The federal stimulus plan has been great for investing in clean energy projects—as long as you’re a foreign company. Almost $850 million, out of $1.05 billion in stimulus money, has been given to overseas renewable-energy businesses, some of which have spent American taxpayer dollars in their home countries to manufacture equipment later shipped to U.S. wind or solar farms. One Spanish utility, Iberdrola S.A., received $545 million through its American subsidiary. The federal legislation authorizing the expenditure of stimulus funds for renewable energy was so poorly written that it has allowed $800 million to go towards wind farms that were already producing electricity before they received the grants, according to a story by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Gone with the Wind: Blowing U.S. Tax Dollars Off Shore (United Steelworkers Union)

Overseas Firms Collecting Most Green Energy Money (by Russ Choma, Investigative Reporting Workshop)