Schumer: No stimulus money for US-China wind farm
WASHINGTON -- A Democratic senator is calling on the Obama administration to reject an expected request for economic stimulus money for a $1.5 billion West Texas wind energy project.
The joint venture between U.S. and Chinese energy companies will be financed largely by China's export-import bank.
But Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says the project organizers reportedly are planning to ask for 30 percent financing -- or $450 million -- from the federal stimulus program designed to produce U.S. jobs.
Yet, all of the 240 wind turbines on 36,000 acres in West Texas will be made in a plant in China, producing Chinese jobs. So, Schumer is writing Energy Secretary Steven Chu, urging the administration to reject a request for a federal grant should one arrive.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
