Cong. Hill’s First Golden Fleece Award Goes To VA Hospital
by June 10, 2015 2:43 pm 105 views
An $8 million project to install solar panels at the Little Rock Veterans Affairs Medical Center is the first recipient of a newly resurrected award highlighting government waste, Rep. French Hill said Wednesday.
The Little Rock Republican announced in May his plans to re-establish the Golden Fleece Award, which was created in the 1970s by then-Sen. William Proxmire, D-Wisc.
Hill sent a letter Wednesday to Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald to present the award. In the letter, Hill said the award “highlights the excessive, unnecessary and costly government projects and regulations that are wasting hardworking taxpayer dollars and hindering the growth (of) our economy.”
“Today’s Golden Fleece is awarded to the VA for the mishandling of the $8 million solar panel project at the Little Rock Veterans Affairs Medical Center,” the letter from Hill to McDonald read. “The VA has been plagued with costly construction projects over the years, and in February 2012, the VA received and designated an $8 million grant to build a 1.8 megawatt solar photovoltaic system in the parking lot of the Little Rock VAMC.”
Hill said in a Sunday interview on Talk Business & Politics that the VA would be his first award winner.
Reports about the VA solar panel issue were uncovered in early April when content partner KATV Ch. 7 did a series of stories highlighting the situation.
Hill said in the letter that the project did not get off the ground.
“This construction project was completed in 2013; however, the PV system has never been activated, additional engineering changes are needed to ensure compatibility with the local electricity grid and construction of a new parking garage has resulted in the tearing down and proposed relocation of a number of the solar panels for the PV system. It has been two years since the planned activation of the PV system, and many questions remain unanswered about the project.”
Hill also noted that a subsequent search may have uncovered other issues.
“I have also found from the VA’s own website a list of 40 construction projects that are designated ‘Work in Progress’ by the VA under its Key Renewable Energy Projects,” Hill said in the letter. “Some of these date back to 2010 for the award date, yet still have not been completed or made operational, and some of these projects have cost taxpayers up to $20 million. Further, the Little Rock project is also only projected to save around $150,000 annually in energy costs, taking over 50 years to receive a full return on the $8 million investment.”
“I am committed to eradicating this type of inefficient and ineffective spending and today’s Golden Fleece highlights the mismanagement of these essential taxpayer dollars,” Hill said.