One of the problems with congressional pork is that the bacon tastes so good.

In Johnstown, the National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence was founded with earmarked federal dollars in 1991 to research and develop pollution-abatement technology and other systems for the Defense Department. At least $671 million worth of federal contracts and earmarks have been feeding it ever since, The Washington Post reported in a story published in Sunday's Post-Gazette.

U.S. Rep. John Murtha, the Democrat who is chairman of the Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Defense, arranged the center's original budget and used his influence to have it placed in his district. He also helped start Concurrent Technologies, the tax-exempt charity that manages the center. Although the center itself has no employees, Concurrent, which started with 20 workers and annual revenue of $1.5 million, now has more than 1,500 employees and $248 million in revenue.

All of which may sound like good news for the downtrodden Cambria County city.

Despite the steady diet of federal dollars, though, the center's work has not been widely used by the Defense Department, according to the Post's months-long study. Pentagon audits showed that only nine of the systems developed by the center since 2001 have been used at more than one installation. Army officials responsible for overseeing the center acknowledged the shortcomings, and a Senate inquiry began last month to determine why it has tax-exempt status.

Yet the funding continues, much of it through earmarks rather than merit, and the center stands as a monument to political influence and waste. Surely there are better ways to select recipients for federal funding.

The Democratic majority in Congress tightened the rules somewhat last year so members must certify they have no financial interest in the earmarks they sponsor and tack on to big budget bills, but the process remains ripe for abuse. In the $555 billion omnibus appropriations bill and the $459 billion defense bill, members of Congress collectively included more than $15 billion in earmarks covering 11,000 of their pet projects.

Rep. Murtha, no stranger to the list of pork-barrel spenders, tops the current list. An analysis by the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense says he got more than $161.9 million in earmarks in 2008 spending bills.

It is disappointing that Rep. Murtha, whose voice has been strong for Pennsylvania and against the Bush debacle in Iraq, has not used his power -- and example -- to reduce earmark spending.