President Donald Trump recently made it clear that he is fed up with Spain. After Spain refused to stand firmly with the United States and Israel against Iran and continued to fall short of its NATO commitments, President Trump said he wanted “nothing to do with Spain,” and called for cutting off trade.
Most Americans saw those headlines as another foreign policy dispute.
But I immediately thought of Spain’s participation in one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated against the American taxpayer. And the outrage that Spain has never paid us back.
At issue is the Crescent Dunes solar project outside Tonopah, Nevada. President Barack Obama and former Sen. Harry Reid (D., Nev.) sold the project as a breakthrough. More than $1 billion in public and private financing flowed into Crescent Dunes, including a $737 million federal loan guarantee and a $275 million Treasury grant. Taxpayers were promised jobs, innovation, and a stronger energy future.
ACS Cobra, a subsidiary of Spain’s largest construction company, served as the principal contractor. Even Spain’s largest bank, Banco Santander, took a stake.
But the plant never really worked right. After years of delays, equipment failures, and shutdowns, the project ultimately entered bankruptcy. ACS had designed a molten salt storage tank that leaked and crippled the facility. The Spaniards kept their federal windfall, but taxpayers and private investors like me were left holding the bag.
The story did not end there.
We fought back on behalf of all of us and filed what’s called a Qui Tam lawsuit against ACS to claw back hundreds of millions for the U.S. taxpayer. Our case was making progress until the Biden administration decided to shut down the suit — likely to cover up the details of what happened during the Obama years to get ACS a $275 million Treasury grant for a solar plan that didn’t work.
In November 2024, the Biden Justice Department moved to dismiss the lawsuit just as President Trump was winning the 2024 election. The Justice Department notified attorneys on Election Night that it intended to intervene. The following day, it asked the court to dismiss the case.
Here we are in 2026, ACS is about to complete its second bankruptcy proceeding selling the plant for relative pennies without taxpayers getting repaid. It’s the biggest fraud since Solyndra and no one is doing anything about it.
Meanwhile ACS keeps milking the taxpayer for more. In 2023, the U.S. Navy awarded a joint venture led by another ACS subsidiary a $2.84 billion contract to replace Dry Dock 3 at Pearl Harbor. Other contracts may be under way as well.
President Trump’s concerns about Spain make that question even more relevant.
If Spain is unwilling to stand with the United States and act as a dependable ally, why should Spanish companies continue to receive billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded contracts? And why wouldn’t President Trump use every tool at his disposal to force ACS — and maybe even Banco Santander — to pay every penny back to public and private investors?
The Trump administration should take a fresh look at Crescent Dunes, the Biden Justice Department’s Election Night decision to seek dismissal of the lawsuit, and the major federal contracts awarded to companies connected to the project.
If a country refuses to stand with America on the world stage, its companies should not keep profiting from America’s infrastructure or military readiness.
President Trump is right to question Spain. It is time to stop paying billions in taxpayer money to ACS to benefit Spain. It’s time to make ACS pay and hold Spain accountable.
Pat Hogan, president of CMB Export, LLC, was a leading private investor in the Crescent Dunes solar project. After the project failed, he launched legal efforts to reclaim taxpayer money and remains a vocal advocate for government accountability in its aftermath.
