(Photo by Richard Oswald for the Daily Yonder)
(ST. LOUIS, Mo.) Among tax cuts, schools, roads and health care, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act also allocated funding for renewable energy projects – something the White House has touted, even in Kansas City.
Also in Missouri is a windfarm – of which Tom Carnahan, brother of Congressman Russ and Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, is president. The windfarm, “Lost Creek,” which is located in Northwest Missouri, received a $107 million grant‐in‐lieu‐of‐tax credit through the Recovery Act’s Section 1603 Grant Program.
“The project was in risk back in January [2009],” said Tom Carnahan, CEO of the Wind Capital Group, in an October 2009 interview with ClimateWire. “Luckily, the stimulus passed; that gave us the confidence to go forward and culminated actually last week with us securing a $240 million loan on the project.”
Republicans say the grant is the 12th largest in the entire RecoveryAct, and that the Carnahan family is profiting from the it.
“When it comes to the Barack Obama’s $814 billion boondoggle known as the ‘stimulus,’ it’s all in the family for the Carnahans. Robin Carnahan supported it, Russ Carnahan voted for it, and now Tom Carnahan is profiting from it,” said Lloyd Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party.
“We have families struggling to make ends meet and a representative who instead of helping them is funneling money to his family,” said candidate Ed Martin, who’s running against Rep. Carnahan.
Congressman Carnahan said on a radio show Tuesday, “[A]ny company in America that builds a qualifying project is entitled to get the credit.”
His campaign said he had no part in the distribution of funds.
“This latest, baseless attack is a complete lie and it is exactly what voters are tired of – the politics of division and misinformation,” said Carnahan Campaign Communications Director Angela Guyadeen. “This is a program that has helped over 1,100 alternative energy companies across the country – including Wind Capital Group’s competitors.”
Guyadeen said, “Russ Carnahan had absolutely no role in determining whether any of them received funding.”
“Russ Carnahan believes in supporting sustainable energy — no matter who produces it. Ed Martin, on the other hand, thinks we shouldn’t help create clean energy jobs here in Missouri. He even signed a pledge promising to continue massive taxpayer subsidies for oil companies – even as Big Oil posts record profits,” she said.
Martin sent a letter to Rep. Carnahan’s office, saying “I am writing today on behalf of the many unemployed constituents of your district to request your brother forfeit his $107 Million in stimulus money. I believe that money could be better spent on job re-training to help small business startups right here in your district.”
email: eli [at] politicmo.com | phone: 417.597.3873 | twitter: @eyokley 
It’s not often we in rural parts of the state get much of anything from state or Federal government. Unlike other wind projects in the state that took advantage not only of federal tax credits but also demanded abatement of local taxes, the one Tom Carnahan brought to our communities pays their full and fair share of local taxes. This is a huge benefit to our county schools and road systems, provided good paying jobs, and local farmers are reaping not only the wind but fair rental payments on land where the towers were built. The wind farm in question was a Godsend for NWMO.
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