Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday – Doomed Wind Turbines

Topline: In 2011, the Air Force made the wise decision to stop a wind turbine construction project at a station in Alaska after an audit found the turbines might never be usable. 

Wind turbines – throwing good money after bad

Unfortunately, the Air Force found an unwise way to use the unspent money: paying for cost overruns on two other turbine projects that were also potentially unusable.

That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses. 

Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn’t stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.   

Coburn’s Wastebook 2011 included 100 examples of outrageous spending worth nearly $7 billion, including the $14 million spent on shoddy turbines — which would be worth $20 million today.

Key facts: The project used funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to convert turbines into wind-powered generators at three research bases. The stimulus money was only allowed to be spent on “shovel-ready” construction projects that could begin immediately, which the turbines were not.

An October 2011 report from the Department of Defense’s inspector general found that the Pentagon “did not ensure that the three wind turbine projects … were adequately planned. As a result, DOD cannot ensure that the three wind turbine projects are viable, that [DOD] personnel appropriately selected the projects for Recovery Act funding, and that Recovery Act funds were appropriately used.” 

The Air Force canceled one project but continued two others

The unpreparedness was even more surprising given that the Air Force had already finished a similar project at another Alaskan base in 2008.

The audit led the Air Force to cancel its project at Cape Newenham, Alaska, but continue converting turbines at nearby Cape Lisburne and Cape Romanzof, even though auditors claimed that “documentation provided by the Air Force does not fully support completing the wind turbine projects.”

If any of the $14 million was still left over, the Air Force planned to use it on “additional, appropriate … projects yet to be identified.”

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Summary: It’s unclear what eventually became of the three wind turbine projects, which is hardly surprising. There have been so many ill-fated government construction projects that it’s nearly impossible to catalog every single one.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.