It’s been interesting seeing signs of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act sprouting here and there. I recall seeing the first one months ago along a rural road. In the past, I saw those sorts of signs as helping us put aside the inconvenience we experience from road construction and make the connection that this is our money at work - and it is an investment in our future welfare.
But the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signs say all that and more. They add to what is included in our future welfare jobs for our neighbors. I’m certain the importance of getting that message out to give hope is not lost on our government. They may even be considering the importance of a tangible project - a useful project - being important for those who see the costs rising and seeing nothing much changing for the better.
Early this past week, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Energy Secretary Steven Chu held a press briefing about new renewable energy projects and huge investments – “$550 million in new awards through the Recovery Act's 1603 program, bringing the total to more than $1 billion awarded to date to companies committed to investing in domestic renewable energy production.”
Attracting investment for domestic projects. Large project developers allocate capital across many countries, and the 1603 program is attracting billions of dollars of additional capital towards projects in the US.
Project developers receiving awards through this program participated in today's meeting, including Ameresco, First Wind, Horizon Wind, and Sun Edison. Also participating were several renewables manufacturers who supply these developers, including Cardinal Fastener, GE Energy, Gamesa, Solyndra, and Vestas Americas.
The press release lists the states of the grantees along with their awards. The lucky states include 4 projects in California, 1 in Colorado, 1 in Florida, 1 in Hawai’i, 1 in Iowa, 2 in Minnesota, 2 in Missouri, 1 in North Carolina, 3 in New Jersey, 2 in Nevada, 1 in New York, 1 in South Dakota, 4 in Texas, and 1 in Vermont. In other words, a minority of states got half a billion dollars. So, what about the rest of us?
I thought it would be interesting to track something about the suppliers who attended the briefing to see if and how any of the award money will filter out to other states.
The press release listed: Cardinal Fastener, GE Energy, Gamesa, Solyndra, and Vestas Americas.
Cardinal Fastener is located in Cleveland, Ohio. They make fasteners that are used in a wide variety of industries, both old and new energy, including windmills.
GE Energy is a power division that includes products related to windpower. Wherever that money will flow is hard to say, since GE is a global company. http://www.ge.com/careers/
Gamesa, a Spanish maker of parts for windmills, started the new year with the news it was laying off workers from its Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania plant and moving the work to its Ebensberg, Pennsylvania plant. So add Pennsylvania to the list of states benefiting from this new money.
Solyndra is located in California, so it doesn’t add to the state count.
Vestas Americas is a global company with US sites located in a number of areas, including its head office is in Portland, Oregon and blades factories in Windsor and Brighton, Colorado and a Nacelles factory in Brighton, Colorado, plus a new tower manufacturing and a research center in the USA that is expected to be finished for 2010. So one more state, Oregon, added to the list.
Next time Geithner and Chu throw a press release, I suggest they put together a chart that really does show where that money will flow. People really need to know. People need hope and answers.
Given that Geithner and Chu have the information that can provide information, hope, and answers, there is no reason not to provide it to the public.
For some reason, the administration is missing the boat when it comes to drawing connections. Obviously, they are facing overwhelming problems on every level. But their work would be made easier if they would move this initiative up a notch or ten.
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