In a good example of that old adage in the blog title, a Washington D.C. reporter for WUSA9 TV station has kept watch on federal buildings at night for months—even years. She has now compiled her findings of how our federal government spends our tax dollars for their electricity bills…..or spends government money borrowed from the Chinese, who are laughing at us after Mr. Hu’s visit to Washington.(a Chinese pianist performed a Chinese popular melody at a White House Event for Hu that makes fun of the US from an anti-U.S. Chinese film—while President Obama listened..not knowing the wool was being pulled over his eyes..politically. Meanwhile the broadcast to China must have had their people in stitches over what Hu had just pulled off.)
But I digress. Andrea McCarren, the Washington DC reporter has been tracking the lights left on in major federal buildings, at night, after the work day is over and everyone has gone home.
McCarren has observed the lights in large federal buildings burning long after the work day is over. She has tracked the lights left on in the Department of Labor, the Dept. of Commerce, the Dept. of Agriculture, the Dept of Health and Human services as well as the Dept. of Energy (EPA which issues regular warnings to ordinary Americans to “turn off the lights to save energy”. ) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) leaves it lights on all night.
A visitor from North Dakota spoke to McCarren and said: “Turn the lights off! That’s what I do.”
That is what a lot of us do—we turn off lights that are not necessary and I doubt that most of us leave all our lights on at night in what seems to be the common denominator in Washington D.C. for the huge federal buildings!
McCarren, thorugh the Freedom of Information act, got hold of the electric bills over a period of months for the federal agencies she had been scouting at night for months…even years. The results?
In one month the Dept. of Labor had a bill of ONE MILLION dollars…..that’s right a cool mil. for one month. That was the high end. The lowest bill was for 200 thousand….still a bit steep for the Feds who urge us to conserve electrical energy!
The Dept. of Health and Human Services had a monthly bill of 799,000 dollars; the Dept. of Commerce paid a one month bill of 794,000 dollars.
One man, a former federal employee told McCarren, “I used to work for the federal government—I know they waste tax dollars —do it every day.”
When it is government money you are spending, it doesn’t seem to matter apparently…..this is OUR money in the form of tax dollars although we are so in debt and deficit, the money spent probably does not even exist, except in Chinese banks.
McCarren found out that the Dept. of Energy DOES turn their lights off as soon as the workday is ended. That electric bill for a month was far below the other government agencies she tracked……ONLY 260,000 dollars!!!!
So where does this electrical energy come from? Green sources????? Maybe it is that big atomic energy plant along the banks of the Potomac (HA!) Maybe it is from that huge field of windmills set up along Cape Cod Bay? (wait, wait…that is the one that the late Senator Teddy Kennedy put the kibosh on because he did not want all those big windmills spoiling his view when he and his friends went sailing…he didn’t like the noise they made either (HA HA!)
I bet its from those solar panels on top of the federal buildings!(Hardy Hardy Har Har Har!)
Nope they get the energy from a electric company named Pepco.
I went to the Pepco site but could not learn what powers their energy; there was a lot of talk about efficient meters et.al. but I am assuming they generate their power from coal or natural gas. So much for being Green.
Next time you turn off your lights in rooms are not using….every time you turn your thermostat down….. every time you put on extra layers of clothing inside your home…..think of our Federal buildings in Washington DC where the people who work there tell us “Do as we say—Not as we do”.
