Most Treasury wind cash goes to European-led projects

More than two-thirds of stimulus-funded wind farm grants have gone to projects developed by European companies, a Reuters analysis says. Overseas-controlled developers such as Iberdola Renewables and Horizon Wind Energy, owned by Portugal’s EDP, won $1.06 billion of the $1.5 billion in grants distributed by the U.S. Treasury’s investment tax credit (ITC) program for wind development. The ITC can be taken as a cash grant for projects that start construction in 2009 or 2010 and complete before 2013.

I’ve done a bit of analysis on this and found that the largest single recipient so far is the Pyron wind farm in west Texas, developed by a subsidiary of German power and gas company E.On, with just shy of $122 million. This 2009 expansion to the Roscoe wind facility adds another 249 MW to the state that leads the nation in installed wind capacity.

European developers have accounted for a lot of U.S. wind growth of late – but will they lose ground to homegrown competitors? My research into planned installations for 2009-2012 shows that four of the top five developers, by megawatts planned, are actually U.S.-based. These four account for close to 5,000 MW.

If you and your readers would like to learn more about planned U.S. wind installations,  talk to me about commissioning an article.

Obama outlines stimulus 2.0

President Obama has outlined proposals for the so-called Stimulus 2.0 – measures intended to jump-start the economy, beyond the $787 billion already allocated by Congress.

The measures include:

• Small business tax cuts
• Energy efficiency rebates dubbed “cash for caulkers”
• Extending unemployment and health insurance benefits for 15 million out-of-work Americans

A White House official also told the Washington Post that the administration is considering an extra $50 billion for roads, bridges and other infrastructure, to be spent over the next year – but didn’t say where the money would come from.

The Associated Press said that although Obama hadn’t specified a cost for these measures, the price tag was “sure to be at least tens of billions of dollars”. The administration says its measures can be funded by $200 billion in repaid bank-bailout money, which the Treasury Department says it will earn back earlier than expected.

(The above AP article is otherwise appallingly thin, which I suspect is the fault of slash-and-burn editing at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Gee, don’t you think readers want to know what the proposed measures actually are?)

The proposal restores tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure spending that was cut from the original stimulus bill in favor of tax cuts, according to a Washington Post opinion piece.

Today’s stimulus news: November 19

A government audit agency will today call for clearer guidance on reporting the use of stimulus funds, the Washington Post says. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study will say that almost 4,000 organizations that have yet to receive their stimulus funding nonetheless reported creating or saving more than 58,000 jobs with the non- funds.

The GAO will also say that the government has only reviewed 75 percent of the quarterly reports by stimulus recipients.

On The Daily Show, vice president Joe Biden admitted that some recipients had listed themselves as working in non-existent congressional districts. But he said only 70 recipients out of 140,000 made that mistake (see below). In fact, a Biden spokesman later told ABC, the veep misspoke – he should have said 700.

The Associated Press carries a good analysis of the phantom district issue, which boils down to this: since you can easily see the name of each recipient on Recovery.gov, along with the city and state where it is located, congressional districts are pretty much a phantom issue.

more about “Video: Joe Biden Pt. 1 | The Daily Sh…“, posted with vodpod

PublicWorksWatch in San Francisco

We’re out gathering ideas and making contacts at the Urban Land Institute fall conference in San Francisco. New posts when we return!

Today’s stimulus news: October 30

The economy grew during the summer, for the first time in more than a year. Many news outlets, including the Associated Press and Wall Street Journal, agree that a large part of the 3.5 percent growth can be attributed to the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package. “More than one percentage point of GDP growth in the third quarter came from car sales, driven in a large part by the temporary ‘cash for clunkers’ program,” the WSJ said.

Home building contributed another half a percentage point, reflecting a first-time home buyers’ tax credit and government efforts to lower mortgage rates, the WSJ said. A Senate plan proposes extending the tax credits to April 30, 2010, from their current expiration date of November 30. The plan would also extend the credit to existing home owners.

About 650,000 jobs have been saved or created under the plan, the White House said today as it prepared to release the second of October’s two reports on how stimulus cash has been spent. The first report this month said 30,383 jobs had been saved or created.

The AP explains that the first report contained data on direct spending by federal agencies, while the second report details grants.

NPR.org says critics are taking issue with the latest numbers, and now the AP is saying that the earlier report got it wrong – that one in six “jobs” was reported in error. Some employees were double-counted and some companies reported that jobs were created when money was actually spent on buying equipment or giving staff raises. A Georgia community college, for example, reported creating 280 jobs with stimulus spending – but actually created none.

The AP must have done their job right, because now White House spokesman Robert Gibbs is admitting,“We’re talking about 4,000, or a 5,000 error.”

Reporting errors mar stimulus tracking

We’re currently poring over the wealth of stimulus spending data published yesterday on Recovery.gov, to bring you some exciting investigative journalism – as long as mistakes in the data aren’t too pervasive.

Getting to work on this, we were simultaneously alarmed and entertained to read about major reporting errors on the site, such as this goof (below – click to see bigger) that makes it look like a French pharmaceutical company won the biggest contract at $1.4 billion. Nice work if you can get it… but the actual amount was a more modest $10.4 million.

A spokesman for the Recovery Board said, “We anticipated errors in the reporting, and so informed many reporters beforehand.”

Top stimulus contractors - c'est beaucoup d'escargot!

Stimulus round-up: October 14, 2009

Thursday’s report by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board will cover $143 billion of funding, or about 18 percent of the total stimulus package, Reuters says. That’s partially because stimulus funding is spread over two years, but also reflects a limitation in the report’s remit: the study will focus on projects funded through the Department of Energy and General Services Administration. Over the stimulus package’s lifespan, these reports will only cover $276 billion, or 35 percent of the package.

“Whatever jobs figures come out will also undoubtedly be a tiny sliver of the Recovery Act’s total job impact,” said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a non-profit that monitors the federal budget.

Thursday’s report, together with one later in the month, will include information on:

• Spending in each state
• Top executives in companies affiliated with stimulus work
• Employment figures
• How far projects have progressed
• Vendors used

More local papers have reported on their state’s figures ahead of the report launch. Notably:

New Mexico: More than 8,600 teachers, construction workers and police officers kept their jobs or found new ones because of stimulus spending. Projects have included airport improvements, new roads, energy-efficient traffic lights and money for teachers’ aides. But “it wasn’t immediately clear how many jobs were saved and how many are new,” New Mexican reporter Kate Nash said.

Wisconsin: The state used nearly $680 million in stimulus funds to save or create 8,284 full-time jobs in Wisconsin, the Business Journal of Milwaukee says.

Ohio: The state has spent $1.6 billion of its $8.5 billion stimulus cash, creating or saving 13,144 full-time jobs.

Finally, at least six states – including Georgia, Texas, Virginia, Florida and New York – have refused to erect signs informing drivers when road projects have been funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the New York Times says. Some politicians have complained that such signs smack of political self-interest, while others say they’re just a waste of money.

In Georgia the signs cost an average of $1,200 each. With two signs per project and 119 construction contracts awarded through September, that’s $285,600 saved. I calculate that’s enough to pay for six new jobs at Georgia’s average wage.

But the Department of Transportation’s director for public affairs, Jill Zuckman, argues, “We think the signs promote transparency and accountability — so taxpayers can know where their money is being spent and on what.”

My take: if the stimulus creates recognizable improvements to states’ economies and infrastructure, and if more stimulus measures are required, then signs could bolster public support for politicians who back further stimulus funding, and this could eventually lead to increased job creation. That would justify money being spent on signs instead of jobs in the short term. But that’s a lot of “if”s. Georgia and its ilk probably have the right idea.

Stimulus round-up: October 13, 2009

The Associated Press previews a breakdown of stimulus spending to be released this month by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, an independent panel set up by Congress. Public school teachers appear to be the biggest beneficiaries of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, with stimulus spending saving tens of thousands of teaching jobs, the AP reports. Construction companies will also report “strong numbers”.

State officials worked long hours to meet the board’s Saturday reporting deadline, the AP says. But some states are still collating or reviewing their data. Vermont’s top recovery officer, Tom Evslin, told the news service, “I don’t want to give you data and have it change as it gets corrected.”

Other states have been more forthcoming, and local papers have reported their findings:

Minnesota: State officials say the stimulus has directly preserved or created 11,800 jobs. The state has spent $1.6 billion of its $4.7 billion in stimulus cash. Projects include bridge repairs, dishwashers for a school district, a new counter-terrorism transit police force, rebates for energy-efficient appliances, services for the blind and building projects at military sites.

Michigan: About $9.3 billion of stimulus money has been allocated to state and local governments, schools and agencies, including $2.7 billion to education, $1.8 billion to energy and $1.6 billion to infrastructure.

North Dakota: The state will spend $571 million in stimulus cash over two years. About $170 million is going to road construction and repairs, $25 million to weatherize homes and $12 million for a water treatment plant.

The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board will release two instalments of jobs data. This Thursday it will publish data on direct spending by federal agencies. Later this month, it will release figures on grants.

Finally, in California, governor Arnold Schwarzenegger repealed a law prohibiting student achievement on standardized tests from being used to evaluate teachers and principals. That law had blocked the state from bidding for the $4.3 billion, stimulus-funded Race to the Top program. (Similar rules in Nevada bar that state from competing for the grant.)

But California has more obstacles to overcome before it can bid for the cash. The state must give parents more freedom of school choice, repeal a cap on the number of charter schools and push districts to come up with “bold turnaround strategies” at the lowest-performing schools, the (Riverside) Press-Enterprise says.

Some educators balked at the proposed changes, given that any money won from Race to the Top would not begin to replace the $4.5 billion California has cut from its educational system this year.

Stimulus round-up: October 12, 2009

Nevada is ineligible for a $4.3 billion stimulus fund for education because of a law pushed by a teachers’ union, Reno’s KTVN News reports.  The law bars the state from using student achievement data in teacher evaluations. The state superintendent said Nevada won’t apply for the first round of funding, but may be able to resolve the issue in time for the second round.

Indiana governor Mitch Daniels says he can’t yet see evidence that the stimulus is working. “I personally wouldn’t try to tell a taxpayer that this had any effect that I can see on the economy or let alone that there is some specific number of jobs attached to it,” he said. Daniels also said he didn’t believe the data showing that Indiana’s unemployment rate dropped from 10.6 percent in July to 9.9 percent in August.

The government has received $28 billion in requests for the first $4 billion tranche of stimulus spending on high-speed internet connections. The money can pay for broadband, wireless networks and computer labs. Total stimulus spending on such initiatives will reach $7.2 billion.

About 5% of Massachusetts’ stimulus spending will go to infrastructure. Almost a third of the state’s $17.7 billion allotment will be spent on resident tax relief, 31% on workforce training, education and energy efficiency, and 20% to help plug the state budget gap.

And finally… Shenandoah National Park will receive about $30 million in stimulus funding.

Stimulus round-up: October 9, 2009

The proposed stimulus “extensions” keep piling up, with latest offerings including extra payments to Social Security recipients, in place of cost-of-living increases. House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she is also contemplating a Republican proposal that would allow companies to use losses to get refunds of taxes paid in the preceding five years, rather than two years as is usually the case. A similar proposal dropped from the first stimulus package cost $19.5 billion.

In the same piece, the Associated Press reports that senate Democrats Thursday agreed to extend unemployment benefits by an extra 14 weeks in every state, on top of a House vote to add 13 weeks in 27 states where the jobless rate is 8.5 percent or above.

A Washington county got “too good a deal” on a road project and will have to return $225,000 of stimulus money to the state. The West Side Highway in Cowlitz County was earlier estimated to cost $1.5 million, but bids came in at just under $1 million.

That’s all for now… Google-sphere a little quiet today.