ Live, Competitive Enterprise Institute's Myron Ebell similarly claimed that “wind and solar and ethanol really cannot survive without handouts from government.”

But the reality is that wind and solar power have become increasingly cost-competitive with fossil fuels -- and are actually cheaper than coal and natural gas in some markets -- despite having received far less in government subsidies over the years.