[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7623-7624]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       ``PORKER OF THE WEEK'' AWARD GOES TO DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

  (Mr. HEFLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

[[Page 7624]]


  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Energy recently hosted a 
flea market. They sold 23 trucks worth $448,000 for 17 cents each, a 
$9,000 copier for a nickel, and a drilling rig for $50,000. The sales 
also included motor homes, laboratory equipment, and cranes.
  The sales were made under a Federal program intended to promote 
economic development in communities around Energy Department sites by 
selling surplus property to nonprofit organizations. But they sold all 
of this property to one single organization, the NTS Development 
Corporation of Las Vegas, which bought the drilling rig, paid a 
subcontractor $71,000 to inspect and clean it, and then sold the rig 
for $248,000 to an equipment broker in Texas. The equipment broker now 
has the rig listed for sale for $3.9 million.
  While it is certainly a worthwhile endeavor for the Energy Department 
to promote its host communities, it is an appalling lack of judgment to 
sell pieces of equipment for millions of dollars below market value. 
The Department of Energy gets my ``Porker of the Week'' Award.

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