Department Of Energy Loses $500,000 Worth Of Stimulus-Funded Equipment

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Written By:
Rob Port

Jul 17, 2012
10:59am

I guess the stimulus comes when they have to buy more equipment to replace the stuff they lost?

(CNSNews.com) – An audit conducted by the Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General was “unable to locate” $500,000 worth of equipment purchased with stimulus money by a recipient of funds distributed through the deparment’s “Advanced Batteries and Hybrid Components Program,” according to an audit report published by the OIG.

The DOE said it would not be “appropriate” to release the name of stimulus-money recipient where the $500,000 worth of equipment could not be located.

The program was given nearly $2 billion in stimulus funds “to support the construction of U.S. based battery and electric drive component
manufacturing plants.” As of June, DOE had “expended” about $1.2 billion of that money and had made grants to “30 for-profit manufacturers,” according to the July 10 audit report.

One of the three “conclusions and observations” the OIG made in the report is that more should be done to “ensure recipients adequately safeguard equipment purchased with federal funds,” the audit states.

“We were unable to locate equipment purchased by one recipient totaling about $500,000,” the audit states.

But don’t worry. The federal government is totally going to make your health insurance and health care more affordable. Just because they lose a half-million dollars worth of stuff now and then doesn’t mean they can’t develop good health insurance policies for you.