But supposedly this is all in the name of creating "green jobs," which Obama often calls "jobs that cannot be outsourced." On this score, the renewable energy grants fall far short, as revealed by the muckraking of Russ Choma of American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop.

Take the Meadow Lake Wind Farm in Indiana, which received the single largest 1603 grant, $276 million. Meadow Lake is owned and operated by Horizon Wind Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of EDP Renovaveis, a Portuguese company. Choma reported that the turbines at Meadow Lake are manufactured by Vestas, and thus "likely made in Denmark, where Vestas is from." The turbines sit atop 350-foot towers imported from Vietnam.

So U.S. taxpayers cut a $276 million check to a Portuguese company in order to create jobs in Denmark and Vietnam.

EDP's U.S. lobbyists include 2008 Democratic National Convention superdelegate Tonio Burgos and the K Street firm Capitol Tax Partners, which boasts a platoon of former GOP and Democratic tax writers from the Treasury Department and from Capitol Hill.

EDP and Horizon also own and operate Blackstone Wind Farm in Illinois, which got a $171 million grant through Section 1603.

Many companies got grants for wind projects they had already completed before 2009, when the stimulus bill was written and passed. That means this money was no incentive, it was simply a giveaway.

The 1603 grant program was set to expire at the end of last year, but the wind and solar industry began a fierce lobbying campaign to keep open the spigot of free cash. Lobbying filings show industrial giants like Bechtel and Vestas pushed for the extension.