Flint, a city where more than half the children live below the poverty level, lost out on a pair of $1.1 million electric buses that the federal stimulus program would have paid for when the “green technology” company making them went out of business. So now, the head of the Flint bus authority says they are trying to get a new hydrogen-powered bus that comes with a $2.5 million sticker price, more than eight times the cost of a traditional diesel bus.

Ed Benning, general manager of Flint’s Mass Transportation Authority, said in an email that MTA has been discussing purchasing as many as two hydrogen buses from UTC Energy in Connecticut. He said they hoped the $2.2 million stimulus grants could still be used.

Benning also said that MTA has a design-build contract for an alternative fuel facilty that will be built over the next 12 months and that the fueling facility would produce hydrogen for two vehicles and also provide fueling for compressed natural gas and propane vehicles.

“We have not ruled out electric as a possibility, but the weight of the vehicles and recharging requirements are a concern at this point,” Benning said.

He said MTA hasn’t had a bid put in for the hydrogen bus as of yet and that they could purchase a used hydrogen bus for as much as $1 million. A typical diesel bus costs about $300,000.

In September 2009, then-Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm trumpeted the state receiving $2.2 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to be spent on the “green” Flint buses as part of a new “energy economy for Michigan” that would create jobs.

Officials of Flint’s Mass Transportation Authority have said in the past that they hoped to have the two electric buses up and running as early as April 2009.

But Fisher Coachworks of Troy — the maker of the ‘green’ buses — went out of business, according to the Flint MTA and state of Michigan officials. The state will also have to write off a $1.6 million loan it gave Fisher Coachworks.

“I’m picking up the pieces and putting them back together,” said Benning, who was named general manager on May 26.

In September of 2009, Fisher Coachworks was mentioned in a press release from Gov. Jennifer Granholm as a “green technology” company that was part of the “new energy economy for Michigan.” Two years later, the state says Fisher Coachworks is out of business and the state has to write off $1.6 million it loaned the electric bus manufacturing company.

Edgar Benning, general manager of Flint’s Mass Transportation Authority, said in an email that Fisher Coachworks went out of business in the development phase of making two $1.1 million electric buses that Flint was going to purchase with grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly referred to as the “stimulus plan.”

Fischer Coachworks officials could not be reached for comment.

Michael Psarouthakis, vice president of business acceleration for the Michigan Economic Development Corp., said Fisher Coachworks would not repay $1.6 million in loans it had received from the state. The MEDC had approved Fisher Coachworks for a $2.6 million loan, but never gave out the final $1 million because the company was struggling, Psarouthakis said.

“It was clear that they were going to have some serious financial difficulties even with our funding,” Psarouthakis said. “They needed significant funding above and beyond that.”

James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said some green energy companies wouldn’t make it without government aid.

“Granholm opened the floodgates for any green business to get state money,” Hohman said. “This is her legacy. I think it is an important piece of the legacy that the businesses you are picking to win and whose business plans you support with state tax money wind up being big losers. That says some of these green energy business plans are likely to be facades held up with state support.”