US gives wind-power grants with few strings: report

It's not completely terrible that foreign-owned companies are getting most of the money from a $1 billion U.S. subsidy for wind and other alternative power generation. At least these companies have been creating U.S. jobs. Right?

But it does make people go "Hmm" to learn the subsidies have no strings attached. They're rewards, not incentives. Wouldn't it be better to require that they reinvest that cash here in the U.S. before pocketing profits? That's what the Investigative Reporting Workshop, Washington, DC, asks in its wind-subsidy project, "Blown Away", here.

The story cites the admission by a Treasury official that "there are no restrictions on the use of the funds" by the companies that collect them. Which is what I reported in my Sept. 2 column and the previous day's blog.

The Workshop's story links a recording of me asking Treasury, "You mean they can do anything they want with this money?" Yes. They can. Though the government hopes they'll use it to build more "sustainable" electric systems here in the U.S.