Lawmakers Urge Immediate Suspension Of Wind Energy Grant Program
3 March 2010
By Corey Boles, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A group of Democratic senators are calling on the Obama administration to suspend a wind energy grant program until Congress can act to amend it to ensure all future grant money handed out helps create U.S. jobs.
Led by Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.), the senators said they were furious that the Department of Energy hasn't acted to address concerns raised by the lawmakers regarding the program last November.
The lawmakers' ire is directed at a $1.5 billion wind energy project in West Texas they said is seeking to receive $450 million in stimulus funds, even though they said the vast majority of jobs created by the project were in China, where the wind energy turbines have been manufactured.
"Almost all of the jobs will be created in China, not here in the U.S. where unemployment is hovering at 10%," Schumer said. "It is hard to believe. It is infuriating."
Schumer said the West Texas wind farm is a joint venture between Chinese company Shenyang Power Group, a Texas company called Cielo Wind Power and the U.S. Renewable Energy Group.
Representatives of the companies weren't immediately available to comment for this article.
The wind energy grant program was created by last year's $787 billion economic stimulus plan, one of several initiatives in the program aimed at boosting growth in U.S. production of renewable energy capacity.
The lawmakers wrote to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Tuesday urging him to suspend all grant payments made through the program until the "loophole" can be closed.
They said that $2 billion of the $3 billion allocated to the program has been spent, and 79% of the jobs created through it had benefited overseas workers.
They introduced legislation that would state that all taxpayer money awarded through the wind energy grants could only be allocated to companies that intend to use funds to create U.S. jobs.
It would also extend so-called "Buy America" rules to private firms seeking stimulus dollars. The current language in the recovery act says that any public sector projects have to source all basic building materials from U.S. companies but it doesn't apply to private companies.
Schumer said that when he first raised the matter with the Department of Energy in November, they informed him they had no choice but to provide grants to firms that met the criteria as the law doesn't specifically limit the program to companies that would create American jobs.
Spokespeople for the Departments of Energy or the Treasury weren't immediately available to comment for this article.
The letter was signed by Schumer, and Sens. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio), Bob Casey (D., Penn.) and Jon Tester (D., Mont.). All four back the legislation introduced.
The lawmakers, like every other Senate Democrat, voted in favor of the stimulus plan when it was narrowly passed last February. Casey said Wednesday that despite this, Democrats needed to be honest about the places where the recovery plan isn't working.
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