Green Jobs Mirage

The Department of Energy has spent just 7 percent of the $37 billion it received from the stimulus for clean-energy subsidies, and already the Obama administration is pushing for another billion-dollar bailout for "green" industries. Last week in Georgia, the president unveiled a $6 billion "cash for caulkers" program, which would defray the cost of energy-efficiency retrofits in homes and businesses. He said the program is a good idea because these "green jobs" can't be outsourced. To illustrate his point, Mr. Obama claimed, "It's very hard to ship windows from China." It's not as hard as the president thinks. With a simple Google search, I quickly found the Guang Zhou Hans Building Materials Technology Co. Ltd., Zhongshan Good Life Sun Sheet Co. Ltd. and Zehao Windows Manufactory Ltd., all of which export energy-efficient windows for the international market. This wouldn't be the first time the Obama administration used taxpayer money to send green jobs overseas. According to a recent report from the American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop, 1,219 of the 1,807 wind turbines funded by the stimulus were manufactured in foreign countries. The report prompted four Democratic senators to send a letter last week to the Obama administration demanding a cessation of the wind-energy grants. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing Thursday to investigate the slow pace of stimulus spending on green energy. Patricia Denton, testifying on behalf the Government Accountability Office, told the senators that the backlog in DOE's environmental outlays was caused by - wait for it - environmental regulations...read more