WolfeNotes.com

“We don’t just keep up with changing times, we set the pace”

[Update 2 : 6/26/11 – Just read the NY Times story. So, in addition to a questionable corporate co-chair, Obama provided no policy agenda and no real funding. How is it possible to stimulate what Obama described as a “renaissance” without policy or money? As the Times story alludes to, Obama is beginning to deliver the same message in swing states. So, my take is that this initiative is more rhetoric and political message, than policy. It is an “umbrella”,  not for policy coordination, but as a political shield against criticism on the jobs front.

Again, this is a huge missed opportunity, because Obama could have really used this initiative as a way to pivot from his economic austerity (budget deficit dominated) agenda driven by Wall Street finance and Republican Teabaggers, to a major New Deal like Keynesian jobs and domestic investment program, and political response to: 1) Depression Era unemployment; 2) huge infrastructure deficits; and 3) tremendous renewable energy opportunities.

Update 1: 6/25/11 – a supporter delicately let me know that the Obama’s “Advanced Manufacturing Partnership” initiative is co-chaired by Dow Chemical Corp. That’s not a very good sign. Dow is not the kind of innovation or manufacturing we need. The chemical industry expects that the Dow appointment will result in favorable regulatory policies  for the chemical industry. Dow co-chair also champions free trade – which has been used to destroy US manufacturing, offshore jobs, and implement a corporate race to the bottom strategy of cost reduction by sacrificing environmental and labor protections for windfall profits. This is the crap I hate most about Obama – the rhetoric soars and the fine print sucks. Gotta fine print and fact check everything with this guy. That’s a real problem when he can smoke a hard core skeptic (borderline cynic) like myself. Or maybe I’m just getting lazy and just was looking for some good news on a Friday afternoon. But at least the Universities that are participating are all elite.]

President Obama spoke today at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) about technological innnovation and reinvigoration of the US manufacturing sector (watch it).

Here is the text of the speech (with more pictures from White House blog)

Not only did I enjoy the speech, but I’m proud to say that both my kids attend CMU, a world class University with roots in Pittsburgh’s steel mills (Andrew Carnegie’s motto: “My heart is in the work“).

My son just graduated with honors and will move on to a PhD program in computer science at Johns Hopkins. My daughter just finished her junior year at CMU’s Tepper business school. (Ironically, I declined a full scholarship from Carnegie Tech in 1975).

As someone who views these issues from environmental and economic justice perspectives, I was pleased by Obama’s linkage of innovation to renewable energy and green jobs and focus on domestic opportunities.

As a member of the Luddite school (the Luddites got a bum rap), a skeptic of technology, and a critic of the positivists and technological utopians, I was comforted that Obama, at the outset, explicitly recognized that there were social and economic dislocations associated with the “creative destruction” of technological innovation.

However, I wish he had gone further and talked about the devastation caused by the conscious deindustrialization of America and structural flaws in our finance driven economy.

And Obama may have gone over the line in reinforcing the great American myth. He praised the “adventurous pioneering spirit” of the sole technological innovator (you know: the unfunded and obscure individual – from Henry Ford and Thomas Edison to Steve Gates – working in the garage, that produce great breakthroughs).

In contrast to the myth of the 19th century rugged individualist, innovations in science and technology today are driven by large institutions, huge public investments, and collaborative efforts.

Obama himself recognized this reality by noting the critical role of the University in conducting research that was does not have an immediate commercial application and thus does not attract private capital investment.

These economic investment realities (what I learned were “public goods” and “market failures”, back in the day of “industrial policy”) are what drive the need for public investment – and university development and incubation.

These are major policy premises of Obama’s “Assuring Leadership in Advanced American Manufacturing“.

I hope these critical issues get more attention by both the media and the political process.

Carnegie Mellon University

Dear Star Ledger PolitiFact:

The Star Ledger’s State House reporter was on NJN Reporters Roundtable last night and discussed Governor Christie’s proposed changes to the Energy Master Plan and withdrawal from the regional greenhouse gas initiative (RGGI). (discussion starts about the 11 minute mark).

We just learned of your service and ask that you tee this issue up for some fact checking!

They showed a clip of the Gov saying that the 30% renewable energy goal was “never achievable” and “the previous EMP laid out no realistic path to get there” (to aid your fact checking research, here is the prior 30% goal and how to get there.).

Yesterday, federal officials released bids to develop 12,500 megawatts of off shore wind – so that needs to inform your economic feasibility assessment. (DEP spun a press release, taking credit for the federal bids, a transparent attempt to divert attention away from Christie’s renewable energy rollback).

The Star Ledger reporter chimed in and said there seemed to be a shift – “not in this administration, but in government, about what the goal is”.

We say that is FALSE on multiple grounds – and rely on this evidence.

The Ledger reporter then parroted the Gov.’s claim that he merely was seeking to lower electric rates to promote economic development.

She then said that “some say” that RGGI “costs a lot” and some say “it doesn’t cost anything”.  (Again this was false. First of all, no one says that RGGI doesn’t cost “anything”. Here is BPU breakdown of electic rates to aid your fact check).

She also echoed the Gov.’s claims that high electric rates drive companies out of NJ and discourage new economic development in NJ, as companies locate in other lower electric rate states (why not just put Drewniak on the show and eliminate the middle man?)

Five different fact claims need to be tested:

1) BPU publishes the components of electric bills so it is easy to document that Steve Lonegan, political ads by Americans for Prosperity, and Gov. Christie are lying about the alleged high costs of RGGI.

RGGI cost 24 cents per month (assuming a $100/month electric bill).

Describing this as “some say” is really bad journalism – some are lying and others are using facts.

2) The distribution of costs and benefits is being distorted by claiming that costs are reduced for everybody.

Low income people and homeowners lose programs that provide energy audits, insulation, efficient hot water heaters, and rooftop solar (and the thousands of jobs that do this work will be lost),  while profitable major corporations will get subsidies instead.

On electric costs, distributionally, under Christie policy, my costs go down by 12 cents per month, while major corporations save thousands or millions of dollars.

And WE ALL LOSE FUNDS FOR IMPORTANT PROGRAMS THAT REDUCE ENERGY USE WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN RATES.

3) The critical difference between electric rates and bills is being ignored.

Example for the mathematically challenged: a 15% higher electric rate with a 25% lower use results in a LOWER BILL (and lower pollution). We all pay into a fund that helps reduce energy use – thus we SAVE MONEY. And this doesn’t count reduced infrastructure costs and lower pollution and health costs.

To aid your fact check, the BPU published data is here.

Why is this so hard to communicate?

4) I know of no credible independent study that says NJ’s electric rates cause job loss, discourage location, or lower economic development. Please ask Gov. to document those claims.

5) Business lobbyists have repeatedely falsely claimed that energy “taxes” and surcharges (like SBC and RGGI) increase electric rates by 25% – but the actual figure is closer to 15% (see above BPU breakdown). Please call out NJBIA and Chamber of Commerce lobbyists on this.

Thanks,

A Constant Critic

More Nuke and Fossil Generation – Scaled Back Commitments to Conservation, Efficiency, and Renewables

Governor Christie just held a long awaited press conference on release of his revisions to the 2008 Energy Master Plan adopted by the Corzine Administration.

I joined the press conference in progress, but not too late to hear the Governor call the Corzine EMP’s 30% renewable energy goal a “pie in the sky sop” to special interest groups with no realistic path to implementation of that goal.

So, before I go back and read the Christie EMP and write about it in detail, I thought folks might want to know what Christie just called a “pie in the sky sop” – to be replaced by more polluting fossil power and nuke generation:

While the goal of 22.5% by 2020 is aggressive and strong compared to other states, New Jersey can do more to develop an energy infrastructure that is less carbon intensive and less reliant on the volatility of the current energy markets. In fact, the State can surpass the goals of this RPS by implementing the following action items:

• Change the solar energy goals from a percentage of 2.12% to a goal of 2,120 GWh by 2020.

• Develop New Jersey’s wind energy resources, including at least 1000 MW of offshore wind by the end of 2012, and at least 3000 MW of offshore wind and up to 200 MW of onshore wind by 2020.

• Develop 900 MW of biofuels and biomass as part of the State’s 2020 RPS.

• Increase support for other renewable energy technologies.

• Increase the RPS for the years 2021 to 2025.

Together, it is estimated that these renewable energy goals will provide more than 20,000 GWh of clean and renewable electricity generation to the State’s consumers by 2020.

Based on projected reductions in energy consumption and the cogeneration goals, listed under Goal 1 and Goal 4 of this plan respectively, this total demand for electricity supply in the State may be as low as 68,300 GWh in 2020. This would result in renewable energy generation supplying approximately 30% of the State’s overall electricity demand (page 67)

No actions steps to implement the goal? Pie in the sky?

[Update: 2/21/11 – The Atlantic City Press reports on another bomb that went off – and instead of responding and doing theri job, DEP irresponsibly ducked again and dumped the problem in the County’s lap. See: Port Republic officials say oil leak may force teardown of City Hall

The spill occurred in late January when oil leaked into the ground through a small hole in an above-ground tank. A new tank was installed and a cleanup occurred. A week later, the building was shut down after employees who work at the Main Street building complained of nausea and headaches.

Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the state was alerted about the spill and referred cleanup efforts to Atlantic County. County Emergency Preparedness Director Vincent Jones could not be reached for comment last week.

It’s groundhog day at the nation’s most notorious toxic waste site – Love Canal:[full story]

Contamination related to Love Canal found in LaSalle – ˜Volatile organic compounds” stemming from Love Canal found during routine pipe work

NIAGARA FALLS – A chemical compound found by a contractor working in a LaSalle neighborhood has been connected to Love Canal-era contamination, multiple sources confirmed to the Niagara Gazette on Thursday.

The substance was found last week when a Niagara Falls Water Board contractor, working in the vicinity of the 70-acre Love Canal containment structure, broke into a clay pipe, releasing a chemical compound.

The compound released from the pipe produced an odor which could be smelled blocks away from the site of the excavation, the contractor said.

The fact that history repeated itself at Love Canal came as a shock to many, so I assume that people would be suprised to learn that a technically similar – but far less well known – case was reported this week in a story from the Belleville Times. That story shows that another ticking chemical timebomb has gone off.

For the statewide context for this local story, see: NEW JERSEY CLOSING ITS NOSE TO VAPOR INTRUSION CRISIS – Vapor Intrusion Rules Cast into Regulatory Limbo as Horror Stories Multiply

Belleville urges Walter-Kidde neighbors to take precaution [click for full story]

Homes and businesses near the former Walter Kidde industrial site may be contaminated by a cancer-causing chemical, trichloroethylene, according to Belleville officials.

DALE MINCEY/BELLEVILLE TIMES

TCE, which removes grease from metal parts, can cause nerve, kidney, and liver damage when inhaled for “long periods” of time, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry. Clinical studies on mice and rats have further suggested that “high levels” of TCE can result in liver, kidney or lung cancer.

Neighboring property owners believed to be at risk received a letter from the Belleville Department of Health last week. They were invited to attend an information session on Wednesday. About 16 residents showed up, along with several township officials, and the environmental specialist and attorney representing Belleville in a complaint against the site’s current owners.

“Two people in my house had cancer in the last 10 years, and when I read this…” said resident Diane Bruno. “We thought this was said and done,” she added of the issues surrounding the site.

History

The township and the Department of Environmental Protection knew for years that there was some groundwater contamination at the former Walter Kidde site, located at 675 Main St., township officials said. However, DEP officials had said the “chlorinated solvent” in the groundwater was contained to the Walter Kidde land and posed no imminent danger to neighbors.

“Groundwater moves, but as far as we know, it’s currently [staying] on the property,” DEP spokesman Larry Hagna told the Times in October.

Since then, the township has discovered that the current owners “hid” some information pertinent to their property’s contamination, Township Attorney Thomas Murphy said.

This is another example of negligent oversight and borderline criminal incompetence at the DEP cleanup program.

We predicted this and issued warnings almost 5 years ago: MERCURY-LADEN DAY-CARE CENTER IN NEW JERSEY IS NO ANOMALY – Lax State Brownfield Laws Make Tragedy an Accident Waiting to Happen

This is yet another example of “vapor intrusion” –  how chemicals can migrate through groundwater, soil, and along infrastructure to poison people in buildings without their knowledge.

The NJ vapor intrusion poster child is the Dupont site, in Pompton Lakes, where 450 or more homes have been poisoned and elevated cancer rates have been documented by State health officials.

DEP knows exactly where all these potential “vapor intrusion” sites are located.

The sites (i.e. sites with known volatile organic chemicals in groundwater) are mapped in DEP’s  Geographic Information System (GIS) data layers (hit this link – scroll down for “groundwater contamination areas“). (Here is DEP GIS FAQ, which identifies software needed to access these maps)

Despite these known health risks, DEP refuses to act proactively to get control of these sites and warn people who live nearby who are being poisoned.

Again, local officials were unaware of what was going on at a highly contaminated site and forced to act and warn their residents – all because DEP failed to do so.

This DEP failure to act is an outrage (see “A Big Map for Toxic Site Cleanup“).

DEP knows exactly what needs to be done (but is doing the opposite – even weakening groundwater cleanup requirements).

History

Back in 2007, in the wake of the Kiddie Kollege scandal, where 60 toddlers were poisoned by chemical vapors in a daycare center (located in a former industrial mercury battery manufacturing building, which was a known toxic site where that DEP failed to monitor or enforce a cleanup Order) DEP conducted a statewide vapor intrusion investigation.

But that 2007 investigation was very narrowly targeted at daycare centers and schools (see: 60 MORE NEW JERSEY DAY-CARE CENTERS NAMED ON TOXIC WARNINGS – Hundreds of Homes, Schools and Other Facilities May Also Be Vulnerable

Immediate Reforms Needed

DEP must conduct a real statewide vapor intrusion investigation and response, including:

• mapping all potential sites and surrounding homes and buildings;
• warning local officials and surrounding neighbors of the risks;
• sampling building interiors;
• installing vapor mitigation systems; and
• enforcing cleanup requirements adn making polluters pay.

DEP can no longer sit back and wait for polluters to develop cleanup plans – they have shown no interest in cleanups and do everything possible to avoid, delay, or reduce cleanup costs.

Call your legislators and demand a statewide investigation. DEP knows where all these ticking timebombs are located.