Missouri is lagging in its use of federal stimulus money intended to make homes more energy efficient for low-income residents.
Missouri received nearly $129 million in home weatherization funds for low-income residents under the 2009 federal stimulus bill. As of the end of January, just $47 million of that had been spent. That amounts to 37 percent of the total.
Department of Natural Resources Deputy Director Dru Buntin says Missouri faces a March 2012 deadline to use the money. He says it took a while for some community agencies to get ramped up to handle the enlarged weatherization program. Buntin also says the agency is reallocating some of the unspent money to local agencies that have been more successful in using it.