( – promoted by odum)

or ..leaf me a loan ? Here is a look back at the Douglas green effort from a year ago and a program to sell the carbon-storage value of Vermont’s forest about which spokesperson Gibbs and Vermont’s new commissioner of Forest, Parks and Recreation said  “we’re talking millions of dollars here.” This caused a great deal of excitement in the press and was the equivalent of a good ribbon cutting .They were going to lease the State Lottery,the next logical step is to offer shares in the trees natural functions. In Douglas’s time in office have there been any major initiatives to come from the governor’s office which have amounted to anything ? What or where are the shining accomplishments that Douglas can point to ?

MONTPELIER – One year ago, Gov. Jim Douglas unveiled the recommendations of his Climate Change Commission and laid out ambitious plans to cut Vermont’s greenhouse gas emissions while building a “green economy.”

Three ideas stood at the center of those plans: appointment of a Vermont Climate Collaborative to guide research and action; creation of a “Vermont Green Standard” to regulate the multimillion-dollar carbon trading market and create a new business sector for the state; and sale of carbon credits from open land and state forests.Twelve months later, the Green Standard idea has been abandoned.

Other parts of the work plan require staff time and money the state does not have.

“There is a lot of pent-up desire for action,” acknowledged John Sayles, deputy secretary of Natural Resources and the administration’s point man on climate change. “It is hard to create excitement over the incremental progress we are making – but we are making progress.”

He described the Vermont Climate Change Collaborative, a panel of university, state government and outside members, as the “signature piece” of the governor’s plans.

The collaborative will meet for the first time Dec. 8.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

Item # 34 in the Vt. Senate Judiciary Committee’s inquiry report is tucked away as the last item,almost like an after thought, but hardly insignificant.The Valley News came out Friday with an editorial supporting a change that might really adjust the balance of things in Montpelier.This power is needed according to the papers view for the legislature to properly do the jobs they are tasked with .How could it fail to shake things up? Legislative subpoena power and say,IRV voting in statewide races would put a new face on things.

Subpoena Power Legislative Committees Need It

In the course of its inquiry into how the state can better protect children from sexual abuse, the Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee came across a flaw in legislative procedures that it seeks to remedy: The lack of explicit authority for legislative committees to issue subpoenas to obtain documents or compel testimony from unwilling witnesses…………….

Granting committees the authority to subpoena witnesses makes sense to us; the power seems commensurate with the important public purposes that lawmakers have the responsibility to pursue. At the same time, safeguards must be enacted to ensure that this far-reaching power is not abused. One, of course, is that any committee issuing a subpoena must be engaged in a legitimate legislative function. That is, the inquiry must be related to a subject on which the committee has the power to act. Another is that the issuance of subpoenas ought to require the approval of a supermajority of committee members, rather than being delegated to committee chairmen. Additionally, the Legislature ought to make clear what categories of people are exempt from compelled testimony because of legal or ethical requirements imposed by their professional obligations. None of these issues strikes us as insurmountable.

http://www.vnews.com/11212008/…

There was hope during the recent race for Governor that the questions regarding Governor Douglas’s inadequate response regarding reimbursing  the State for campaign related costs (other than security )would remain in the news.It is a legitimate question and was lost after a brief yet tantalizing flair-up at the tail end of the race . I don’t believe he has even accounted for any distinctly campaign related costs .Ironic that this issue and his 14 person strong  PR pay role people seem to disappear from the forefront in the mist of the budget cutting steamroller facing the State .

Shay Totten at Seven Days Fair Game has kept a good eye on this and has an additional tidbit on the care and feeding costs of our Governor.

We followed up to find out what other taxpayer perks the gov enjoys. In particular, we were curious about travel and meal reimbursements.

..Not much to report. The gov, like lawmakers, receives a $54-a-day meal allowance. While lawmakers only ride the gravy train when in session, Douglas gets his lunch money five days a week, 52 weeks a year.

That adds up to $14,040 – just shy of what a Vermont minimum-wage worker earns in a year ($15,662).

http://www.7dvt.com/2008gettin…

Spokesman leaves out vital information to keep press release short.

Notes fear of “very,very long press release”!

Inspectors didn’t have a clear view of hard to see problems !

There is humor all over this but today for some reason its just sad and disgusting.Does anyone in the NRC or Entergy even consider their long term  credibility  when making these statements ?

The NRC declares in a report that the rotting timbers were hard to see and they did not have clear view of them.The master of unintended foolishness himself Rob Williams defends his not releasing certain information because he wanted to keep press releases short.  

VERNON – A special inspection team from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission failed to find five degraded support columns in the only safety-related cell in Vermont Yankee’s cooling towers because inspectors didn’t have a clear view of the interior of the cell, according to an NRC spokesman.

“There was no way the special inspection team could see these with fill and louvers in place,” according to NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan

Robert Williams, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear, defended the company’s decision not to include information about the bowed and cracked timbers in its press release about the refueling outage.

“That could have been a very, very long press release,” said Williams, who last week was criticized for also neglecting to mention the 16 additional new cracks found in the reactor’s steam dryer.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/a…

Was there a time when products were either good for the environment or they were not? Maybe its only in looking back that this seems like it might have been . Environmental group’s identities are meshed with the corporate world  and the lines between them are movable and trade-offs are everywhere.This may have been the case always but grey areas now loom large .Offsets ,trade-offs and compromises of all kinds are happening.These trade-offs remind me more than a little of  the church selling indulgences way back when in the 1400’s……the rich buy their  way into green heaven. Heap onto this situation the cross feeding of funding ,the success of green branding between businesses and big environmental groups to complete the fusion. As green branding sells , green status can be bought .

Bottled water: Fiji brand bottled water has offset it’s way to greendom  with the help of an environmental group.The approving enviro-group and the bottler are wed pretty tightly together .

When Fiji Water announced a sustainability initiative last spring to help protect forests on the remote Pacific Island of Fiji, Conservation International Peter Seligmann praised the move. “We applaud Fiji Water for offsetting the climate impact of its products, reducing the impact of its operations, and funding crucial conservation efforts that support local communities and protect some of the last remaining forests in the South Pacific,” he said in a Fiji Water press release.The endorsement didn’t surprise anyone who understands the relationships between Fiji Water and Conservation International. The privately-owned bottled water company pays Conservation International – neither party would say how much – to finance the work they do together. Stewart Resnick, who owns Fiji Water with his wife, Lynda, sits on Conservation International’s board and donates to the group.

Such cozy arrangements are increasingly common as big companies work side-by-side with big NGOs (non-government organizations). Clorox secured the endorsement of the Sierra Club – and the use of its logo — for a line of eco-friendly cleaning products, called GreenWorks that the company introduced late last year. Neither will disclose how much cash is involved.When Coca-Cola (KO, Fortune 500) last month set new targets for greenhouse gas reductions, the World Wildlife Fund offered its praise – again not unexpectedly, since the beverage giant consulted with WWF on its climate change plan and agreed to donate nearly $24 million to the environmental group to help preserve river basins.

If the goal is to move corporations toward  better style behavior environmentally these deals may be funding that change .In this case the Fiji islanders are getting economic development that perhaps is greener than might otherwise exist.Corporate behavior may be changing gradually but as a result of this are the environmental groups changing themselves into something different. If green branding sells and the green label can be bought ,who have become the greening enablers ? Vermont as brand and state has an interest here, not directly in Fiji water but as a stake holder of sorts in the well being of  a real green concept. Environmental groups,green brands and socially responsible companies may suffer if some clearer lines and standards aren’t drawn. A good cause is in danger of getting watered down .

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/1…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/envi…

Watching and reading about the Republican party soul searching now in progress and the accompanying preview of potential up and comers,I was struck at first by the lack of Gov.Douglas from some of the more prominent lists but sniff around a little and he can be found.

Former Republican Party Chairman wheeler dealer Haley Barbour says Douglas is “strong as a field of garlic”. Someone with that quality should stand out more in a crowd .The Washington Post claims that Douglas won re-election even as he was targeted by national Democrats.(really?)This comes as a surprise .

It’s hard to think of our dynamic Gov.Douglas on a national stage.Winning in a 3 way race may be no great feat, but then again looking at the Republican lineup of stars maybe little feats count large .Mark Sanford (S.C.), Sarah Palin (Alaska), Tim Pawlenty (Minn.) and Bobby Jindal (La.)are all mentioned as rising stars .Pawlenty had some past problems with poor bridge maintenance,Palin was not even included on the RGA’s executive committee and Bobby Jindal’s past efforts at exorcism aren’t widely noted except in TPM media.  

Here in Vermont as we watch the Governor juggle his lieutenants strategically between State agencies is it actually possible he intends to use his garlic like power on a national stage in the future ? Gov.Douglas in a letter offered to work with President elect Obama on health care issues,certainly good for Vermont and it also puts him nicely on a national stage.Characteristically he offers the talent of others not his own .

In the letter, Douglas pointed out that 67 percent of Vermonters supported Obama, the second highest among any state in the country – even if he was not one of them.Douglas also offered Obama “the talent, skills and experience” of the people of Vermont, which he called “a small but innovative state.”

The letter focused on health care reform, one of Obama’s main campaign issues.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/a…

It’s pretty far removed from the election but is relevant to fuel issues .Also it’s just damn cool. Some creatures are evolutionary throw-backs that have through some strange series of events avoided extinction .The Erie canal may prove to be such a thing in the world of engineering .With the high cost of transporting large and heavy stuff,not only is the use of rail transport increasing but shipping(real shipping) by canal is too.It’s also proving cost-effective.

“Sixty percent of the people I meet have no idea the Erie Canal is even still functioning,” Mr. Dufel said. He is assistant engineer on the tugboat Margot and an owner of the New York State Marine Highway Transportation Company, one of the largest shippers on the canal.

After decades of decline, commercial shipping has returned to the Erie Canal, though it is a far cry from the canal’s heyday. The number of shipments rose to 42 so far this year during the season the canal is open, from 15 during last year’s season, which lasts from May 1 to Nov. 15.



Once nearly forgotten, the relic of history has shown signs of life as higher fuel prices have made barges an attractive alternative to trucks.

The agency does not have money for advertising, so this year’s growth happened almost entirely by word of mouth. Much of the interest comes from new energy businesses. An old building in Fulton that has been converted into the Northeast Biofuels plant sits on the shore of the Oswego River, which serves as the Oswego Canal and connects to the Erie. The site will also include a carbon dioxide recovery plant, which required moving four large metal tanks there, said Eric Will II, one of the owners of Northeast Biofuels.

Moving the tanks by truck or rail would have required cutting them into pieces and reassembling them at the site, adding tens of thousands of dollars to the cost, Mr. Will said. Instead, the manufacturer delivered the tanks whole by barge.

“It’s a nifty thing to do,” Mr. Will said, “and it can be a very cost-effective.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11…

Well now ,how about this,more pleasantly surprising than early snow.It is a serious charge that needs to answered by the Governor,not just brushed aside.Maybe this will contribute some other questions about Gov.Douglas’s permanent PR campaign.

Symington, the speaker of the Vermont House who is challenging the Republican incumbent this year, said her opponent was “exploiting” the taxpayers by not reimbursing the state of Vermont for his political campaign expenses.

The Democratic candidate for governor referenced a recent newspaper report that showed former Gov. Howard Dean reimbursed the state for thousands of dollars in campaign expenditures when he held office – but that the Douglas campaign has not followed that same standard.

“It is galling that at a time when an increasing number of Vermonters are losing their jobs, Jim Douglas is using Vermonters’ tax dollars to campaign to keep his own job,” Symington said during an afternoon press conference at Montpelier’s City Hall.

http://www.timesargus.com/apps…

(This flew under the radar yesterday…. but still important.   – promoted by Christian Avard)

Financial problems may yet get the old nukes. Enexus the Entergy shell company that Vermont Yankee would have been part of is now on hold .Money is too tight and the markets uncertain.The current upheaval on Wall Street also substantially shrunk the decommissioning fund Entergy is supposed to maintain for the future.One wonders how fast Enexus might have crumbled in the recent mayhem in the money world.How’s a giant out of state company to run it’s five aging nuclear plants at a profit if it can’t spin them off into a protective shell ? Put them in a shell the liability stays in and the profit flows out .

Alex Schott, spokesman for Entergy in New Orleans, said Tuesday that Wall Street uncertainty led the company to put the creation of Enexus Energy Corp. on hold, but he stressed the company was still pursuing regulatory approvals.

Entergy still needs the approval of the Vermont Public Service Board and an administrative law judge in the state of New York before the plans go ahead.

Entergy had announced the spinoff a year ago, initially calling the new company SpinCo. The project has run into strong opposition in Vermont, especially in the 2008 Legislature, which raised questions about the financial stability of the proposed new company, especially in light of the fact that Vermont Yankee’s decommissioning fund was still underfunded

Gov. James Douglas vetoed a bill that would have required Entergy to either fully fund the cleanup fund, which is anywhere from $400 million to $600 million short of estimated costs, or provide a guarantee that it would.

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081029/NEWS/810290299/1003/NEWS02

 Yellow clothes collection boxes

…Planet Aid, a charity that collects used clothing in 140 distinctive yellow boxes around the state, has received unfavorable ratings from at least two review organizations.Twenty of the nonprofit group’s clothing-collection boxes have appeared in Burlington and Chittenden County in the past year. There are now 140 boxes at gas stations and convenience stores across the state.A collection box at the Rotary Gulf station on Shelburne Road in Burlington explains why people should give to them: “Planet Aid sells your donated clothing to thrift stores and used clothing suppliers in the U.S. and worldwide. The net proceeds are used for development programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America.”

…The Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance said Planet Aid spends just 28 percent of its expenses on its charitable programs — considerably less than the 65 percent the alliance sets as a standard.The Better Business Bureau criticizes Planet Aid for characterizing its selling of old clothing as a recycling program. “The Alliance,” it said in its report, “believes these are actually fundraising expenses

…” http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

This article caught my eye,as my worry has increased about where the RNC will ultimately donate Sarah Palin’s $150,000 worth of clothes.I don’t know a thing about Planet Aid other than seeing one of their yellow donation boxes in a nearby town and now reading an article in the Free Press about low ratings it has been given by two charity rating groups. A quick search tells me that Planet Aid has been criticized in the past. It appears that the basis for the low ratings is threefold: one being the hard-to-factor value of “saving” discarded clothing from the landfill and two, selling the clothes and then channeling the money(profits) to other charities,three competing in a way with older established groups .The overall environmental value is a tough one to quantify, I would think.The profit of donated clothing sold versus the money in turn donated leaves a documented trail – money in money out ratio.

This group itself may have problems but it seems like a good model to explore for an application of Vermont’s new L3C law.It might remove an organization from the gray area between selling ,operating expenses and “re-donating” that this group seems to have fallen.Earlier this year the Vermont Legislature passed a new law for a new hybrid-style low-profit/non-profit corporation. According to reports, an L3C with a carefully written operating agreement, could perform the best services of both a profit and a nonprofit under one structure. The designation allows for the creation of a hybrid between a nonprofit organization and a for-profit corporation. The entity would be a low-profit company with “charitable or educational” goals.  $150,000 worth of good Republican campaign clothes will soon hit the charity world.