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Is it ripe yet?

Message From The Front Porch (February 18, 2017)

We posted on this topic back on February 19, 2017, see additional photos at:

• Dog Democracy

Since then, its been all downhill.

I often get way out in front of an issue and then am compelled to rail on the mainstream corporate press and lame progressives, and then feel obligated to castigate them when events vindicate my analysis.

So, after yesterday’s US Senate Floor speech, I ask: Is it ripe yet?

Another funder driven biased story

Richard Mroz, founder of NJ Energy Coalition and current BPU President

NJ Spotlight ran a story today that again raises troubling issues about journalistic integrity, see:

• STATE WANTS TO HELP GET A FEW CNG-POWERED VEHICLES ON ROAD

Journalism can be biased by acts of commission and omission – this story has both faults.

The story has just one “source”, the NJ Board of Public Utilities. And there is no context provided so it reads like a BPU press release.

The story has just one quote, highly selective and highly spun, by BPU President Mroz:

“This is yet another positive step in implementing the state Energy Master Plan policies that supports alternative fuel vehicles comprehensively and are accelerating the adoption of alternative fuel vehicles, including electric and CNG vehicles,’’ said Richard Mroz, president of the BPU. “In making these grants we can gauge interest in cleaner and quieter-running CNG trucks and buses.’’

So much for commission.

The story also leaves out highly relevant facts, including:

1) BPU President Mroz is former gas industry lobbyist. He has a gross conflict of interest and has abused ethical norms by failing to disclose his conflicts and recuse himself from BPU decisions that benefit his former legal and lobby clients and members and associates at NJ Energy Coalition.

Specifically, Mr. Mroz was a founder, lobbyist, and senior advisor to the NJ Energy Coalition. 

Here is how Ed Salmon, the current Chairman NJ Energy Coalition describes the founding in testimony to the NJ Senate:

In August 2007, my partner Richard Mroz and I launched a new statewide organization – The New Jersey Energy Coalition. The Coalition’s focus is to provide a reliable third-party voice in the discussion on New Jersey’s energy needs. The Coalition was very involved in the New Jersey Energy Master Plan and has provided discussion and educational initiatives on energy conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, generation needs, and transmission challenges, to name a few.

Here is the 2007 launch press coverage – note that specific existing corporate energy facilities are mentioned, so the Coalition was far more than some generic “reliable third party voice”. They represented specific corporate interests and continue to do so. The Link to then existing NJEC is dead

Here are just some of the members of the NJ Energy Coalition, which include the law firm that represented South Jersey Gas and corporate interests in the Pinelands pipeline and BL England battles, including pipeline and natural gas companies that benefit from BPU approvals:

Cozen O’Connor: Cozen O’Connor is one of the top law firms in the country, employing over 600 attorneys in cities spanning two continents. This international firm has practices in litigation, business law and government relations.

New Jersey Natural Gas: New Jersey Natural Gas is a New Jersey Resources company dedicated to providing safe, reliable, and competitively priced natural gas services including transportation, distribution, and asset management.

NJ Petroleum Council: The New Jersey Petroleum Council is a state council of the American Petroleum Institute, that helps companies follow the status of regulatory and legislative issues impacting the oil and natural gas industries.

Orange & Rockland: Orange and Rockland is a gas utility headquartered in New York, and with its two subsidiaries serves over 750,000 people in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

PennEast Pipeline Company: PennEast Pipeline Company is made up of six companies; AGL Resources, NJR Pipeline Company, PSE&G Power, South Jersey Industries, Spectra Energy, and UGL Industries. The company has plans to create the PennEast Pipeline that will provide customers with savings due to the reduced price of the transportation and the cost of natural gas.

Public Service Enterprise Group: Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) is a publicly traded diversified energy company headquartered in New Jersey, and one of the ten largest electric companies in the U.S. PSEG’s principal subsidiaries are: Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G), PSEG Power and PSEG Energy Holdings.

RC Cape May Holdings: RC Cape May Holdings is an entity formed by Rockland Capital, Energy Investors Funds and other investors in order to acquire the BL England Power Station.

South Jersey Gas: South Jersey Gas serves customers in 112 municipalities spanning over 2,500 square miles, or one-third of the geographic area of New Jersey. This service area includes all of Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties and parts of Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties. The majority of new home construction on their mains choose to heat with natural gas.

Here is Mr. Mroz’s BPU bio: note boldface:

Before becoming President of the NJBPU he worked in private practice as a lawyer and lobbyist as Managing Director of Archer Public Affairs in Trenton, New Jersey and Of Counsel to Archer & Greiner P.C., in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

Here is how Archer Public Affairs describes their work (emphasis mine):

 HELPED ENERGY CO. SUCCESSFULLY RESPOND TO CRUDE OIL SPILL CRISIS

• Represented energy company regarding multi-million gallon crude oil spill at a refinery, a high-profile event because fumes reached neighborhoods for miles around.
• Served as liaison between the company and state government regulators.
• Conducted numerous conversations, conferences and correspondence with ground-level regulatory staff and high-level elected and appointed officials, keeping them apprised of issues and progress, and relaying information to the client as needed.
• Cleanup and state inspection went smoothly; government officials appreciated easy access to updates and information.
• Importantly, about a month before the spill, the firm had arranged a meet-and-greet with state officials, a recent contact that helped immeasurably during the emergent situation.

Here is “Sourcewatch” database on the NJ Energy Coalition which cites the group’s website:

Leadership

From the group’s website: [16]

• Dr. Edward H. Salmon, chairman – He also founded Salmon Ventures, “a strategic consulting firm based in New Jersey.”
• Richard S. Mroz, senior advisor – He “served as Chief Counsel to Governor Christie Todd-Whitman and was responsible for legislative affairs, negotiating the state budget, and advising the Governor and legal and policy matters. He also served as the Governor’s counsel and liaison for the state’s largest independent authorities including the Turnpike Authority, Water Supply Authority and New Jersey and the Environmental Infrastructure Trust.”

2) NJ Natural Gas is corporate funder of NJ Spotlight (a fact disclosed on NJ Spotlight website).

3) NJ BPU is doing an awful job in getting electric vehicle infrastructure installed.

4) methane is a potent greenhouse gas. Some scientific studies suggest that it is as bad as coal in global warming potential.

5) The $200,000 BPU grant is a corporate subsidy for the development costs of a CNG vehicle program.

6) No technical performance or cost effectiveness criteria for the program were even suggested by BPU. Nor was a comparative evaluation methodology with other alternative fuels suggested, especially renewables.

7) CNG investments compete with renewables

8) The Christie Energy Master Plan is controversial and has come under huge criticism for failure to address climate change and for promotion of fossil fuels, especially natural gas.

9) Governor Christie has diverted over $1 billion of Clean Energy Fund revenues to pay for his corporate tax cuts. These funds are used to subsidize energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. The Gov. has opposed subsidies to renewables but not to fossil fuels, especially gas.

10) The so called “cheap price” of gas is a false claim because it fails to include economic externalities that have been quantified and characterized by federal regulators as “the social costs of carbon”.

Other than that, it was a good story.

Heck of a job NJ Spotlight!

I’ve not been following the NJ Gov.’s race, but after reading today’s NJ Spotlight story about the Obama visit and endorsement, I thought I’d look at Murphy’s environmental issues agenda.

I was particularly pleased by the the Obama event’s valid and strong criticisms of Trump, including this statement by candidate Murphy:

“In 19 days, the world is going to be looking at New Jersey,” he said. “In 19 days, the world is going to look and see what kind of politics do we believe in, what kind of community do we believe in, what are our priorities, what are our values, what do we want to teach our kids what kind of message do we want to send to them?”

So, I thought I’d take Murphy up on his observation and see what kind of  politics and policies he believes in.

The headline to this press release immediately caught my eye: Labor & Environmental Leaders Give Strong Support to Sheila Oliver for Lieutenant Governor.

Obviously, it is important to know who Murphy views as an “environmental leader”.

That’s when I almost fell off my chair in reading this:

Kelly Mooij, Political Chair, New Jersey League of Conservation Voters Board:
“Phil Murphy chose an environmental steward in Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver, who joins the Democratic gubernatorial ticket as a candidate for lieutenant governor. Like Murphy, the former Assembly speaker from Essex County is a strong supporter of environmental protections and is prepared to lead New Jersey on key environmental issues like clean energy, climate change, and removing lead in drinking water … We believe Murphy and Oliver will work tirelessly to improve the quality of the air, drinking water, and open spaces for all New Jersey residents to enjoy.”

Does the Murphy campaign or the candidate himself know that Ms. Mooij serves as Vice President for Governmental Affairs at NJ Audubon?

And that NJ Audubon has a “partnership” with Donald Trump at his Bedminster Golf Course?

Aside from the many reprehensible outrages of Trump, that golf course has been the focus of significant critical national press attention, e.g. “Secret Service Spends $13,500 on Golf Cart Rentals on Trump’s Bedminster Golf Trip.

Read NJ Audubon’s own website, which brags about the Trump deal, as part of its “Corporate Stewardship” program: 

TRUMP NATIONAL GOLF CLUB SIGNS 10-YEAR AGREEMENT FOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION ON ITS BEDMINSTER, NJ COURSE

.

I challenge the Murphy campaign to distance themselves from NJ Audubon and repudiate the Trump-Audubon deal.

Based on the recognition of and reliance on Ms Mooij as a “leader”, I question whether the Murphy administration will enact corporate friendly “corporate stewardship” policies that groups like NJ LCV and NJ Audubon support.

Where is the press corps on these controversial issues?

Where is NJ Spotlight, who almost exclusively covers environmental policy in NJ?

Flawed Plan, Inadequate Resources, & Over-reliance on Local Government

Source: California Hazard Mitigation Plan (2013)

My seat of the pants hypothesis is that the California Proposition 13 anti-tax, anti-government and anti-regulatory culture contributed to needless deaths and destruction.

Intro Note – With respect to wildfire protection, you’re on your own folks – read how the so called progressive State of California adopted a radical Ayn Rand individual responsibility approach that is expressly embedded in the  California Hazard Mitigation Plan, which makes it clear that you’re on your own:

 An informed, educated public that takes responsibility for its own decisions relating to wildfire protection (see plan and links below)

I’ve written a lot about the role of climate change in wildfires, so today will post a quick note – with the upfront caveat that I am not an expert on California and I have not adequately researched this issue – about the role of State Hazard Mitigation Planning.

Perhaps this superficial analysis and the questions I raise here might spur others to wade into those weeds.

In the massive press reports on the California wildfires, climate change is not the only major issue that is under-reported or not covered at all by the mainstream corporate media.

Here’s something important that you don’t see a lot of media coverage of:

Neither Napa nor Sonoma counties alerted residents of the fires through Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) systems. Despite the fact that such technology is readily available, many of the dead and injured were caught sleeping, completely unprepared for what was coming. In some cases the victims did not hear horns or the desperate knocking of neighbors. Many rural residents beyond the reach of local police departments were left with no warning at all, their limited escape routes quickly engulfed by flames.

But the Washington Post reported yesterday that in neighboring Lake County, due north of Sonoma, local officials did send out an emergency blast that activated all cellphones, “turning them into the equivalent of squawking alarms.” Untold lives were saved by this activation of the WEA. Lake County is the only affected county that has reported zero fire deaths. ~~~  Why weren’t residents warned about the Northern California fires?

Why weren’t people warned? Why was the response and evacuation so bad?

Federal law requires that States prepare and submit Hazard Mitigation Plans to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a condition of receipt of federal funds.

Here is a link to the California Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP).

The objectives of that plan include an extensive discussion of wildfire risks and overall management (see Chapter 5 2013 SHMP Chapter 5 – Earthquakes, Floods, and Wildfires: Risks and Mitigation.

Without even reading the Plan, just looking at the various maps of the fires raise questions.

For example, compare the above map from the California HMP with the map below of the locations of wildfires – It sure looks like the counties with the worst wildfires (i.e Sonoma) are mapped as “low risk” in the California Plan based on FEMA.

Source: Time

But the FEMA funded risk map above conflicts with these State and local risk maps:

Source: California HMP

Source: California HMP

In scanning the HMP, it seems like California shares the same fundamental weakness of the NJ HMP – while California clearly addresses climate change while NJ does not, like NJ, California’s HMP has an over-reliance on and delegation to local governments for implementation and financing.

Here’s how California justifies the allocation of responsibility to State government:

Were the wildfires located in a State Responsibility Area? That last sentence suggests a local responsibility.

Who is responsible for paying? Again, we don’t get a clear answer in the California HMP:

The California HMP very clearly anticipates the problem:

California also recently passed a law regarding wildfire:

I urge some intrepid journalists out there to delve into this Plan and conduct a critical analysis of State’s role.

My seat of the pants hypothesis is that the California Proposition 13 anti-tax, anti-government and anti-regulatory culture contributed to needless deaths and destruction.

What a long strange trip it’s been

South Bay, between Eastport and Lubec Maine, most northeastern point on continental US

You’re sick of hangin’ around and you’d like to travel,
Get tired of travelin’ and you want to settle down.
I guess they can’t revoke your soul for tryin’,
Get out of the door and light out and look all around.

Sometimes the light’s all shinin’ on me,
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it’s been. ~~~ Truckin’ (Grateful Dead, 1970)

After 6 months, 36 states, scores of National Parks and National Forests, and 17,000 miles, today’s post serves as a bookend to our August 27, 2017 post “Pacific Northwest”, where we posted lovely photos of Cape Flattery, the most northwestern point on the mainland US.

Today, we post from the most northeastern town (Eastport, Maine) and city (Lubec, Maine) in the US.

Lubec Maine, very cool little town

But before we get to the pretty Maine coast photos, I must share the depression of northern Maine, where the tourists fear to roam.

And by northern Maine, I don’t mean Mt. Katahdin (northern terminus of the AT and nearby AT Cafe in otherwise devastated Millinocket, perhaps my favorite cafe on the whole trip) or Baxter State Park, where they make the out of state tourists shell out a minimum of $31, for just one night ($10 entrance fee and $21 for a campsite – I turned around at the gate).

Call it a “Dispatch from the Domain of Double Wides and Deaths of Despair”:

The above was maybe one of the nicer places in this part of the state, where Trump support and displays are widespread. As I took this photo, the homeowner ran out after me in a very menacing way. I got back in the van and the hell out of there before he could get his rifle.

This forgotten economic wasteland is Trumpland. I thought northern New Hampshire was bad, but northern Maine was even bleaker.

But here’s the pretty side of Maine, where the tourists go – see the captions for locations:

Roosevelt Campobello International Park

Acadia National Park

Schoodic Point, Acadia NP

view from Cadillac Mt. – Sentimental value: I have the same shot over 20 years ago with my 5 year old son sitting on that rock.

Bar Harbor, from Cadillac Mt. There were 2 large cruise ships in the Harbor

Sand Beach – hardly California, but…

Pemaquid Pond

Bouy lounges on the dock. We camped in boat launch lot – this was the only place on the whole trip where I got a knock on the van at 3 am by local Sheriff. He let us stay, but only after I lied about being there to fish.