New York Sen. Charles Schumer should be applauded for his recent decision to question the use of $450 million of economic stimulus money to fund a 600-megawatt wind farm in Texas, calling on the Obama administration to deny federal funding.

The project in question would erect 240 wind turbines manufactured by A-Power Energy Generation Systems of Shenyang, China, on 36,000 acres in West Texas. Organizers of the project cite that an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 manufacturing jobs would be created. But those jobs won’t be here in New York or in the United States; they’ll be created in China using our federal tax dollars.

Even worse, a recent independent study cited by Schumer found that 84 percent of the $1.05 billion in “green” stimulus funding distributed by the Obama administration since September has gone to foreign companies.

Now there are powerful attributes to the project. It will create an estimated 300 temporary construction jobs and 30 permanent full-time jobs here in the United States, and once completed, provide enough electricity to power 135,000 to 180,000 American homes every year. But the subsidizing of an estimated 3,000 manufacturing jobs in China with American taxpayer money during these tough economic times just doesn’t pass muster, and Schumer is right to question the deal. New York taxpayers should support him in his efforts.

But this project highlights an even more important problem facing the United States, one that grows more urgent every day. While billions of federal tax dollars are currently available through the stimulus to develop and manufacture new “green” technology in the United States, thus creating American jobs, those very same innovators and manufacturers do not have access to key natural resources called rare earths. As a result, such cutting-edge green technology and job creation is forced to occur overseas.

Rare earth elements are vital to green energy applications like wind generation and hybrid vehicles. Rare earth magnets are found in components in wind turbines and rechargeable batteries, in key national security systems that keep us safe at home and protect our war fighters in the field and in everyday consumer products like computers, cell phones and iPods.

Worldwide demand for these materials is escalating rapidly, and more than 95 percent of currently available rare earth mining occurs in China or is controlled by Chinese-led interests.

China, in turn, has used this lock to become the Saudi Arabia of rare earths globally. By enacting unfair export quotas and taxes on rare earths and related products, China has placed U. S. rare earth magnet manufacturing at a competitive disadvantage and forced producers overseas. This has led to an increase in Chinese green manufacturing jobs and driven Chinese firms up the value chain at the expense of American workers.

Today no significant production of rare earth metals takes place in North America or anywhere outside of China. Even worse, experts worry that Chinese domestic demand for rare earth elements could easily equal Chinese production capacity as early as 2012, further limiting material availability in the United States. In fact, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently called for a total ban on the export of some rare earth elements, essentially cutting off all access to these vital materials.

Fortunately, sizable deposits of rare earths exist in the United States and Canada and are available for large-scale mining operations. For the last year, U. S. Rare Earths has worked with our domestic partners in the U. S. Magnet Materials Association to highlight this growing problem and build support in Washington to rebuild this industry supply chain.

The United States has the resources; we just don’t access them. As a result, America has ceded its ability to domestically produce key components like specialty magnets that are vital to the nation’s ability to innovate new technologies, create green jobs and advance next generation national security systems.

If America wants to become the global leader in green technology and create green jobs here at home, it needs a reliable, domestic supply chain to spur and support such innovation.

Edward Cowle is CEO and president of U. S. Rare Earths, a natural resources development company based in New York City and Salt Lake City, which holds some of the largest documented high-grade rare earths resources and reserves in the United States.