The Department of Energy mismanaged a nearly $1.5 billion carbon program paid for by stimulus funds, awarding contracts despite serious financial concerns and conflicts of interest.
That was the conclusion of an Office of Inspector General audit of a program designed to capture and store industrial carbon dioxide emissions, made public today...
At least the auditors know how to do their job. The problem is that nothing will come of this report since no apparent laws were broken in the process of mismanaging administration policyl
“For example, the Department awarded more than $48 million to one recipient whose financial condition precluded it from obtaining a satisfactory merit review score,” the report said. “Rather than addressing the underlying issues, the Department accepted increased risk and lowered the recipient’s required cost share.”...
Essentially the government simply reduced the financial requirements necessary for the recipients to participate, thus increasing the risk level of failure. When recipients have less investment in the process, they have less incentive to responsibly manage taxpayer funds granted by government.
About half of the program costs were given to existing projects instead of new awards, contrary to federal policy. Of the $1.1 billion it has so far, DOE spent $575 million on existing projects, but didn’t adequately document its rationale...
If this happened in the private sector, heads would roll and people would be fired for incompetence or malfeasance. In the federal government, bonuses will probably be handed out for such failure to follow policy. In the federal government, the end justifies the means just like in the world of Marxist socialism.
Read the complete article for the entire litany of failures by the Department of Energy to manage taxpayer money with virtually no individual accountability for those failures.
Read cited article in its entirety at the Washington Examiner
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