TommyWonk

Dubai World Misses a Debt Payment

2009-11-29T22:12:00.003-05:00

Perhaps you thought all of the asset bubbles had burst last year. Not so.
Dubai World, an investment arm of the government of Dubai, which has been on a spending and building spree for years, missed a big payment to its creditors last week. The Economist reports that Dubai has already turned to its more conservative neighbor, Abu Dhabi, for funds:

It raised $10 billion from Abu Dhabi, its wealthier neighbour, in February. And hours before it requested a standstill, it said it had raised another $5 billion from two Abu Dhabi banks, although only a portion of that was available immediately.
These bail-out funds flow to the Dubai Financial Support Fund, a committee which is overseeing the restructuring of Dubai’s indebted companies. It is described by one banker as a “command-and-control cockpit”, imposing some financial discipline on Dubai’s government-backed champions.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are members states of the United Arab Emirates, which rely on one central bank. The bank is moving cautiously, and rather cryptically, to restore confidence in Dubai:

The United Arab Emirates’ central bank issued a statement on Sunday saying that it would stand behind foreign and domestic banks operating in the emirates. It did not mention Dubai World, the investment arm of the Dubai government, which is $59 billion in debt.

The statement does not specify how Abu Dhabi and the other emirates plan to shore up, and clean up, Dubai World.

Giving Thanks

2009-11-26T00:01:00.001-05:00

We have much to be thankful for.

Let us show our gratitude by taking care of the earth.

Photo: Apollo 17, NASA

1.1 Million Jobs

2009-11-24T18:10:00.002-05:00

The New York Times reports that economists believe that the stimulus package might actually be working:

But with roughly a quarter of the stimulus money out the door after nine months, the accumulation of hard data and real-life experience has allowed more dispassionate analysts to reach a consensus that the stimulus package, messy as it is, is working.

The legislation, a variety of economists say, is helping an economy in free fall a year ago to grow again and shed fewer jobs than it otherwise would. This chart summarizes three such forecasts:
As Brad DeLong points out, these figures are from economists who are paid to get it right.
Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com sums up the impact:

"In my view, without the stimulus, G.D.P. would still be negative and unemployment would be firmly over 11 percent. And there are a little over 1.1 million more jobs out there as of October than would have been out there without the stimulus."

Alert readers will remember that Zandi was an advisor to John McCain during last year's presidential campaign.

3.0 cents/kWh

2009-11-23T13:36:00.008-05:00

Saving energy sounds like a virtuous objective, but could it be genuinely cost effective?
I've been studying a recent report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) that concludes that energy efficiency is far cheaper than buying power:

On the costs of "saving" kilowatt-hours (kWh) through utility ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs, the reported utility costs of saved energy (CSE) ranged from $0.023 to $0.044 per kWh (with a median value of 3.0 cents/kWh).

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that the average retail price of electricity in Delaware in 2007 was 11.35 cents/kWh. For Delaware, a kilowatt hour saved may be worth as much as 3.78 kilowatt hours earned, illustrating the ACEEE report's conclusion that "energy efficiency is by far the least costly energy resource option available for utility resource portfolios." This means it would be far cheaper to meet Delaware's current and future energy needs through efficiency programs than it would through building new capacity or buying power from the grid.

More on John Carney and DelaWind

2009-11-20T10:02:00.004-05:00

Writing in the News Journal, Aaron Nathans has an update on DelaWind's efforts to build wind power towers for Bluewater Wind. DelaWind, which is now 95 percent owned by Amer Industrial Technologies, expects to create 567 jobs at its Edgemoor plant and another 116 jobs at Evraz Claymont Steel if it gets the business.
One might think that an effort to create hundreds of heavy manufacturing jobs would be greeted enthusiastically, but a few grumpy souls like state senator Joe Booth and Dave Burris are complaining because of John Carney's involvement in the project. Booth is remarkably sanguine about the 600+ jobs the venture would create. Carney shows more of a sense of urgency:

"Somebody's got to make them. Are they going to make them here in Delaware? Are they going to make them in Maryland, in New Jersey? Where?" Carney said in a recent interview.

Burris calls the firm "John Carney’s Delawind." But as I wrote three weeks ago, and Nathans confirmed today, Carney, who does not have an ownership stake in DelaWind, will no longer work for the firm as of January.
Three weeks ago, I wrote, "I don't know anyone who wouldn't like to see Delaware steel workers play a significant role in building this historic project." It seems I was wrong.

"A decade late and billions short"

2009-11-18T06:25:00.005-05:00

Over at the Guardian, I take note of a remarkable mea culpa:

It was a startling admission from one of the architects of the modern financial system. John Reed, who with Sandy Weill created Citigroup, said the merger was a mistake. What's more, Reed went on to say that the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which was needed to make the merger legal, was also a mistake.

It's time to question the idea that bigger is better when it comes to banking:

Instead of wondering which institutions might be too big to fail, it's time to consider whether the financial behemoths are too big to succeed. Sandy Weill spent his career trying to build the world's biggest bank, only to see it destroy billions in shareholder wealth and require federal bailout funds to keep it alive. John Reed's admission that the grandiose dreams of the bankers have turned out to be nightmares should bring pause to those who still argue that bigger is better.

Unfortunately, as I write, "Reed's mea culpa came a decade late and left the world's financial system a few hundred billion dollars short."
Update: Common Dreams picked up the piece.

Summarizing the Bluewater/NRG Story

2009-11-17T06:26:00.001-05:00

Mark Svenvold has written a useful overview of the NRG purchase of Bluewater Wind in his Daily Finance column, including the history of the procurement process in which the two companies competed with Conectiv for the chance to build a new power plant in Delaware. Svenvold is well versed in the history of wind power in Delaware, having written a long piece about Bluewater in the New York Times Magazine last year.
Svenvold touches all the bases, including Aaron Nathan's reporting in the News Journal, the cancer cluster surrounding the Indian River power plant, Allan Loudell's interview with NRG's Drew Murphy, Jeremy Firestone's filings with the Public Service Commission, Willett Kempton's survey of offshore wind resources, and this blog on NRG's pending investment in emissions controls and the economic value of the PPA.

"NRG [is] buying a power purchase agreement that provides 25 years of revenue, which is hard to do in any business," as Tom Noyes explains. "And Delmarva Power is buying 25 years of power at a set price, which is almost impossible to do in the energy business."

Energy and the Environment in China

2009-11-16T07:09:00.002-05:00

Foreign Policy has published a useful overview of China's environmental problems and progress:

Bottom line: China might be taking great green steps forward, but it is starting from many steps back. In a reverse of Western environmental history, China is focusing on energy before pollution, adopting some of the globe's most ambitious targets: to derive at least 15 percent of all energy from renewable sources by 2020 and to reduce energy-intensity per unit of GDP by 20 percent over a five-year period. Implementing these energy targets will serve Beijing's twin purposes of increasing energy security and stimulating local economic activity. But these measures still won't leave China greener than countries in the West -- particularly since it still has a tremendous and expensive pollution problem to face at some point in the future.

But isn't China leaping ahead of the U.S. in solar and wind technology?

What's more, just because China is manufacturing green technologies doesn't mean it's using them. Indeed, China exports 90 percent of the solar panels it manufactures.

The results of this headlong rush into renewable energy shows the limitations of China's top-down planning:

Beneath the striking headline numbers, officials are working out serious kinks. For instance, the lure of striking gold by manufacturing green has turned the heads of mayors across China. Now, the State Council is trying to rein in an overheating solar sector by ordering plant closures. And though China is building wind farms, 20 percent of installed capacity is not connected to the grid yet -- due to technological gaffes and politicking as various established energy suppliers attempt to block new rivals.

The problem of population growth and urbanization will make it difficult for China to reduce energy demand in absolute terms:

With 350 million people -- more than the total population of the United States -- expected to move from China's countryside to its fast-growing cities over the next 20 years, energy demand and carbon emissions will almost inevitably soar, possibly even doubling. But while China cannot decrease its emissions, it can bend the growth curve down more than any other country.

Delaware Environmental Summit Convenes November 14

2009-11-12T06:43:00.004-05:00

Registration remains open for the 2nd Delaware Environmental Summit:

Saturday, November 14, 2008
8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Wilmington University, Dover

Objectives:

1. Support the ongoing advocacy work of Delaware’s environmental organizations.
2. Enhance the coordination among Delaware’s environmental organizations.
3. Where needed, foster new collaborative efforts among environmental advocates.
4. Engage new partners in environmental advocacy.

As we come towards the end of an eventful year, we are gathering to make plans for 2010. Please join us to discuss recent progress and make plans for environmental advocacy efforts for the coming year. Participants will be given a chance to discuss their priorities for the coming year and start to make detailed plans for collaborative efforts to achieve our objectives in the following areas:

Air Quality
Energy and Climate Change
Food and Agriculture
Green Economy
Land Use
Law and Regulation
Nature and Wildlife
Water Quality
Zero Waste

We are asking organizations to contribute $25 (covering all members of that organization) and unaffiliated individuals $5 to defray the cost of the Summit. Please bring your check or cash with you to the registration table at the Summit.
Directions to Wilmington University in Dover: Route 13 North (at Scarborough Road), at the intersection of Exit 104 from Delaware Route 1.
Please register by e-mail to politics@delaware.sierraclub.org.

Affiliation or organization:
Name:
E-mail:
Address:
City: State: Zip:
Phone:

Please join us if you want to help shape environmental policy and advocacy in the coming year.

NRG and Bluewater: Is There a Catch?

2009-11-10T07:05:00.001-05:00

Could this be a trick or a ploy? Could NRG have bought Bluewater Wind to somehow control the growth of windpower? Could NRG have bought the windpower football just to pull it away from Charlie Brown?
I don't think so. NRG VP Drew Murphy yesterday repeatedly spoke of claiming the first mover advantage in talking to local and national media. He noted the proximity of offshore wind to a large load centers—in contrast to onshore wind in Texas and the Midwest which will require billions in transmission lines to get to customers.
Writing in the News Journal, Aaron Nathans spoke with a number of environmentalists whose reactions to the acquisition ranged from suspicious to enthusiastic. One suspicion expressed in comments to this blog and privately, is that NRG would use the acquisition to keep a lid on wind power. For instance, would NRG prefer to sell power from coal rather than sell power from the wind farm?
I discussed this yesterday with Nathans and professor Jeremy Firestone, who said, "You're always going to put the wind onto the system. You'd never turn it off."
I agree. Once the wind farm is built, NRG would want to sell every drop of power it produces. The wind farm's peak capacity will be higher than needed to meet the needs of the power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Delmarva Power, the Delaware Municipal Energy Corporation (DEMEC) and any other customers that sign on in order to ensure a steady flow of power. Once the wind farm's PPA customers needs are met, any additional power generated can be sold to the grid at any price Bluewater can get.
Unlike a coal plant, which would have to burn more fuel to generate more power, there is no marginal cost to selling extra wind power. If the turbines are already spinning, any additional power sold to the grid goes straight to the bottom line—even if it is sold at two cents a kilowatt hour.

NRG Is Buying Bluewater Wind

2009-11-09T06:26:00.005-05:00

Bluewater Wind is making "an important announcement" today in two separate public meetings, upstate and downstate. I'm guessing that Bluewater will announce new financing from a new parent company. Last week, the News Journal published a story that NRG was in talks to buy Bluewater and finance the construction of the country's first offshore wind power project.
Update: It's official; NRG is buying Bluewater: Peter Mandelstam will remain president of Bluewater Wind and lead wind power development for NRG.
Stay tuned.

2nd Delaware Environmental Summit

2009-11-06T07:06:00.003-05:00

I reported on the first Delaware Environmental Summit back in January. Most of Delaware's environmental advocacy organizations came together to discuss priorities and strategy for the year. Now we are organizing a follow up:

The 2nd Delaware Environmental Summit
Saturday, November 14, 2008
8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Wilmington University, Dover
Objectives
1. Support the ongoing advocacy work of Delaware’s environmental organizations.
2. Enhance the coordination among Delaware’s environmental organizations.
3. Where needed, foster new collaborative efforts among environmental advocates.
4. Engage new partners in environmental advocacy.

As we come towards the end of an eventful year, we are gathering to make plans for 2010. Please join us to discuss recent progress and make plans for environmental advocacy efforts for the coming year. Participants will be given a chance to discuss their priorities for the coming year and start to make detailed plans for collaborative efforts to achieve our objectives in the following areas:
Air Quality
Energy and Climate Change
Food and Agriculture
Green Economy
Land Use
Law and Regulation
Nature and Wildlife
Water Quality
Zero Waste
We are asking organizations to contribute $25 (covering all members of that organization) and unaffiliated individuals $5 to defray the cost of the Summit. Please bring your check or cash with you to the registration table at the Summit.

Directions to Wilmington University in Dover: The Dover campus is located on Route 13 North (at Scarborough Road), at the intersection of Exit 104 from Delaware Route 1.

Please register by 5:00 p.m. November 9th.
Affiliation or organization:
Name:
E-mail:
Address:
City: State: Zip:
Phone:
Organizations are asked to offer a brief (two pages only) summary of their policy objectives for the year. Please send it to politics@delaware.sierraclub.org by November 9th, 2009.

Please join us if you want to help shape environmental policy in the coming year.

"Well, someday is here."

2009-11-05T06:28:00.007-05:00

Aaron Nathans reports in the News Journal that Delmarva Power could have killed plans to build the first offshore wind power project in the U.S. when Bluewater Wind failed to deliver a letter of credit last July. Bluewater is looking for a new investor after its highly leveraged parent company, Babcock & Brown began to collapse under the weight of its debt. Delmarva Power declined to cancel the power purchase agreement (PPA) after Bluewater failed to deliver the letter of credit.
Earlier this week, Nathans broke the story that NRG, which competed to build a new power plant in Delaware, is planning to buy Bluewater. Nathans asks why have two opponents gotten in bed with the upstart wind power company?

It wasn't that long ago that Bluewater Wind's main opponents were Delmarva Power and NRG Energy.
But if Bluewater's offshore wind farm gets built, it may have both to thank for keeping the project afloat.

Why? NRG and Delmarva Power fought Bluewater tooth and nail. Nathans asked me:

"You know how people say soccer is the sport of the future and always will be? I think that's how people have felt about wind power," said Noyes, whose blog is called TommyWonk. Company officials thought of offshore wind as "experimental, nice to do someday. Well, someday is here."

The fundamental reason that NRG would want to buy Bluewater and Delmarva isn't fighting the deal is that wind power is makes economic sense for the investor and the customer. Nathans points out that "Bluewater's main asset is the Delmarva contract." NRG would be buying a PPA that provides 25 years of revenue, which is hard to do in any business. And Delmarva Power is buying 25 years of power at a set price, which is almost impossible to do in the energy business.
Update: I'll be discussing Bluewater with Allan Loudell on WDEL, 1150 AM, today at 5:35

Barack Obama, a Year Later

2009-11-04T07:26:00.006-05:00

A year after his election, how popular is Barack Obama?
I went over to PollingReport.com to take a look at the numbers. Polls asking about job performance doesn't allow us to go back a year, since he was in office yet. But some polls have continued to ask the favorable/unfavorable question through the campaign and into his first year in office. Of these, the CNN, Gallup and NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls ask the question frequently enough to give us a rough comparison to a year ago. By looking at the number from just before the election, we avoid the glow that surrounded Obama after his historic win and before his inauguration.

Gallup, Oct. 1-4, 2009: 56 favorable, 40 unfavorable
Gallup, Oct. 10-12, 2008: 62 favorable, 35 unfavorable

CNN, Oct. 16-18, 2009: 60 favorable, 39 unfavorable
CNN, Oct. 17-19, 2008: 62 favorable, 35 unfavorable

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll asks a slightly different question:

NBC/WSJ, Oct. 22-25, 2009: 36 very pos., 20 somewhat pos., 11 somewhat neg., 21 very neg.
NBC/WSJ, Oct. 17-20, 2008: 39 very pos., 18 somewhat pos., 10 somewhat neg., 24 very neg.

By using the last weeks of the 2008 campaign as a baseline, we get a better understanding of his relative political strength, and Obama is holding up rather well amid the din. This is worth noting considering that the cries of socialism we heard during the campaign seem tame compared to the invective and epithets that have been hurled in Obama's direction in his first year in office.
As for last night's election results, Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight cites exit polls that show Obama's strength extends to folks who voted for Republicans. In Virginia, 20 percent of those who approve of Obama voted for GOP candidate Bob McDonnell. In New Jersey, 27 percent of those who expressed approval for Obama voted to oust John Corzine.
Overall, Obama has seen his poll number fall a just few points from the last weeks before the election in which he beat John McCain 53 percent to 46 percent and 365 to 173 in electoral votes.

Lester Brown Reports Carbon Emissions Have Dropped

2009-11-03T06:22:00.007-05:00

Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute reports that U.S. carbon emissions have dropped nine percent in the last two years.

For years now, many members of Congress have insisted that cutting carbon emissions was difficult, if not impossible. It is not. During the two years since 2007, carbon emissions have dropped 9 percent. While part of this drop is from the recession, part of it is also from efficiency gains and from replacing coal with natural gas, wind, solar, and geothermal energy.
The United States has ended a century of rising carbon emissions and has now entered a new energy era, one of declining emissions. Peak carbon is now history. What had appeared to be hopelessly difficult is happening at amazing speed.

A small portion of the drop could be attributed to the economic slowdown, but I don't think carbon emissions will climb again once the economy starts growing again. After all, GDP didn't fall nine percent during the recession.
Instead, we will see increasing investment in low carbon technologies like solar, wind and energy efficiency, while coal power projects are being cancelled. This doesn't mean climate legislation isn't needed. CO2 is still accumulating in the atmosphere. What this news means is that it is possible to shift our civilization away from carbon.

Will NRG Buy Bluewater Wind?

2009-10-31T09:57:00.005-04:00

One can almost hear the synapses clicking wildly as environmentalists across the state succumb to acute cognitive dissonance. The News Journal reports that NRG Energy, Inc., owner of the Indian River power plant, is in "serious negotiations" to buy a majority stake in Bluewater Wind.
Bluewater has been shopping for a new owner since Babcock & Brown found itself, shall we say, overextended. Babcock is being broken up and sold off piece by piece. Bluewater hired investment banker Credit Suisse to look for a new owner.
I've taken a quick look at NRG's finances. Profits are down from a year ago, but the balance sheet is holding up; net current assets were $3 billion at the end of the third quarter. Bluewater will need about a billion dollars or so over the next three years to build the wind farm, though this number could climb if the company signs up more buyers and builds builds more capacity. In return, Bluewater will throw off 25 years of guaranteed revenue thanks to the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Delmarva Power.
The Indian River power plant near Millsboro has been the perennial number one on Delaware's air pollution hit parade, though NRG has agreed to close the two oldest and dirtiest units and invest $500 million in new emissions controls.
NRG competed with Bluewater Wind and Conectiv to build a new power plant in Delaware. To the surprise of nearly everyone, Bluewater won the competition and went on to negotiate a PPA with Delmarva Power.
NRG's energy portfolio includes coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind and solar power plants.
Opponents of action on climate change have been struggling to come to terms with the significance of big energy companies supporting cap and trade legislation and investing in renewable energy projects. Now the shoe is on the other foot, and it's the turn of environmental advocates to come to terms with big energy companies supporting cap and trade legislation and investing in renewable energy projects, while continuing to own and operate coal power plants. If renewable energy makes economic sense (as I and others argue), then we should expect—and welcome—big energy companies buying into wind and solar projects.

John Carney and DelaWind

2009-10-30T12:16:00.004-04:00

I wrote back in May about former Lt. Gov. John Carney's involvement in a project called DelaWind, which was formed to build wind towers for Bluewater Wind and other wind power projects. With some trying to stoke some controversy over Carney’s role in the venture, I thought it would be useful to take a closer look.
DelaWind was started by a firm called Transformative Technologies (TT), which Carney joined after leaving office. TT, which is privately held, designs, manages and invests in projects like industrial waste heat recovery. TT's chairman, Dennis O’Brien has been involved in the steel industry for years.
TT had approached Evraz Claymont Steel about buying the plant, but the parties couldn’t agree to a price. But the idea of using steel from the plant to build wind towers is very much alive. Amer Industrial Technologies, Inc., an Edgemoor steel fabricating company, has taken a 95 percent stake in DelaWind, leaving TT with just five percent. Amer fabricates specialized components like heat exchangers for nuclear plants, which requires far greater tolerances than steel towers. Evraz Claymont Steel has agreed to supply the steel for building the towers.
The idea makes logistical sense. Both Amer and Claymont Steel are located along the Delaware River, just a few miles apart. It makes economic sense for at least part of the Bluewater Wind project to be manufactured here in Delaware, a point Jack Markell made in his state of the state speech in April:

Let’s work to ensure that the Claymont Steel Mill produces the steel for the windmill towers and foundations, not just for Delaware, but other projects as well.

Gearing up to build the towers will require capital. DelaWind filed an application for roughly $6 million in tax credits under the 48C Advanced Energy Manufacturing Industrial Tax Credit program created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and administered by the Department of Energy. Credits are being awarded on a competitive basis using technical criteria including job creation, reductions in air emissions, potential for technological innovation and commercial deployment, and project time. A decision on this competitive application is expected by December 16.
DelaWind also filed an application with Delaware Economic Development Office (DEDO) for $350,000 in financing. I am told that the request is expected to go before the Emerging Technology Pre Venture Fund Board pending a decision on the federal tax credit application.
Some Republicans have tried to make John Carney’s involvement in this project an issue. Ron Williams mentioned the controversy, and Dave Burris weighed in with a headline calling it a “sweetheart deal,” and quoting State Senator Joe Booth who characterized it as “thinly veiled political pay back.”
I don't see much that is objectionable in this project. DelaWind didn't need John Carney's name to get the attention of state government. DEDO would roll out the welcome mat for this proposal whether or not his name was associated with it.
Carney plans to wrap up his involvement with DelaWind early next year to run for Congress. He played an crucial role in getting the Bluewater Wind project through the General Assembly, and is working hard to see to it that a significant portion of the project is fabricated here in Delaware. I don't know anyone who wouldn't like to see Delaware steel workers play a significant role in building this historic project. But it's one thing to say it would great to do this in Delaware, and another to put a credible enterprise together, which is what Carney and his colleagues have done.

The President Visits Dover Air Force Base

2009-10-29T07:21:00.002-04:00

President Obama flew to Dover Air Force Base in the middle of the night to pay his respects to the Americans killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan.

The New York Times reports that the family of Army Sergeant Dale R. Griffin of Terre Haute, Indiana agreed to allow media to cover the return of his remains. The Pentagon allows media coverage of the return of fallen service members with family permission.
Photo: Doug Mills/New York Times

Investing in Our Energy Future

2009-10-27T17:23:00.009-04:00

Little more than a year after General Motors closed the Boxwood Road plant, Fisker Automotive announced plans to buy the facility and retool it to build plug in hybrid cars. Henrik Fisker stood with Vice President Joe Biden and Governor Jack Markell to make the announcement. Fisker will buy the plant for $18 million and invest ten times that amount to gear up to build a new sedan called Project Nina.
News Journal reporter Ginger Gibson calls it "a political victory of monstrous proportions" for Governor Jack Markell. But there is plenty of credit to go around with an announcement this big, and Markell covered the bases, mentioning Senators Carper and Kaufman, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, DNREC Secretary Collin O'Mara, DEDO Director Alan Levin, the United Auto Workers, and of course Joe Biden.
Fisker likewise gave ample credit to Markell and his team:

“The governor pulled together faster than I can take my family of four people to dinner,” Fisker said.

While Biden was in Delaware, President Obama traveled to the country's largest solar power plant to announce $3.4 billion in grants to promote smart grid technology. These grants will save energy by funding the installation of millions of smart meters in homes and businesses and in control systems to make the grid itself more flexible and responsive. This is important for renewable sources like wind and solar, and will help reduce energy loss between generators and end users. For instance, $13,698,091 will be going to PJM Interconnection, LLC, which manages the grid in our part of the country, for technology to "provide real-time data on the operating conditions of the transmission system."
In his remarks today, President Obama compared our current electrical grid to the old transportation grid:

To offer one analogy, just imagine what transportation was like in this country back in the 1920s and 1930s before the Interstate Highway System was built. It was a tangled maze of poorly maintained back roads that were rarely the fastest or the most efficient way to get from point A to point B. Fortunately, President Eisenhower made an investment that revolutionized the way we travel -- an investment that made our lives easier and our economy grow.

The payoff for investing in smart grid technology is obvious. A one percent improvement in energy efficiency is equivalent to increasing generating capacity by the same amount.
Converting a GM factory to build plug in hybrids is admittedly risky; there is no assurance that Fisker will succeed in the long or even medium term. But I am convinced it's a risk we have to take. Someone is going to build the future; why shouldn't we?
Even though we are putting billions into GM and Chrysler, we don't have to limit our vision or our investments to the old way of doing business. As Obama put it, we have to look to the future and not be held hostage to the past:

It's a debate between looking backwards and looking forward; between those who are ready to seize the future and those who are afraid of the future. And we know which side the United States of America has always come down on. We know that we've always been a people who were unafraid to reach for that more promising future.

The High Line

2009-10-26T09:33:00.008-04:00

The High Line, New York City's newest and most unusual park, is situated on an abandoned elevated rail line that snakes through Chelsea. It seemed more like conceptual art when it was first proposed, but has proved to be a smashing success. Thousands of residents and tourists crowded the High Line on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Even though the park is sited thirty feet above the pavement, the designers have created ways to connect the park to the street below.Unexpected connections have developed with the park's surroundings. This fire escape at 20th Street has become a popular venue for musicians, like this jazz band that entertained strollers.
I imagine that the real estate values are climbing all along the High Line. Construction and renovation can be seen all along the park.

The Underrated Jack Markell

2009-10-23T07:04:00.003-04:00

Chris Cillizza, who writes The Fix for the Washington Post, asked readers to vote for the most underrated governor from six relatively small states, and our own Jack Markell came in first, just ahead of John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) and Mike Beebe (D-Arkansas). I don't know that the results carry much significance except that Cillizza has a few more readers in Delaware than in Arkansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota or Tennessee.
Of course it's early in Markell's first term to offer a meaningful rating on many fronts. We'll see what comes of the plans from his cabinet secretaries for reorganizing state government. So far the most significant achievement may be getting a budget through the General Assembly on time, a feat that many of Markell's higher profile colleagues couldn't pull off. This could be one reason Markell enjoys solid approval rating from the three polls that have asked the question.
Maybe Cillizza could follow up with a poll on the most underrated lieutenant governor (is it even possible for a Lt. Gov. to be overrated?), and we could try to get Matt Denn noticed among the political junkies in Washington.

"The stupidest costume known to humankind"

2009-10-21T17:00:00.000-04:00

Monday's bogus press conference, purportedly from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, was perpetrated by a group of pranksters called the Yes Men, who followed up yesterday by bouncing around the Capitol in “SurvivaBalls,” which they call “the stupidest costume known to humankind.”
There's plenty of stupidity to go around in the climate change debate, but this is far more entertaining than the usual glum utterances from the global warming deniers and coal boosters.
Photo: The Yes Men

U.S. Chamber U-Turn on Climate Change a Hoax

2009-10-19T12:59:00.008-04:00

It seems I was not alone in being taken in by this. Talking Points Memo reports that the announcement that the announcement that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was doing a 180 degree turn on climate change was a hoax that took in the New York Times and other big news organizations.
So to any readers who caught this post in the ten minutes before I took it down, I apologize.
Back in August, a Chamber VP embarrassed the organization's members by calling for a “Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century" to try the question of climate change. The fake news that the Chamber is conceding the science of global warming included this memorable quote:

Climatologists tell us that if we don't enact dramatic reductions in carbon emissions today, within 5 years we could begin facing the propagating feedback loops of runaway climate change. That would mean a disruption of food and water supplies worldwide, with the result of mass migrations, famines, and death on a scale never witnessed before.
Needless to say, that would be bad for business.

The New York Times reports on the fault lines in the business community on climate legislation. The fact that informed observers could be taken in by the hoax is a sign that the fight among business interests is gaining attention.
The hoax was posted at http://www.chamber-of-commerce.us/090118tjd_prosperity.html.
It gets weirder. The Guardian reports that someone posing as the Chamber CEO actually made a presentation at the National Press Club:

Barely 20 minutes into the Q&A section of the press conference, an agitated spokesman for the Chamber burst into the room, screaming that the event was a hoax.

Oh well. That was fun while it lasted.

Citizens for Clean Power on the Indian River Power Plant

2009-10-15T10:14:00.003-04:00

Citizens for Clean Power (CCP), which has been fighting to clean up the Indian River power plant, issued this statement this morning on the Order to reduce emissions from the coal plant:

For the first time, DNREC acknowledges a connection between emissions from the Indian River plant and increased asthma, heart disease and cancer rates in the region. This comes after more than six years of relentless effort by CCP's Dr. Kim Furtado to compel the state to address these problems.
However, the latest order simply reflects the terms of a 2007 Consent Order between DNREC and NRG. No new reductions are ordered. After Regulation 1146 was adopted, the power plant actually increased its emissions due to increased production. Even after the new controls are in place, thousands of tons of toxic sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide will be emitted annually from the stacks at Indian River, along with heavy metals.
So long as Delaware continues to allow release of harmful chemicals and residues into our air, water and ground by coal-burning plants, public health and the environment will be threatened. Gov. Markell and Sec. O'Mara deserve recognition for their efforts thus far.

Is the glass half full or half empty? Shouldn't CCP be happier with the reductions? Here's one perspective: The plant will still emit 6,000 tons of SO2, 3,000 tons of NOx and 2,300 tons of particulates each year. It's far less than is being emitted now, but could one imagine a permit for a new facility allowing such emissions? And as I mentioned earlier, the Order doesn't address carbon emissions or the danger posed by accumulating coal ash on the edge of our inland bays.
Our industrial economy is caught in a devil's bargain, from which we are not easily extricated.

DNREC Orders Emissions Reductions at Indian River Power Plant

2009-10-15T08:36:00.003-04:00

NRG’s Indian River power plant near Millsboro has been the perennial number one on Delaware's air pollution hit parade. That is due to change under the terms of a Secretary's Order announced yesterday. According to the Order, NRG has agreed to close the plant's two oldest and dirtiest units, and spend $500 million on new pollution controls on the two newer units. Unit 1 will be shut down by May 1, 2011 and Unit 2 by May 1, 2010.
DNREC's press release estimates the emissions reductions under the Order:

The combined impact of these changes will be an overall reduction in NOx and SO2 emissions at the facility of nearly 90 percent by the project’s completion, advancing both air quality and water quality goals for the state. These reductions in emissions are estimated to generate approximately $2 billion in avoided health care costs. Further, the shutdown of Units 1 and 2 will also reduce water intake at the facility by approximately 60 percent and make a measurable improvement in the water quality, improve aquatic habitat, and help rebuild fish populations.

We're talking about reductions of 14,000 tons of NOx and nearly 60,000 tons of SO2 annually, a figure that Jeff Montgomery of the News Journal describes as "the equivalent of 300 train-cars of raw sulfur a year."
And for those who bemoan the effects of environmental regulation on the economy, the work envisioned will create 500 construction jobs.
The Order does not address all of the environmental problems at the plant. It is limited to air emissions and does not mention the growing hazard of coal ash accumulating at the site. It does not address CO2 emissions. And as the New York Times reported this week, cleaning up air emissions at coal plants can lead to dirtier water. Still, this Order will likely set an enduring record for reducing air emissions in Delaware.