The use of federal stimulus money to clean up carbon emissions from a range of public and privately owned vehicles has a government watchdog group asking whether this is an appropriate use of tax dollars.
More than $4.3 million in grants secured recently by the Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection is bound for engine and exhaust work on ferries, lobster boats, buses, marine terminals and heavy duty construction vehicles. While some hail the program as a boost for the economy and environment, others question whether it’s a proper use of public resources.
“We’ve been doing this for a number of years, but the stimulus act gave us additional money to use,” said Ron Severance, director of program planning for the Dept. of Environmental Protection’s Department of Air Quality. “It takes a lot of money to do reductions like this.”
Severance said besides the positive impact the money will have on the environment, the stimulus dollars will trickle through the state’s economy to everyone from lobstermen to mechanics. “This is specifically the intent of the stimulus money,” he said.
But Scott Moody, chief economist for the Maine Heritage Policy Center, who opposes the stimulus act overall, said programs like these prove that “the whole process has been taken over by special interests.”
“All of these programs are geared toward political ends and not economic ones,” he said. “Whatever the merits are of green technology, is this really something that is good for stimulating the economy?”
In most cases, the stimulus dollars will fund 50 percent of the cost of projects. Among those projects are 45 engine replacements in commercial fishing boats; a new engine for the Margaret Chase Smith Ferryboat in Islesboro; carbon-reducing equipment on school buses in School Administrative Districts 6 and 20; various upgrades on construction vehicles owned by the state, Pike Industries of Westbrook and Lane Construction of Hermon; and municipal buses and trash trucks in Portland, among other projects.
In every case, said Severance, the goal is to reduce emissions of diesel particulate matter, which can cause or aggravate health problems ranging from cancer to asthma.
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association hailed the stimulus money as a major boost for a beleaguered industry in its most recent newsletter. Forty-five of 330 applications for engine replacements will be funded by the stimulus fund under the already-existing Clean Marine Engine Program.
At Pike Industries, up to 19 heavy-duty construction vehicles like excavators and front-end loaders stand to benefit. In some cases, the program will fund 50 percent of engine rebuilds while in others, vehicles will be fitted with diesel exhaust filters.
Thomas Dupont, who is in charge of maintenance for the company’s southern Maine fleet, said the program will help the company run a greener operation.
“We’re going to take advantage of whatever we can,” said Dupont. “We’re trying to figure out which vehicles are worth our while to do this work on.”
Moody, the economist for the Maine Heritage Policy Center, said he fears that these programs are early examples of the kind of “irresponsible” spending that will come as higher volumes of stimulus dollars begin to flow next year.
“At this point, the stimulus is actually a threat to the economy because we’re borrowing all this money,” he said. “(Paying it back) could actually snuff out the recovery before it gets going. We could double-dip into another recession.”
Moody said his organization, which monitors Maine’s government spending through a variety of initiatives, is trying to track the stimulus dollars, but so far, they are having trouble.
“One of the critiques we have of the stimulus is that it’s not been a very transparent process,” he said.
Ryan Low, the state’s commissioner of finance, also oversees the stimulus dollars. He said the clean air program is one of few instances where money is being funneled to private entities.
“This one is certainly a little unique,” he said. Asked whether he thought the program was a good idea, Low said construction equipment and fishing vessels are rational places to spend the money if the goal is reducing carbon.
“I think this probably makes perfect sense,” he said.
