A Primer on the Need for Effective Oversight of Public Funds

The Gridley Biofuels Handbook

Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.

- Thomas Jefferson

Partners & Sponsors?

-SLIDE 6 -

http://www.reiinternational.org/partnerships.asp

Partners & SponsorsREII (the researcher) of the project Claims the NCPA is a partner. To

this day REII displays the NCPA logo on their website.

And Yet…..Dave,

There is currently no partnership or coordinated working relationship between NCPA and REII. The project presentation to NCPA on January 14th is the first time NCPA has seen the biomass project details or met REII personnel…

- Dana Griffith, NCPA, Email dated 1/21/11

So Who Is “Mistaken”?

Even More Concerning…

“I know I sound like a wacko," said rice grower Dan Boeger. "But what I think we're talking about is a process that will allow Spaceship Earth to produce more energy than it is consuming."

- San Francisco Chronicle, May 20, 2001

[That’s not possible by the way……but it certainlycould consume more money than it would ever

produce.]

Give It Some Spin….

And we’ve always been told….

“If this plant does not go on line it doesn't cost the city a dime….. This project has a huge up side and costs the City nothing!”

- Tom Sanford, Email, August 2008

But is that really true?

IT COSTS NOTHING?

Gridley’s paid “Energy Commissioner”2000 - 2009

HOURLY WAGE AS ENERGY COMMISSIONER (OTHER)

$125 per hourTHAT’S $280,000 ON AN ANNUAL

BASIS

HOURLY WAGE AS ENERGY COMMISSIONER

(BIOFUELS)

$180 per hourTHAT’S $374,400 ON AN ANNUAL

BASIS

How does that hourly rate stack up for taxpayers?

$0.00 $20.00 $40.00 $60.00 $80.00 $100.00 $120.00 $140.00 $160.00 $180.00

"Lead Investigator" (Energy Comm.) as billed thru Ethanol GrantGridley Energy Commissioner

California GovernorU.S. Vice President

Chief Justice - U.S. Supreme CourtAttorney General (CA)

Superintendent of Public Instruction (CA)Speaker of Assembly / Pres. Pro Tem Senate (CA)

Rank and File CA legislatorsCA Energy Commission - Chairperson

CA Energy Commisssion - MemberMember - Butte County Board of Supervisors

Total cost of the “Commissioner” to the City of Gridley (2000-2009):

$964,949.00(Give or take – its hard to get an exact figure)

But remember, if the Biofuel project does not get built, there is no cost to

the City of Gridley.

Right?

Well, not exactly……(I guess it depends on how you define “nothing” and “dime”)

Energy Commissioner/Investigator: $964,949.00Industrial Park Purchase (Part 1): $626,005.00Industrial Park Purchase (Part 2): $686,122.00

Rio Pluma Land Purchase ($237,000 above market): $679,000.00Purchase of 15K tons of rice straw in 2002: $225,000.00

Rice Straw Debacle (disposal): $ 24,263.00----------------------------

TOTAL: $3,205,339.00

That’s roughly $1,393 per Gridley household or $469 per

resident.

What Has The No-cost Biofuel “Project” Cost Gridley taxpayers (so far)?*

*These figures are estimates.

Yet, in roughly seventeen years, what has the expenditure of $3,206,939.00 of taxpayer money produced for Gridley?*

Free electricity (in KWH): 0.0Low-cost electricity (in KWH): 0.0

Gallons of ethanol: 0.0 Gallons of bio-diesel: 0.0Steam for Rio Pluma: 0.0New jobs for Gridley: 0.0

------TOTAL: 0.0

*Sadly, these figures are NOT estimates (but it did provide a nice paycheck for one person).

…and, who can forget the giant rotting piles of rice straw the city bought and had to dispose of (at taxpayer expense) in 2003.

Want to see a picture of the Gridley biofuel plant as it looks after 17 years and

$3,205,339.00?

And if all of that was not embarrassing enough…

Page 64 of The Pig Book arguably makes Gridley famous for the expensive “flop” that they claim the rice straw refinery represents.

That is what happens when nobody is watching.

I’m watching. And I don’t like what I see.