The Misuse of Taxpayer Money
This is kind of unbelievable. State legislators in Oregon are going to use electricity ratepayers’ money to pay down a loan for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
Portland General Electric customers may be bailing the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry out of a $4.6 million delinquent loan with state money intended to fund efficiency measures and renewable energy.
Opponents of the measure say using that money to pay off OMSI’s debt to the Department of Energy amounts to a legislative raid on ratepayer money.
[...]
Lawmakers insisted that using surcharge money to pay down the loan was consistent with the intent of the original proposal because the loan was given to OMSI based on energy conservation efforts made at the museum’s new building.
And then finally,
The bailout would only affect PGE customers in the Portland metro area because that’s where OMSI is located, but it amounts to a 16 percent overall decrease in the Energy Trust’s state funds.
In other words, it isn’t your money. It belongs to the legislature and the government to do with what they will.
What are we really going to do with the GET surcharge?
Don