Audit: Stimulus funds for energy go unspent

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Two years after the economic-stimulus law, about one-third of the money authorized for an energy-efficiency program has not been spent, a government audit found.

The Energy Department’s inspector general said Wednesday that state and local governments have left as much as $879 million unspent from a $2.7 billion program intended to boost energy efficiency and create jobs. That is a big change from a year ago, when less than 10 percent of the grant money had been spent, but is far below what the Obama administration projected when the stimulus was approved in 2009.

Inspector General Gregory Friedman said the unspent money undermines a basic premise of the stimulus law: “to promptly stimulate the economy and create jobs.”