The federal body's Energy and Commerce Committee has released a report stating a quarter of the $16bn given in subsidies for renewable projects since 2009 under the Section 1603 Grant Program for Renewable Energy has gone to ‘foreign' companies U.S. subsidiaries of European and Asian parent companies.
The critical report also states that the program has created only around 8,000 permanent and temporary jobs at a cost of around $1.2m per post to the U.S. taxpayer.
The committee is preparing the way to oppose the newly re-elected President‘s plan to extend the Section 1603 program for a further 12 months.
The wrangle is sure to be one of the bones of contention in the ongoing ‘fiscal cliff' economic battle which was postponed by the agreement forged between the two parties at the close of 2012.
The hostile report has been released in the wake of last week's research from the Pew Charitable Trust which called for an extension to clean energy tax credits in the U.S. and a renewal of incentives for clean energy manufaturing in the country.
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