Follow the money - the National Renewable Energy Laboratory

From Colorado Watchdog:

Secret energy lab spawns million dollar govt employee
The federal government�s dream of a renewable energy empire hinges on a scrubby outpost here, where scientists and executives doggedly explore a new frontier.

If you live outside Colorado, you probably haven�t heard of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory � NREL for short. It�s the place where solar panels, windmills and corn are deemed the energy source of the future and companies who support such endeavors are courted.

It�s also the place where highly paid staff decide how to spend hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars.

And the public pays those decision-makers well: NREL�s top executive, Dr. Dan Arvizu, makes close to a million dollars per year. His two top lieutenants rake in more than half a million each and nine others make more than $350,000 a year.

But what is really going on there? Energy expert Amy Oliver Cooke drove out to the site, which looks something like Nevada�s Area 51 with its remote location and forbidding concrete buildings. NREL had started a construction project and Cooke wanted to see for herself. She didn�t get far: a man in an SUV seemingly appeared out of nowhere, stopped her car, and told her to leave.

�A beefy looking fellow told me, �It�s top secret,� said Cooke, director of the Energy Policy Center at the Independence Institute think tank. �I said, �I�m a taxpayer and I want to see what you�re building� and he said it was it was �top secret so we can bring Americans a better future.��

Annual budget of $533 Million -- these are the mokes who gave us Ethanol and Abound Solar (bankrupt). The article has the salaries for several years -- the level of raises are amazing - the director took home $652,159 in 2008, $691,570 in 2009 and then $928,069 in 2010. Our tax dollars at work...