Clean energy grants provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have been making their way to companies since September 1st, but a new report from the Investigative Reporting Workshop (American University) shows that the lion’s share of these grants have been awarded to foreign-owned companies.

The report tracked the $1 billion plus in clean energy grant money that has been awarded so far, and posted the following results (see graph below):

• $964 million was granted to wind projects with all other clean energy industries receiving only $89 million
• 84% ($849 billion) was awarded to foreign-owned wind companies
• The American subsidiary of a Spanish wind energy company has received 57% of the $1.05 billion disbursed as of late October.  All by itself.

Hmmmmmmnnnn.

This leaves the American School and other concerned citizens wondering if Recovery Act dollars, which are designed to help the US recover from the economic crisis, are being used in a way that directly benefits, you know, us?

While some posts, such as at MNN.com, grant that numerous Americans are employed by foreign firms working in this country, and so benefit from the dollars applied through these projects, data like this seems easy fodder for right-wing protectionist pundits and the likes of Fox News.

But they’d be missing the point all together. A) It’s a global economy, and the company that can provide the best product at the best value should win any given contract. I doubt anyone would argue with this. And B) This is a perfect example of how shortsighted energy policy in this country over the last few decades has led to the US being far behind in technology and business development in these fields.

This is not a rallying cry to protect american business from the big bad guys overseas. This is a rallying cry to pull ourselves up, spark some ingenuity, and try to catch up to the global market leaders. Time to get to work.

Tags: green business, policy reform, renewable energy, wind energy