© Brian Snyder / Reuters
Coaling towers rise at the SunCoke Energy Partners LP Ceredo Terminal.
Millions of dollars intended for a clean power initiative were spent on alcohol, spas, jets and lobbying, an audit shows. The perks clearly did not help much, as the project's company has since filed for bankruptcy.
Under former President Barack Obama's administration, the Department of Energy awarded a $1.7 cooperation agreement to Summit Texas Clean Energy, which was supposed to develop technology for a carbon capture and storage project. The department covered $450 million of the costs, which is now being questioned.
The project incurred $2.5 million in expenditures that were potentially "unallowable," in addition to over $1.2 million in lobbying costs and $1.3 million in "questionable" travel-related expenses, according to a
report released Tuesday.
There were $650,000 in charges for a spa service, alcohol, first-class travel, limousine services, receipts in foreign currency and business meals that were prohibited or were not fully substantiated.
Comment: NBC obviously didn't think this one through, but that's just more of the same for their typical reporting.