Senator: No stimulus money for US-China wind farm

By H. JOSEF HEBERT Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Democratic senator is calling on the Obama administration to reject an expected request for economic stimulus money for a $1.5 billion West Texas wind energy project.

The joint venture between U.S. and Chinese energy companies will be financed largely by China's export-import bank.

But Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says the project organizers reportedly are planning to ask for 30 percent financing - or $450 million - from the federal stimulus program designed to produce U.S. jobs.

Yet, all of the 240 wind turbines on 36,000 acres in West Texas will be made in a plant in China, producing Chinese jobs. So, Schumer is writing Energy Secretary Steven Chu, urging the administration to reject a request for a federal grant should one arrive.