New Report Cites Wasteful Stimulus Spending -- Going Nowhere

June 16, 2009 -- Why did the turtle cross the road? Because there was no tunnel for him to go through, but thanks to $3.4 million in stimulus money for an "eco tunnel" in Florida, that's about to change.

The 13-foot tunnel under U.S. Rte. 27 in Lake Jackson, Fla., -- you might call it the Turtle Tunnel because it primarily designed for turtles that are frequently killed as they cross the highway -- is one of 100 stimulus projects targeted in a report released Tuesday by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a leading critic of the $787 billion stimulus plan passed by Congress in February. Coburn's report, entitled "The Stimulus: A Second Opinion," lists 100 stimulus projects the senator considers dubious.

But the stimulus watchdogs in Vice President Biden's office are pushing back hard, arguing that Coburn's report is poorly researched, littered with errors and includes several projects that will never be funded with stimulus dollars.

"We have approved more than 20,000 Recovery Act projects to get America's economy moving again," said Ed Deseve, director of the White House's Recovery Office, which is tracking stimulus spending. "The program is, overall, a great success.  With 20,000 projects approved, there are bound to be some mistakes -- when we find them, we have been transparent about it, and worked on a bipartisan basis to shut them down immediately."

The Turtle Tunnel project, however, seems to be moving forward. The Florida Department of Transportation has been awarded $3.4 million to build the tunnel.

Local officials defend it as necessary because so-many wild animals -- including alligators, otters, lizards and turtles -- have been killed crossing U.S. Rte. 27 in Jackson Lake that the road killing has become hazardous to both animals and drivers.