According to an investigative report published on 31 October by Harry Esteve in The Oregonian newspaper, the administration of Ted Kulongoski, Oregon's Governor, intentionally underestimated the true cost of a tax credit created to subsidize renewable energy, in order to get it passed by the State Legislature.

The Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC), was introduced in order to attract green investments to the State. In 2006, the state government decided to increase the maximum subsidy for each project from US$ 2.5 million to US$ 20 million.

Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) analysts initially estimated the extra costs of the amended tax credit to be US$ 13 million during the three years starting in 2007, a number that was reduced to US$ 1.2 million by the time the State Legislature considered the change in February 2007.

Two ODOE analysts admit to having been under pressure to come up with a low estimate and, according to Esteve, told to "plug in smaller figures".

The true cost turned out to be higher than anybody had anticipated - US$ 68 million in 2007-9, of which US$ 40 million was due to the subsidy expansion. The total price tag for 2009-11 is now expected to be US$ 167 million, and for 2011-13 US$ 243 million.

According to Oregon's The Herald and News, 97% of applications processed to date have been awarded the tax credit. And as Esteve illustrates, this often took place within ludicrous circumstances, with one company receiving money immediately before declaring bankruptcy, and another splitting into nine different companies to obtain nine times the maximum benefit.

In an op-ed piece published in The Oregonian on 14 November, Governor Kulongoski denied Esteve's exposé, claiming that the Department of Energy was already tightening the rules around the implementation of the BTEC. He said that he looks forward to debating the policy in more detail in upcoming legislative sessions.