MSU receives $1.4M in earmarks for research work

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Several MSU research projects will receive more funding after President Barack Obama signed a controversial $410 billion spending bill last week packed with billions of dollars in earmarks.

The bill included several millions of dollars in funding for university projects, including $1.4 million for the construction of a biofuel research center at MSU’s Upper Peninsula Tree Improvement Center in Escanaba.

Earmarks are congressional provisions that require funds to be spent on specific projects, often pet projects of individual legislators.

The research at the biofuel research center will focus on producing ethanol from trees, said Jamie DePolo, director of communications for the Michigan Agriculture Experiment Station, or MAES.

“Most of ethanol on the market is now made from corn grains,” she said. “But Michigan has a lot of trees, and another way to make ethanol is to use cellulose from trees — it’s just a little more difficult to break the cellulose down.”

The money for this research will not offset Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed cut in funding to MSU’s Extension program and MAES, DePolo said. Granholm proposed combining the programs and cutting their funding in half, to $32 million, in her recommended budget.

“This money is strictly for research, and if we didn’t have the experiment station already located in Escanaba, I don’t know that we would be able to get this money,” DePolo said.

Experts also said it’s unlikely any of the MSU earmarks will offset Granholm’s proposed 3 percent cut to higher education.

“This funding is for specific projects,” said Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher of Inside Michigan Politics. “MSU can’t take the money and say ‘Thank you very much, we’re going to use it over here to keep tuition down.’”

While the earmarks present a bonus for MSU, they also are the topic of dispute for many who believe Obama should be held to his campaign promise to bring an end to earmarks.

Ballenger said by signing the omnibus bill, Obama passed on his first chance to veto a bill rife with earmarks.

“His excuse is … this is kind of leftover business, and this is the last one he intends to sign, is what he says,” Ballenger said. “A lot of people are very skeptical. This is a lot like a drunk saying ‘This is my last drink, I’m not going to drink tomorrow.’”

Ballenger said Michigan’s federal legislators — especially U.S. Rep Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, and Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin — deserve credit for MSU’s receiving funding because they pushed for earmarks for their constituents.

“Stabenow and Levin rank in the top five of senators pushing for earmarks in this bill,” he said. “They worked very hard to get this, and they’re not making any apologies.”

Despite the controversy surrounding earmark funding, MSU Trustee George Perles said he agrees with the bill’s provisions for MSU because they mean more funding for important research during the economic recession.

“We’re going to help the state, and we’re going to put people to work,” he said.

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