Investigation Blasts Stimulus Spending on Destructive Solar
The non-partisan Center for Public Integrity conducted an investigation of projects receiving Federal stimulus funds and found that Washington intentionally ignored environmental damage when granting money to several projects. Among the recipients singled out by the Center's investigation is BrightSource Energy's Ivanpah Solar Energy Generation System , which received a stimulus-backed loan guarantee in the amount of $1.37 billion. The project will be built on 5.6 square miles of prime desert tortoise habitat in the northeastern Mojave Desert. From the Center's report : According to documents, the Obama administration has unequivocally concluded that one of the Energy Department’s biggest stimulus outlays — a $1.37 billion loan guarantee for the massive Ivanpah solar power installation to be built on federal lands in California’s Mojave Desert — will negatively affect the environment. The solar plant represents one of the few dozen stimulus projects required