Make SunEdison’s taxpayer tab $4.59 million

California Watchdog.org cites CEI's William Yeatman on government subsidies of renewable energy company SunEdison.

Two weeks ago, Watchdog.org reported that SunEdison, which bills itself as the world’s largest global renewable energy development company, had received at least $2.84 million in taxpayer money from the the federal government.

But a deeper look from the U.S. Department of Energy shows the company that has been going through financial difficulties has received $4.59 million.

“It’s been on multiple fronts where they’ve been favored by government subsidies,” said William Yeatman, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an organization that calls for free-market solutions to energy and environmental issues.

“This is the inherent danger, the inherent uncertainty, of any industry which fundamentally the success of their industry is based on preferential treatment from politicians,” Yeatman said in a recent interview.