We just broke this story on “The Local Buzz” on Star News (WGSR), so here it is for everybody to read.
Martinsville, Henry County, South Boston and Halifax County were awarded over $2,400,000 in federal stimulus money for energy efficiency programs.
Today, Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling announced of behalf of Governor Bob McDonnell that local governments in our area received over $2.400,000 in energy conservation grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. Over 150 governmental bodies submitted grant applications seeking over $51,000,000 and their applications were ranked based on the amount of energy conserved, the number of jobs created. Bonus points were awarded to localities with high rates of unemployment.
Local governments that will receive these awards include:
City of Martinsville – $906,681 for a hydro plant efficiency project and energy efficiency retrofits for the city schools.
Halifax County – $400,000 for an energy project at the Mary Bethune Government Complex.
Henry County – $779,998 for an energy awareness educational campaign along with thermal hot water and energy savings lighting retrofits.
Town of South Boston – $393,252 for the South Boston Landfill Energy Project. I spoke with South Boston Town Manager Ted Daniel and he told me that this grant money would be used to harvest the methane that is naturally created from the now-closed landfill located in the town. Daniel said that by harvesting the methane gas, it can be burned off cleanly and possibly that energy could be used to run a turbine that would provide a small amount of energy. Also in the long run, South Boston could possibly be able to sell carbon tax credits because of their clean energy usage.
This $2,400,000+ of grant money from the Federal Stimulus Act can be leveraged with other non-federal grant money to increase funding available for these local grants, meaning that even more money will be available for these projects.
Lieutenant Governor Bolling said “Jobs will be the first dividend from these innovative programs and projects, but they also have potential to save tax dollars and reduce energy costs for Virginians for years to come. Many of these awards will improve the energy efficiency of buildings and provide education and support for others to make similar improvements. The improvements will continue for years to save money that otherwise would be spent on mostly imported fuel sources.”
Bolling made his monthly trip to Southside Virginia in his role as Jobs Creation Officer, a part of the McDonnell/Bolling administration’s commitment to visit Southside Virginia once per month to focus on job creation and economic development. He made his monthly appearance at the Dan River Business Development Center, a small business incubator located in Danville/Pittsylvania County’s Ringgold Industrial Park West, where he met with local government and business leaders. During his visit, he learned about the various businesses that have started at the Development Center and have moved out to become viable companies.
let me say 1st that I like Bill Bolling. and let me say that the stimulus money recipients may be worthy.
but look at this: stimulus money coming from Washington (where it was taken from OUR US tax dollars), sent to the 5th district where a imperiled Dem Congressman is running in December & hailed by a Republican LG.
maybe i’m too cynical.