Happy Anniversary, Recovery Act!

They grow up so fast…it seems like only yesterday that Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In fact, it was not yesterday, but rather February 13, 2009. Which makes today the nine month anniversary! If you and your spouse had been so turned on by the stimulus that you conceived, you would be having a baby today.

What I remember most about that day on February 13 was everyone in the region running around with their hair on fire (figuratively) talking about how all the money was going to be allocated immediately and that we were going to miss out on it unless we acted fast. For better and for worse, that didn’t happen, and there are actually a number of major opportunities still open. On this happy day, here are a few to keep an eye on (or apply for!):

“Where are the Recovery Act Dollars” Update, Part 2

Not too shabby, folks. We just completed our first survey of the region, and were able to identify 497 projects totaling $352,693,243.00 in non-transportation investments (grant, loan and bond funded) in the central Puget Sound’s leading industry clusters.

Check out the clearinghouse online at http://prosperitypartnership.org/recovery/ARRA_Fund_Recipient_Database.pdf. Corrections, comments or additions welcome!

“Where are the Recovery Act Dollars” Update

Many of you may have seen our recent post about tracking Recovery Act dollars to the region, specifically those that fall into the categories we identified in March: clean energy, aerospace, IT (broadband and health IT), housing, workforce and life sciences.

So far, so good. Through your submissions and other online resources, we’ve identified $290,234,389.00 in grants to governments, businesses and nonprofits in the central Puget Sound in those categories. Keep it coming by submitting your projects to http://prosperitypartnership.org/recovery/form2.htm!

But What If the Wasps Sting the Rabbits?

Again, this isn’t actually economic development news, but this blog has been covering the radioactive wasps story, so it’s only fair that we cover the radioactive rabbit poop story as well.

I’ll say this: a significant amount of Hanford cleanup – including the helicopter search for radioactive rabbit poop – is being done with Recovery Act dollars. I know that there’s some debate about “whether the stimulus is working,” but this one is definitely a positive investment in my book.

Where are the Recovery Act Dollars?

So, with all the importance being place on accountability, transparency and reporting with regard to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, you’d think that finding out who got what dollars would be easy. You, my friend, would be incorrect.

Green Housing, Not to Be Confused with Clean Housing)

You know, cause even if you use clean energy for residential power, calling it a clean house makes people feel like they have to vacuum more often, which uses extra energy, making it less clean. The irony!

Anyway, I was making a presentation this morning on clean energy in the ARRA, and I made the point that a lot of the money for energy is not just in Department of Energy grant, but in places like Department of Housing. Ta-da! And some pretty high tech stuff, too.

Of course, again, the real wins come when all of those solar panels and biofuels are provided and installed by local companies. Another reason why we need to keep coordinated on who gets what stimulus money and what products and services our growing clean tech companies are commercializing.

Here Comes Carbon Capture (and Mole People?)

Here’s the thing about carbon capture, which is about to go live in West Virginia. I’m slightly concerned that the mole people who live deep underground are going to get pissed off, and come to the surface world to do battle with us. Either that, or some other unintended consequences, like polluted drinking water or earthquakes:

Asked whether the injections of carbon dioxide could increase the frequency or magnitude of the small earthquakes that are common in the area, an E.P.A. official said it seemed unlikely.

Ah, “unlikely.”  Everyone’s favorite palliative. 

Fraud Is Not the Problem

Saw this little tidbit last week about how there haven’t been that many reported cases of fraud yet with regard to the Recovery Act. And besides learning that “[t]he conventional estimate is that 7 percent of government spending is lost to waste, fraud or abuse,” I think this article misses the point.

I Don’t Care What People Think About the Recovery Act

There’s this great episode of The West Wing where President Bartlett is talking to Toby about whether or not to bring Congress into session to vote on a nuclear test ban treaty. Toby’s shocked by the fact that it might not have the votes to pass, even though polls show that Americans are hugely in favor of it. And Bartlett has this line about how this is one of those incidences where he couldn’t care less about polls, because how could the average citizen possibly understand all the practical and political nuances of nuclear test ban treaties.

And that’s how I feel about this.

Wilbur Strikes Again

Coincidence? I think not. First, Wilbur shows up in the news as the recipient of some questionable stimulus money. Now they have mysterious alien crop circles.

Poor Wilbur, Washington

I’ve been thinking all day about the plight of the Wilbur Airport in Wilbur, Washington. There they are, about an hour west of Spokane in lovely Lincoln County, trying to improve their runway with some stimulus funds, and now they’re caught up in one of the inevitable “Stimulus Waste?” controversies.

Broadband? More Like Slow, Rural Band!

One of the main complaints during the ARRA Barriers meeting in DC was around the Recovery Act grants for broadband, the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program . A lot of folks were really hoping that these dollars would be focused on implementing truly high speed broadband in some of our most dense and high tech areas. Instead, it’s much more about laying basic copper to “underserved areas,” particularly rural areas. And the definitions of “high speed” are more AOL than cloud computing. The good news is that

Talkin’ Recovery

I just got back yesterday from a whirlwind 36 hours in DC, where I was attending a Brookings Institute event highlighting “emerging innovations in recovery-inspired initiatives” as well as barriers to successful implementation. A couple of observations:

Accountability Vs. Recovery

I’m heading to DC on Monday for a meeting convened by the Brookings Institute on “current or emerging challenges in trying to apply ARRA investments,” and I sent out a call to a lot of our regional stakeholders to ask them what they thought were the problems. I got lots of interesting feedback, both general and specific, but it’s not a surprise that one of the biggest complaints was just the sheer bureaucracy that applicants were facing in applying for and receiving dollars.

What’s the Difference Between a Propeller and a Wind Turbine?

They’re both fan-shaped things that push wind to create energy, just one uses it to generate propulsion, the other makes electricity. Only one can be used to get the bad guy during a fight with Indiana Jones, though.

So, of course it makes sense that former aerospace manufacturers are turning to wind turbines as a way to put their capacity to work. There’s actually two stories in between the lines here, though: