Story Published:
Nov 1, 2011 at 12:37 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Nov 1, 2011 at 12:37 PM CDT
* Shades of Solyndra. Surely most recognize that name. I'll deal with them further down in the article. But, right here in Tennessee a truck stop in East Tennessee went bankrupt after receiving a $424K Federal stimulus grant administered through the Tennessee Department of Transportation. So, it hits close to home.
* Now for Solyndra. Did you know that even more Federal loans have been approved by the Energy Department? They ttotal almost $5B. Thaat's 5000 million! Does anybody smell a rat here? Already $528M has gone down the drain. Kaput. Now They want to develop a wind farm in Oregon, solar power farms in California and Nevada and solar panels on 750 rooftops in 28 states.
* The biofuel scam moved on again here in Tennessee. U.T. scientists got a $15M grant to improve biofuel. This time the money will come from the U. S. Department of Agriculture. They want to study switchgrass and trees into biofuels. The total amount of Federal money will be $136M and will go to other teams to try to replace our depenndence on Foreign oil. How about we drill for our own oil? Look what's happening in North Dakota on the Bakken oil fields. North Dakota has an unemployment rate of about 3%.
* The Obama Adminisration wants to add about 400 animal and plant species to the endangered list. More critters on the endangered species list means more roadblocks to development. For example: The snaildarter that caused construction of the Columbia Dam in Maury County comes to mind. The environmentalists must be salivating over the possibilities!
* Metro will offer free parking to people who buy a green sticker and who buy carbon offsets to balance their car emissions.
Do those green parking permits expire after each year? As I understood from the story, the permit costs $10 yet the cost for carbon offsets is between $30 to $70 per year. Who do you pay the fee for the offsets to? At a maximum of $10 for offsets plus $70 for the pemit is a total of $80. A person could buy a lot of parking time. It's capitalizing on guilt. No wonder only $360 has been collected. People recognize a scam when they see one. Does the money for the carbon offsets go to Al?
