USDA Rural Economic Development Loan Program Has Dubious Record
| December 5, 2007 |  View for printing |
The USDA's Losing Effort Costly Program for Rural Businesses Yields Dubious Results
Under a program to create jobs in rural America, the U.S. Department of Agriculture guaranteed $1.6 million in loans to Aztec Environmental Inc., an asbestos-removal company in Panama City, Fla.
Aztec did create jobs -- for hundreds of workers from Guatemala. "Locals didn't want the work," said Debbie Livingston, one of the owners.
Three years later, in February, Aztec went out of business after a federal investigation into allegations of environmental abuses and the hiring of illegal immigrants. Now, the USDA could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars on the loan.
By Gilbert M. Gaul Washington Post Staff Writer
Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn ... 401958.html
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