Forest of dreams?
Pork barrel projects light up energy bill
By Steve Turnham and Ted Barrett
CNN Washington Bureau
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Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- While Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley's battle to increase corn-based ethanol production in the energy bill has grabbed the political headlines, he has been quietly working to get money set aside in the legislation for another project of special interest to his home state -- a massive rainforest smack in the middle of Iowa corn country.
The project, called the Iowa Environmental/Educational Project, was started by Des Moines millionaire Ted Townsend. It would build a huge rainforest on a 30-acre site near Iowa City. It's designed to be a tourist attraction and an educational facility.
Former Iowa Gov. Bob Ray argues that Iowa needs such projects to avoid becoming "a backwater."
The ultimate cost to the taxpayer would be $70 million over 10 years, according to Grassley's office.
The project wasn't included in the energy bill when it first came out of the Senate, but according to a senior Republican source, it was added to the bill during the ongoing closed-door negotiations to merge the House and Senate legislation. It remains to be seen, however, if the money makes it through those negotiations and the final vote, which GOP leaders say is expected as early as next week.
A drawing of the partially built rainforest is on the Web at http://www.iowachild.org/. While it is expected to bring a lot of jobs to that part of Iowa, according to its supporters, some locals are unhappy.
Grassley is one of the principle negotiators of the mammoth energy bill, which contains some $16 billion in tax breaks overall. But he's not the only one putting in home-state projects, known as pork in Capitol Hill parlance.
Rep. Jim McCrery, R-Louisiana, said the bill may include $250 million in tax breaks for projects with environmentally sustainable designs. For instance, proposed "green bonds," as they're called, could help finance a riverfront development in Bossier City, Louisiana, which will bring visitors and tourists to shops and movie theaters in McCrery's district.
Other environmentally friendly projects in Syracuse, New York, Denver, Colorado, and Atlanta, Georgia, could also win the special financing.
McCrery said the tax breaks are designed to make the energy efficient designs more cost-effective for developers.
It is common practice for lawmakers to try to get more money for their constituents in the final stages of legislation.
