Taypayer Handouts and Ripoffs

Stimulus Creating Green Jobs Abroad, Does Nothing for Energy Independence

February 10, 2010

Washington Examiner - Despite claims that stimulus funding would (a) reduce energy dependence on other countries, and (b) create jobs domestically, taxpayer dollars to support the renewable energy industry have instead gone overseas.

According to the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, more than 80 percent of the first $1 billion in grants to wind energy companies went to foreign firms:

Since then, the administration has stopped making announcements of new grants to wind, solar and geothermal companies, but has handed out another $1 billion, bringing the total given out to $2.1 billion and the total that went to companies based overseas to more than 79 percent.

In fact, the largest grant made under the program so far, a $178 million payment on Dec. 29, went to Babcock & Brown, a bankrupt Australian company that built a Texas wind farm using turbines made by a Japanese company.

In fact, a new deal announced the same day as this report would give Chinese officials $450 million in stimulus grants to export Chinese turbines to a wind farm in Texas. "Dozens of jobs" would be created in the U.S. For China? "Thousands."

This report undermines the very justification for spending billions of taxpayer dollars on what was billed as a surefire way to kickstart the "Green Revolution." So much for that.