Energy Department ‘green’ project comes in at twice the estimated cost: report

The Energy Department’s latest biomass plant is seeing plenty of green — it’s environmentally friendly and it’s costing taxpayers a wad of money. The $65 million facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee could wind up costing double that amount — another $67 million — because of mistakes in its construction and operation, the Energy Department’s internal watchdog is warning. “The Oak Ridge Site Office had not ensured the construction site was suitable and the soil conditions had been properly analyzed prior to the initiation of a major construction project,” investigators for the department's inspector general's office said. The biomass-fueled steam plant burns wood chips from local sources and originally was projected to supply much of the site’s energy needs at a significant discount to fossil fuels. It wasn’t until after construction started that workers discovered that the building site was contaminated by high levels of oil and radioactive water, the IG's office said. Construction ground to a halt for nine months, and costs soared by $44 million while Oak Ridge tried to fix the problems. It wasn’t until later that investigators discovered that an independent engineering firm had performed an evaluation prior to construction and warned Oak Ridge about the potential problems — but the laboratory chose to ignore the assessment...more  

But we don't have enough money to fight forest fires.