I am one of those people who will actually watch those boring, boring, hearings on C-SPAN that most of us flip right on past while watching TV, and this past week I've been watching one of the longer events the channel broadcasts...but it's been far from boring.
The Coast Guard and what used to be the MMS were in Houston looking into what caused the Gulf oil spill and they're taking testimony from representatives of the involved parties...and let me tell you, this is more than just an accident inquiry-it's also a warm-up for the lawsuits that are surely going to follow.
Among the issues that voters are concerned about during the midterm elections, energy may not be a deciding factor in how they cast their votes. However, energy is often considered to be a component of the economy, and the economy will easily be the most important issue during the midterm elections. According to a recent Gallup poll, 30% of those survey said that the "economy in general" is the most important problem facing the country, and 28% said that "unemployment/jobs" are the most important problem. Where do each of the candidates for Congressional District 17 stand on the issue of energy?
According to his campaign web site, Flores believes that America should focus on fossil fuels and develop "more of our own oil, natural gas, oil shale, clean coal, and geothermal resources." Also, Flores argues that nuclear power should be developed and we should eliminate "barriers to create new nuclear power plants" because "it is proven to be safe, clean for our environment, and a cost effective energy source." However, Flores does endorse alternative energy and states that "expand incentives to allow more wind, next generation solar, and other energy technologies to emerge." While Flores states that he supports alternative energy he also is against Cap and Trade and argues that it would "stifle domestic energy development, kill our economy, and cause the export of American jobs."
Edwards makes the case on his campaign web site that there "is no one silver bullet to ensure more energy independence" and that it "includes more domestic production, research on renewable energy and clean coal technology, robust expansion of America's nuclear power and sensible conservation." Also, Edwards supports "tax incentives such as oil depletion and intangible drilling costs" as well as supporting "domestic gas producers to use hydraulic fracturing," and Edwards also supports "increasing nuclear loan guarantee programs."
It's been a while since we had to have a real heart-to-heart, the Obama Administration and I, and last time it was because Rahm Emanuel had been a bit snippy toward those of us who are carrying the water for this Administration.
We need to have another one of those conversations today; this time the circumstances are a lot more positive-in fact, if the Administration follows my suggestions here, we have a real chance to put the Democrats on the road to victory, not just this November, but also in 2012.
What I'm proposing will create hundreds of thousands, if not millions of jobs, and it will stimulate millions more as we create a national source of discount electrical power that can be used by business and consumers alike.
Here's the best part: it's no "pie in the sky" promotion I'm offering here; we've already done the same thing before, it's been working out well for almost three quarters of a century...and even better than all that...my idea first pays for itself, and then...it actually makes the Federal Government a profit, forever after.
It is by now obvious that even after we stop the gentle trickle of oil that's currently expressing itself into the Gulf of Mexico (thank you so much, BP) we are not going to be able to get that oil out of the water for some considerable length of time--and if you think it could take years, I wouldn't bet against you.
While BP is the legally responsible party, out on the water it will be up to the Coast Guard to manage the Federal response, and to determine that BP is running things in a way that gets the work done not only correctly and safely, but, in a world of limited resources, efficiently.
Which brings us to the obvious question: can the Coast Guard manage such a complex undertaking?
While we hope they can, you need to know that the Coast Guard has been trying to manage the replacement of their fleet of ships and aircraft for about a decade now...and the results have been so stunningly bad that you and I are now the proud owners of a small flotilla of ships that can never be used, because if they go to sea, they might literally break into pieces.
It's an awful story, and before we're done you'll understand why Deepwater was already an ugly word around Headquarters, years before that oil rig blew up.
We're now into day way too many of the BP oil spill, and the President has just yesterday been down on the Louisiana coast-again.
There have been suggestions that the Administration should take action to essentially push BP out of the way and take over the work itself, particularly as it relates to the cleanup.
It may have even occurred to you that an official declaration of some sort might be needed, in order to bring the full power of the Feds into play.
That's some good thinking, but before we go jumping right into declaring things we better understand the law, because if we don't, we could actually make things worse.
By now more or less everyone is aware that there has been a disastrous mining accident in West Virginia this week.
There are many people dead, and at the time this is written it is still possible that survivors might be found.
We don't know much about why these disasters happen, for the most part, and we don't really understand how to make things better.
Today, I'm here to fix some of that.
By the end of today's story, you'll understand a lot more about why people die in mines than you do now-and as an extra bonus, we'll also discuss a radical new way to bring market forces into the process of making mines safer.
We're diving deep into "geek world" today with a story that combines economic hardball, the periodic table of the elements, and a barely noticed provision of the Defense Authorization Act that seeks to break a monopoly which today gives China near-absolute control over the materials that make cell phones, electric cars, wind turbines, and pretty much every other tool of modern life possible.
If we successfully break the monopoly, we'll be able to create millions of new manufacturing jobs in this country-and if we don't, somebody else owns the 21st Century.
Ironically, the global warming we're trying to fight with new green technologies might be an ally in our efforts to make those very same green technologies happen.
There's a revolution in industrial processing going on, rare earths are at the center of it all...and in today's story, the revolution will be televised.
I confess, besides catching up with work and such, I've been lost in space (cyberspace, that is), since our first meeting last weekend. It was just too much fun to be learning all the ins and outs of the twitterverse and following the "journos" (new word for me) at the teabagasm events around the nation. Oh, the tales I could tell, having heard all the quips and "personal" comments from behind the scenes! Lots of fun--almost like "being there".
Which brings me to the point I wanted to communicate today. About how we are all connected. It's a very simple thought, one that makes common sense when you think at a meta level about all life on earth being part of one large ecological system. But it has come more into focus these days in terms of the kind of social networking we do on the internet (Facebook, Linked-In, blogging websites, Twitter, texting, etc).
It seems to be important, though, to combine that e-socializing with the face-to-face in order to build the kind of personal connection needed for a relationship, whether that be a personal, a group, or a community kind of relationship. For example, while the recent political campaign of Barack Obama was successful in its use of the most advanced communication technology, use was also made of town halls and community organizing. In these venues, personal, face to face connections could be made--people could interact with each other and form a sense of kinship that encouraged them to trust each other and work together for their common good. The personal connection is a powerful component in what people can accomplish together because it goes back to the most primal instincts of human beings--that of forming close social groups. By living and working together in social groups, people were able to survive difficult primitive conditions.
The phrase, "Six Degrees of Separation" was coined by John Guare in a play he wrote in 1990. The play explored the existential premise that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else in the world by a chain of no more than six acquaintances, thus, "six degrees of separation."
In the play, one of the characters states:
"I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation between us and everyone else on this planet. The President of the United States, a gondolier in Venice, just fill in the names. I find it A) extremely comforting that we're so close, and B) like Chinese water torture that we're so close because you have to find the right six people to make the right connection... I am bound to everyone on this planet by a trail of six people."[16] (From Wikipedia).
I must say, I had a most striking experience of this phenomenon, this kind of six degrees of separation just today at lunch. I met a beautiful young African American woman at Kuff's (Charles Kuffner) Democratic lunch bunch. She is the "communications coordinator" for Anise Parker's Houston mayoral candidacy. In talking with her about how her boss, Anise, would be a good mayor, I told her about our meeting to explore how a local community group might provide mutual aid and support to each other in times of economic uncertainty. I told her how we'd talked both about forming a local currency for exchange of goods and talents that may not currently be valued in the mainstream economy.
I told her about how we talked about the possibility that foreclosed houses or apartment buildings inside the loop in Houston could be purchased and remodeled to LEEDS standards with some of the federal stimulus money, and how this could help many people who were struggling to find affordable housing. Moreover I told her how this conversation came about in brainstorming about how there are a rising number of aging single women (and others, of course) who would prefer living in the city where they could form relationships with others who shared their values (and she added, in affirmation, "whether they were brown, black, or white, right?"--to which I added, of course! --She had just told me how she struggled to find affordable housing as a single female when she moved to Houston from Chicago several years ago.) And I added that, in fact, there are several women in our group that fit that characterization I described.
I also told her how we talked about our visions for renewing the city's transportation infrastructure, using federal stimulus money for building a light rail system that would cut down on the fossil fuels being used for suburban-city commuting purposes. Of course, I told her one of Mayor White's reasons for suggesting the idea of making inner city homes desirable, affordable, and energy smart was to cut down on the number of people having to commute into the city, not only because we are using a declining supply of foreign oil, but also because we are polluting our city skies.
After she gave me the answers she thought her boss would support and initiate if elected, we continued to talk more and I found she was enthusiastic about the idea of urban intentional community. She told me the area of town in which she lived might be an excellent starting place for exploring such community building. She expanded upon the thought of a group buying an apartment building to buying up a whole block where everyone knew each other and "had each other's backs".
Before we said our goodbyes, she smiled really big and said she had just been smiling inside the whole time since she'd first heard my name in introductions, (Thurman), because that had been the name of some of her father's people in Illinois. Chicago, I asked, since she'd said she moved here from there? No, she said, her father's people came from southern Illinois. Oh, really, I said, because my grandfather Thurman and grandmother were from that area, and had, in fact, met, swimming where the Missouri and Mississippi rivers converge at Cairo, Illinois. She, looking surprised and kind of amazed, said her father's people only lived about 40 miles from there. We both looked at each other with that kind of "knowing" look, and it was hard to break contact with each other's eyes, because we were likely telepathing (or tel-empathizing) that we were "connected" (who knows, but that we are blood relatives?).
Six degrees of separation?
Back to the line in the play where the character says, "I find it A) extremely comforting that we're so close, and B) like Chinese water torture that we're so close because you have to find the right six people to make the right connection... I am bound to everyone on this planet by a trail of six people."
(Texas needs this. Thanks to Citizen Sarah for keeping us posted on this. - promoted by boadicea)
Bright and early yesterday morning, US Representative Lloyd Doggett, State Senator Rodney Ellis, State Representative Mark Strama, and environmental and civil rights advocate Van Jones stood together to tout the Alliance for a Clean Texas' Texas Energy Future: Clean Jobs, Green Power Conference.
Rodney Ellis opened up the press conference, stating that this year's legislative session looks to be a very green session. He also mentioned, as he has before, that the legislature is at a crucial moment in terms of climate change action. If the legislature doesn't act this year, the federal government will likely pass and begin implementing comprehensive global warming legislation before the state legislature will have a chance to meet again. If Texas is not prepared for this kind of drastic policy change, we may not have a chance to address these issues again until 2011.
Senator Ellis then gave the mic over to the group he termed the "Dapper Three" (swoon!).
Join Public Citizen and the other Alliance for a Clean Texas member organizations in promoting a create a clean energy economy in Texas! We will lobby the Legislature to promote energy efficiency and renewables and implement a moratorium on coal. By working together, we can keep Texas clean, reduce risks to human health, and create sustainable jobs.
WHEN: Tuesday, February 17, 5-9 PM
WHERE: University Presbyterian Church, 2203 San Antonio St, Austin, TX 78705
Parking available in University Co-op Garage across the street.
Your favorite lobbyists will provide information, training, and a box dinner.
Lobby Day
WHEN: Wednesday, February 18, 8 AM-Noon
WHERE: Legislative Conference Center, Texas State Capitol, E2.002
Parking available in Capitol Visitors parking garage at 1201 San Jacinto located between Trinity and San Jacinto Streets at 12th and 13th Streets.
Following check-in, Lobby Day participants will visit their Texas State Representative and Senator and ask them to support clean energy legislation. They will also invite them to the Texas Energy Future conference later that morning in the Legislative Auditorium.
After lobbying, participants can attend the Texas Energy Future: Clean Power, Green Jobs conference with keynote speaker Van Jones and business leaders in the fields of energy efficiency and renewables. See the conference website for more information and to register today.
Following the conference, Public Citizen will host a mixer outside our office on 1303 San Antonio St. We hope to see you there!
Sarah McDonald is Public Citizen's Media Coordinator and blog lady. But that doesn't mean she's not her own person!
State requirements for the handling of coal ash vary widely. Some states, like Alabama, do not regulate it at all, except by means of federally required water discharge permits. In Texas, the vast majority of coal ash is not considered a solid waste, according to a review of state regulations by environmental groups. There are no groundwater monitoring or engineering requirements for utilities that dump the ash on site, as most utilities do, the analysis says.
In an era dubbed a "nuclear renaissance" by the nuclear industry and during which the Bush Administration has pushed one package of subsidies after another, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has indicated that they expect up to thirty applications to be filed to build additional nuclear plants. Currently, five or six of those proposals are moving through the complicated multi-stage process. Of these early applications, three of them (for 6 nuclear units, 2 per application) are proposed for Texas.
One of these applications is for Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, located four and a half miles northwest of Glen Rose in Somervell County and about 80 miles southwest of downtown Dallas. Luminant (formerly TXU) filed an application September 19, 2008 to build two additional nuclear units on this site.
The process of building and licensing the original pair of reactors at Comanche Peak turned into one of the most contentious - and frankly scary - developments that North Texas had seen in many years. By the time the plant was finished, it had come through major problems in the construction process, was hugely over budget and more than 10 years behind schedule, and had gone through a hard-fought licensing process that many believe added greatly to the safety of the plant. During that process, activists often questioned the objectivity of the NRC inspectors involved.
Given the problematic history of this plant's previous licensing process, one would think that the NRC would take particular care in making sure the public felt included in the process. But environmentalists, concerned citizens and the media were caught off guard when federal authorities waited until Christmas Eve to send out notice of a public hearing on the proposed expansion scheduled for January 6th.
Officials confirmed that electronic notices of the Jan. 6th meeting were sent Wednesday, Dec. 24th. In defense of their timing, the NRC pointed the media to an online news release dated Friday, Dec. 19th. Though dated for Friday, the release was not actually posted to the website until Monday, Dec. 22nd.
The notification system is supposed to let interested parties know when these events are occurring in a timely fashion. Burying the notice on Christmas Eve hardly holds to this standard.
Citizens who wish to comment at the hearing are required to register by tomorrow. They may also register at the hearings, as long as they show up at least five minutes before the hearings begin. Unfortunately, individuals who have failed to give prior notice may be given a limited amount of time to speak.
The agency is also taking written comments on its environmental impact statement up to Feb. 17th. But even that may be a short time-frame for fashioning an effective response to the NRC's lengthy draft report (available at the Somervell County Library, 108 Allen Drive in Glen Rose, and at the Hood County Library, 222 North Travis St., in Granbury). Both of these libraries were closed Christmas Day and will of course be closed New Year's Day, shortening the amount of time available for public access to these reports. You can download a copy of the report from NRC's website, but it consists of 320 documents, some as small as a few kilobytes, but some as large as 2.65 mb. For the uninitiated, look specifically at Part 3: Environmental Report of Luminant's transmittal letter for Comanche Peak COLA.
These public hearings are no minor matter. They will initiate the process of determining the environmental impact of doubling the plant's nuclear fuel cycle - including the question of what to do with dangerous spent fuel rods. The building that now houses the spent fuel from the plant's operation was originally designed to hold the waste for seven years before it could be trucked off to a permanent waste location. Two decades later, the federal government has yet to find an appropriate long term disposal site. Comanche Peak, like all nuclear plants in the country, is storing the highly radioactive material in crowded spent fuel pools on-site.
The public deserves the opportunity to have their questions answered and give input on the proposed expansion. Unfortunately, the timing and manner of the notification makes it seem as though this new plant is being shoved down our throats. The NRC and the nuclear energy industry need to do better than this.
Today in reading a review of Andrew J. Bacevich's "Limits to Power: The End of American Exceptionalism" on the Daily Kos, The End of American Exceptionalism link (What no President will Acknowledge), I was confronted again with my own personal conflict in bridging the gap between my desire for individual freedom and my need for being a responsible family or group member. Allowing the personal introspection to guide me in the political discovery process I've been pursuing (Finding my own Voice link), I came to a more enlightened understanding of the purpose behind the system of checks and balances our founders built into the Constitution.
It's very basic: Individual freedom is a desired state of being which 'should' only be limited by social responsibility. Social responsibility necessarily limits the expression of individual freedom under certain conditions, the primary condition being the need for preserving the social good--the "common good" or "commonwealth".
All the ills being discussed in the book and in the review about America as a Power, and Presidents/Chief Executives, as Powers, originate in this one conflict.
Power can and will be misused in human systems. Individual, executive, imperial power will/can be used to dominate and control others for private advantage. At the same time, concerns for the good of the whole can suppress and smother individual freedom and excellence by giving undue focus to the need for preserving the social order, which results in bringing the full range of individual differences down to the lowest common denominator.
Both these purviews of power, are necessary for our survival--human survival--the survival of life on earth. Yes, Life.on.Earth! We need both individual excellence, the freedom to engage in self-actualization, and a self-discipline that engages us in remaining socially responsible in our endeavors. These two traits can be seen at play in the practices of competition and cooperation, of opportunism and altruism. Humans are the only species on earth who have the power of discernment and choice in carrying out the achievement of goals and the maintenance of resources--and who have the ability to misuse that power in such a way as to upset the balance of life on our planet.
When individual excellence/achievement/ambition, or imperial exceptionalism/dominance/avarice get out of hand, the social order, the living system of nature is put at risk of collapse.
On the other hand, when a repressive social order, such as that of Lenin and Stalin is over-built and forced onto the people--when all individual freedom and opportunity are squelched in lieu of the so-called good of the state (whole), then the 'living system' is also out of balance and at risk for stagnation.
It is the first imbalance mentioned here, (that of individual/national exceptionalism vs the survival of the whole/the planet), that plagues us today and is the premise of this discussion.
Systems growing out of balance become dysfunctional at greater degrees until they push past the "tipping point" and collapse into chaos and disorder. It's up for grabs then who or what controls the next form of order and rule--and the results of the collapse limit the conditions under which that new order is established.
We are presently seeing as a result of our American exceptionalism, the tipping point of global climate change and the limits of our global energy resources. We are seeing the limits of our debt-based economy, an economy that depends on an ever-expanding growth with an ever-increasing diminishment of our limited natural resources.
Take the "middle way", was the advice of Daedalus to his son, Icarus, upon gifting him with the wings he'd fashioned for him. Held together with wax, their efficacy would not be sustainable soaring at great heights (too near the heat of the Sun). Father cautioned son not to fly too high, but to go the "middle way" across the tumultuous waters or be at risk of falling into their grasp to be tossed and torn apart.
We all know Icarus, in his hubris, in his greedy desire for exceptionalism, did fly too high and so fell to his fate.
Aristotle, too, cautioned us that "the secret of happiness is in the moderation of all things." I'm thinking he meant a functioning system has checks and balances that allow it to run homeostatically. Alas, systems do wear out and lose energy--they fall into collapse and restructure themselves according to a new and more efficient and effective order, or else they come to the end of their niche in the whole. Unpredictable variables come into play during such a first order change as that.
We are in grave circumstances. We are presently embarking upon such a first order change-a major systems change. It may be that few of our established powers and principles will guide us through it. We are challenged to resolve this current dilemma and yet, so far, we founder in uncertainty. Perhaps this process will take us to the edge of our known reality, and require in our next step, an evolution in our knowledge and ability to govern ourselves sustainably. Talk about "one giant leap for mankind"!
Only a wise and benevolent leadership, and an awakened and educated citizenry can take the rudder and guide our ship of state, our planet earth through this maelstrom and into a sustainable future if, in fact, it is within our purview of power at all. At least now, in the environment of change we have installed in the recent electoral process, I have hope.
(Not just "No", but "Hell NO!" - promoted by boadicea)
Time and time again Ralph Hall tells voters that American soldiers will have to "fight a war and take some energy away from someone." Does this represent your values? It doesn't represent mine. I believe it's time to stop talking about stealing and to start investing in America.
My campaign has produced a short video using Hall's own words to expose his values. Please circulate it to your family and friends.
We have twelve days left to spread the word and fight for change in Texas. Donate today and help put this commercial on the air: https://secure.actblue.com/con...
There is also the report that estimates 10 billion barrels of oil off of the coast of California could be accessible within one year, contrary to what the EIA report assumes:
We have been over all of this before. Like an alcoholic frantically searching for change to buy just one more bottle, the GOP is turning over the couch cushions, scrounging through unused drawers, looking where ever they can for drops of precious oil. 10 Billion barrels of light, sweet California crude, just laying there, waiting for us to come and get them. Let's put it in perspective shall we?
A competitive energy market is the key to driving down consumer prices. Right now big oil has a monopoly. We can take steps now to fix this problem. That's why I welcome the new bipartisan energy compromise. The New Energy Reform Act of 2008 includes significant investments in alternative-fuel vehicles; repeals tax breaks for big oil, and opens new areas to offshore drilling. We have to break the gridlock in Congress. American families and small businesses need an energy policy that works for us.
A group of Republican and Democratic Senators unveiled "The New Energy Reform Act of 2008." They pulled ideas from both sides of the aisles in order to reach a deal as fast as possible.
Key features of the bill include:
Providing consumer tax credits of up to $7,500 per vehicle to motivate Americans to buy advanced alternative-fuel vehicles and up to $2,500 to retrofit existing vehicles with advanced alternative-fuel engines
Closing tax loopholes for energy corporations
Increasing the staff at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and funding research and development on nuclear waste recycling
Permitting oil and gas exploration beyond a 50 mile buffer zone off the coast of Florida, Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, if those states approve
Maintaining the ban on drilling in ANWAR and close to the coast
(Last day of the month-kick in a little cash for Glenn if you can, and definitely help put him over the top in PE's poll. - promoted by boadicea)
It's time to change fundamentally the dynamics of the energy industry. America's future depends on clean, affordable energy from a variety of sources. In the 1970s America faced a similar challenge to today's energy crisis. A small group of countries had threatened the prosperity of the entire world. The United States Congress led the way to reducing our nation's reliance on foreign oil, requiring new technologies to reduce home and automobile energy use. Instead of the disaster the doomsayers predicted, consumption fell and the economy bounced back. A wise energy policy makes a stronger America.
(Excellent news on this poll. We can't drill our way to energy independence. WE HAVE TO INNOVATE TO IT. - promoted by boadicea)
According to a recent poll, by Belden, Russonello & Stewart, more Americans support investing in new energy technology rather than expanding oil exploration and drilling.
