Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released a report highlighting waste in the stimulus package. The report, entitled 100 Stimulus Projects: A Second Opinion, is a counter to the Obama Administration's Recovery Report: 100 Days 100 Projects.
The top ten most wasteful projects in the report are:
1. “Free” Stimulus Money Results in Higher Utility Costs for Residents of Perkins, Oklahoma
As a condition of accepting the stimulus money there are several federal requirements that will increase the price from $5.26 million to $7.2 million, resident utility prices have increased to pay for this.
2. FutureGen: The Stimulus Earmark that Wasn’t, Becomes the Costliest Pork Project in History
This projected was dropped by the Energy Department after it became too costly with new technology making it increasingly obsolete.
3. Little-Used “Shovel-Ready” Bridges in Rural Wisconsin Given Priority Over Widely Used Structurally Deficient Bridges
The need for speed outweighs actual need because “Smaller, lower-volume roadway projects are easier to get out.”
4. $800,000 for little-used Johnstown, Pennsylvania airport to repave a back-up runway; the “Airport for Nobody” Has Already Received Tens of Millions in Taxpayer dollars
As I blogged in April, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) has funneled millions of dollars to an airport which is named after him, as well as to the group managing the airport which has connections to a brother and former aide of Murtha.
5. $3.4 Million for Wildlife “Eco-Passage” in Florida; Project Still May Take Years to Finish
"Eco-Passage," a.k.a a tunnel under a highway so turtles and other wildlife don't become roadkill.
6. Nevada Non-Profit Gets Weatherization Contract After Being Fired For Same Work
The company was originally fired for "1) deficiencies in work completed; 2) management problems; 3) lack of executive interest at CSA in continuing to provide weatherization services; 4) managers assigned to weatherization did not appear fully qualified by experience in the weatherization or housing area; and 5) failure to follow accountability and reporting requirements even though “the Housing Division had provided clear direction.”"
7. Non-Existent Oklahoma Lake in Line for Over $1 Million To Construct a New Guardrail
Lake Optima is a man-made lake that has never filled up.
8. Taxpayers Taken for a Ride: Nearly $10 Million to be Spent to Renovate a Century Old Train Station that Hasn’t Been Used in 30 Years
The estimated cost for this project has exploded from $2.5 million in 2005 to $7.97 million.
9. Ten Thousand Dead People Get Stimulus Checks, Social Security Administration Blames a Tough Deadline
Pretty self-explanatory, I blogged about this story in May.
10. Town of Union, New York, Encouraged to Spend Money It Did Not Request For a Homelessness Problem It Does Not Have
Now the town will be encouraged to manufacture a homeless problem to use the money.
You can find information on the other 90 projects in the report by region.