Where there's a Will, there's a way

Public officials are celebrating Illinois' federal high speed rail grant. Of course they have to highlight the positive side, but it looks to me like Illinois is a loser.

Let's face it... Illinois finished third behind California and Florida. We received less than a third of what the state requested. California received almost twice as much as Illinois. Money for the Chicago-St. Louis corridor is less than half the allocation for just the Midwest region.

Our share of the federal grant isn't enough to start a modern 220mph high speed rail system. It's not enough for a double track that would speed up Amtrak and reduce delays caused by freight traffic. Although, it does provide for planning in preparation of double tracks. It most definitely isn't enough to consolidate rail lines onto the 10th street corridor in Springfield (which none of the freight companies have agreed to anyway).

Months ago, some people were saying Illinois' application for high speed rail funds could be jeopardized by Springfield's opposition. We'll probably never know if that's why we got so little of what the state requested. With any luck, Illinois will get more in the next round of funding. Maybe this controversy will have settled by then.

The funding is enough to facilitate more freight traffic going through Springfield from UP's new multimodal center near Joliet. Remember how opponents of the 3rd Street corridor told us added train traffic would DESTROY downtown? Well, we're getting extra freight traffic through downtown now, but we aren't getting new overpasses or underpasses to help deal with it. Springfield leaders didn't want that.

Speaking of which, remember those scary postcards of huge concrete walls blocking parts of downtown? They're certainly creative but they aren't part of the final proposal.

Springfield could have proposed a different mitigation plan with less obtrusive overpasses but chose not to. The public still has the right to oppose anything as ugly as the imaginative postcards. I've skeptically examined everything I hear from the 3rd Street corridor opponents since realizing that the postcards are a bit of a stretch.

High speed rail would give a boost to downtown. In other cities it increased property values, brought more tourist traffic, more retail traffic and provided a less carbon-intensive transportation alternative. It's disappointing that the benefits are being ignored, probably because some influential businessmen believe they can make more money by routing all train traffic through the low-income, black part of town.

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The Sangamon County Republican Party isn't an ideological organization as much as it's a team effort to get government jobs and contracts. They live and die by the jobs they control through the county, park district, convention center and so on. There's nothing they want more than to get their hands back into that state government honeypot.

Since no other issue is more important to them, I interpret an endorsement by the Sangamon County Republicans as a sign of which candidate is most likely to doll out jobs and contracts to the party faithful. So who's the unanimous choice of Sangamon Republican leaders? Kirk Dillard!

It's no surprise. Dillard was Jim Edgar's chief of staff. Edgar openly defended the patronage system as a GOOD thing and they were very helpful to Springfield Republicans. As chief of staff, Dillard must have been involved in handing out the spoils of victory.

If you're a Republican whose real problem with Blagojevich is that he wasn't steering enough jobs and contracts to your team, then now you know who to vote for.

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I had already decided to show "The People Speak" at the March Liberty Brew & View. Howard Zinn's passing makes it more timely.

The documentary features dramatic readings from American history found in Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's Voices of a People's History of the United States. We'll be showing the full documentary that was recently cut down for broadcast on the History Channel.

By giving public expression to rebels, dissenters, and visionaries from our past — and present — we work to educate and inspire a new generation of people working for social justice. The goal of Voices is to encourage civic engagement and to further history education by bringing the rich history of the United States to life through public readings of primary-source materials.

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No single writer has had more influence on my thinking about history and politics than Howard Zinn. He was 87 when he died yesterday but I was convinced he should keep on living, writing and speaking out forever.

Zinn wrote about the history that polite society and Presidential historians prefer not to talk about. I minored in history and grew up visiting civil war battlefields on family vacations. But, being introduced to Zinn meant discovering a side of American history I had only glimpsed in college.

Two memories of him stick out in my mind, one impersonal and one personal.

The impersonal memory was the night of the invasion of Iraq. I was flipping through channels watching all the gung ho cheering for the shock and awe campaign, which predictably killed more civilians than the 9/11 attack. What name are we supposed to give a war tactic which intentionally bombs civilian targets in an effort to psychologically terrorize the population?

The corporate media's pathetic subservience to Bush was universal until I flipped to PBS. Howard Zinn was one of four panelists. He was the only voice I heard that night on any network with the courage to speak out against the invasion. I wasn't surprised when conservatives re-launched their attacks on PBS funding. What they really mean by "liberal media bias" is that they don't want to see any liberal viewpoints expressed on any network, ever.

Around that time, I was taking a few classes and thinking about grad school at the University of Tennessee when Zinn came to speak. I had read half a dozen of his books but decided to buy a hardback version of A People's History for him to sign.

I don't remember much of what he said, but I learned the importance of keeping a broader perspective than the conventional wisdom that otherwise intelligent people mindlessly accept. I learned that people who make well-reasoned, intelligent judgments on their own are usually vindicated in time over those who safely follow the crowd.

Zinn never had to apologize for his comments leading up to the Iraq war like so many others have (or should have).

I was involved with a student group supporting wage workers who were trying to form a union at the University. He agreed to meet with us after his speech. It ended up being an hour long informal rap session where we tried to grab as much knowledge and inspiration out of him as we could. He didn't simply have an academic concern for the average person in history. He had a genuine passion for people's movements of today.

That warm-hearted passion and ceaseless activism are why many mourn him today. The words he left will continue to vindicate him for years to come.

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It's easy to get a distorted view in downstate Illinois. The coal industry is powerful here so they have most politicians repeating pipe dreams of carbon capture and other so-called clean coal technology saving the industry. But outside Illinois, not everyone is pandering to coal industry lobbyists.

I watched most of the debate between coal mining CEO Don Blankenship and Environmental Attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that's getting a lot of attention. They disagreed on pretty much everything that relates to coal, with one exception. They agree that carbon capture is a "joke" and no solution to climate change.

And let's not forget this recent quote from Blankenship:
“No, we don’t need to keep researching carbon capture and sequestration. We’ve already spent billions and that money has been waste.”

There's a reality check for Durbin, Quinn, Obama, and every other politician who thinks Illinois can keep relying on the coal industry to sustain our economy.

The state of Illinois is spending millions of taxpayer dollars trying to convince people that this joke will save the coal industry. How much more money will be wasted before we move on to serious, realistic solutions?

Posted by Will at 6:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Most people don't realize that the Lt. Governor also chairs the Illinois River Coordinating Council. The News Tribune did one of the few substantive articles I've seen on the race by focusing on this issue. It's interesting to see which candidates emphasize rivers as an economic resource for shipping without as much to say about the other ways rivers have value.

My pick in the race, Mike Boland, lives along the Mississippi and wants to expand the work of the council to protect other state waterways.

“I’m familiar with the Illinois River where my opponents are not.” Boland said he would focus as well on the Wabash, Rock and Mississippi Rivers, “to make sure those rivers stay viable, that they are increasingly being used for drinking water, transportation and recreation.”

Posted by Will at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's hard to find strong environmental advocates in the Illinois legislature who aren't from Chicago or the suburbs. That's one reason why it's encouraging to see that downstate Representative Mike Boland is one of the state's boldest environmental champions.

One of the top priorities for Illinois environmental groups in '08 and '09 was the Clean Car Act. The oil and auto industry made a full effort to defeat the bill and they succeeded. It was never brought to a vote on the House floor and the Senate buried it in committee. Boland was one of only two downstate legislators who signed on to co-sponsor the bill when most representatives were backing down under pressure from corporate lobbyists.

He has a record of passing his own environmental bills, such as the Green Buildings Act last year. It ensures that state government leads by example by requiring that construction projects financed with state money must now be LEED certified. Pat Quinn praised the law in his State of the State address.

Boland introduced laws requiring the use of LED or florescent Energy Star lighting in state government buildings, and the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles, including hybrids.

He has co-sponsored numerous other environmental laws, including the Energy Efficient Buildings Act, which also passed last year. Boland introduced several bills to help promote the electric car industry in Illinois, including the Neighborhood Electric Vehicles Act which would allow them to access more urban roads.

Boland spoke about clean energy and creating green jobs at the environmental film fest in Springfield last year. He still keeps the event flier on his legislative office door. I rarely meet an elected official with his passion and conviction for resolving climate change and other environmental issues. Naturally, I'm excited that he's running for Lieutenant Governor.

Downstate legislators are under intense pressure from anti-environment groups like the coal industry and industrial agribusiness firms. It takes political courage to be an outspoken supporter for the environment in a district like Boland's. Even gutsier, is calling out his opponent for having a coal company with aging, dirty plants as a top campaign contributor.

It's the same courage he has shown on other issues, like his efforts for achieving universal health care by pushing for the Bernardin amendment (with State Senator Barack Obama), or his long record of advocating for meaningful reform as Chair of the House Campaign Reform Committee.

The Lieutenant Governor's office is best suited for someone who will be an energetic advocate for the public interest. A downstate, progressive reformer like Mike Boland is exactly who we need on the Democratic ticket.

Posted by Will at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Illinois State Treasurer candidate Robin Kelly is having a free meet and greet in Springfield Tuesday morning.

January 26th
9:00 – 10:00 AM
Sangamon County Democrats Headquarters
413 East Adams – Springfield

There's a Democratic primary race for Treasurer so this is a chance to meet one of the candidates, and if you'd like, sign up to help her campaign. She's endorsed by the Sierra Club for her environmental record in the legislature and her commitment to expanding the environmental focus in the Treasurer's office.

Posted by Will at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The State Journal Register did a story on Illinois campaign finance reports that includes a mention of "Notable donations/spending." They highlight one donation or spending item by statewide and local campaigns. It's an interesting feature but I would have made different choices.

Locally, they mentioned that Representative Rich Brauer received $750 from Titlemax. I would have mentioned the $1,000 he took from ICG Illinois LLC. They own the coal mine near Williamsville that received hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer subsidies from the state and Sangamon county.

Brauer spent over $3,500 on Poe's Catering, and over $3,000 for ads in the State Journal-Register. Representative Raymond Poe spent over $3,500 on Poe's Catering too. I think Poe's catering has a good business plan. To his credit, Brauer made several large donations to local charities from his campaign fund.

The toss-up Democratic Lt. Governor's race has a few good ones. The article mentioned Scot Lee Cohen loaning himself over $800,000 and spending most of it. Inexperienced candidates with lots of money are a political consultant's dream. Much of that cash is being flushed down the toilet on things like his frivolous, long-shot petition challenges.

The board of elections site shows State Senator Terry Link took $11,000 from Midwest Generation, one of the state's worst polluters, not $10,000 as the SJR reported. They appear to be Link's top career donor. Mike Boland made it a campaign issue by calling on him to return it.

Link donated thousands to a number of groups whose endorsement he has been seeking, including Democratic Ward and County party organizations, Citizen Action, Brady PAC and other groups. The candidate is usually the one taking money during election season, not giving it away. I guess buying people off is one way to seek an endorsement, but I don't believe he received most of them.

Art Turner likes to eat at the Dirksen Pkwy Steak n Shake in Springfield. He spent several hundred there. More notably, his report didn't include tens of thousands of dollars in cash payments to himself and family members for things like "petty cash" and "election day expenses" as previous reports have shown. I'm amazed no one has picked up that story yet.

Campaign finance report time is always fun. I'll write more soon.

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I was in the news for something non-controversial. Weird.
The Community Volunteer Center teamed up with the Student Life office at LLCC for a volunteer fair. We had an excellent turn out of organizations and new volunteers!

It was held in recognition of the Martin Luther King Jr national day of service.

“Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love” - Martin Luther King Jr.

Posted by Will at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Americans gave a black guy named Barack Hussein Obama the largest Democratic margin of victory since LBJ and what happened? Pretty much nothing. The US Senate delayed for an entire year. The Republican strategy is working.

Why should anyone keep voting for Democrats when they don't deliver on the mandate the people gave them? They shouldn't. There's no logical reason to vote for a party that never does what they were elected to do.

Obama spoke about two main issues over and over again. Climate change and health care. He also promised more government intervention into the economy. That's what the people voted for no matter how much Republicans and Lieberwhore refuse to admit it.

Senate Democrats have ten months to finally deliver on what the people overwhelmingly told them to do in 2008. Another year of inaction will produce the same result as the Massachusetts election.

There's no question that angry conservatives will show up to vote no matter what the Senate does. Moving to the center won't convince the talk radio cult that any bill signed by Obama is anything less than a socialist destruction of American values. They will show up to vote angry anyway.
Will Democrats show up? Only if they're given something worth voting for.

Posted by Will at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Industrial agriculture is developing a response to growing consumer demand for local foods and sustainable farms. A front page article in the January 15 edition of AgriNews (I can't find it on the online version) reports on a presentation made at an Illinois Farm Bureau legislative roundtable.

Six Illinois agriculture groups have teamed up to develop a farmer image campaign to address non-farm consumers' perceptions of the industry. The Illinois Soybean Association, Illinois Milk Producers, Illinois Pork Producers Association, Illinois Beef Association, Illinois Corn Marketing Board, and the Illinois Farm Bureau, with assistance from Morgan and Myers, a public relations group recently began developing a strategy.
"It came up, I believe, because of a growing concern that the foundation of trust between farmers and non-farm consumers is eroding, and, this is what really set the pace I think, the public perception of farming practices and large farms is being shaped mainly by negative news and activists," said Dennis Vocler, IFB communications director and managers of the campaign.

..."We're attempting to find out where the non-farm persons' head is at regarding farm production, and to create best management practices for communicating with non-farmers in support of agriculture," Vercler said.

In reality, the image of farmers isn't suffering. The image of big agribusiness is suffering. The public see farmers and consumers as victims of trends in industrial agriculture that promote practices unhealthy for both the land and consumers. In particular, the Farm Bureau's image is suffering as it's increasingly seen as being dominated more by chemical, fossil fuel, big agribusiness, and insurance industry interests rather than actual farmers.

Later in the article, one panel member spoke about a poll done by the National Corn Growers Association.

Ninety-five percent of those polled said they supported the "family farm." However, that number drops to under 40 percent when asked if they support an "industrial farm" or a "commercial farm."
"We don't understand what is tripping the electorate's trigger as to going from a family farm to a commercial farm or an industrial farm," Weinzierl said.
..."We need to understand what's causing that change, when we change that term, and then figure out what are the key words we need to use or not use in our messaging. In really kind of stepping back and thinking about all the different words we're using in our vernacular and what's tripping people's trigger on or off, that is really important."

At its core, the sustainable agriculture movement is one that seeks to restore the bond between consumers and farmers at the local level. Creating markets that allow direct interaction between farmers and non-farmers is a far more meaningful way to restore a foundation of trust than paying a public relations firm to craft the best words for TV commercials.

The Illinois Farm Bureau will have to think about whether they want to be part of a growing movement or be seen as a barrier between farmers and consumer demands.

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Ed Norton (the actor most likely to portray me in a movie) produced the new documentary movie "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama." He did a round of interviews including this one on Countdown:

You can see it on the big screen at a free Liberty Brew & View showing this Tuesday, January 19, 7:00pm at City Nights Theater in Capital City Bar & Grill.

I'm interested to see if I show up in any background shots.

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To follow up with my last two posts, the presentation on Sangamon county's wind power zoning ordinance is now on the Regional Planning Commission website. You can find it by clicking on the "Select a Report" pull-down menu on the Reports, Publications and Maps page. Or you can click to it directly here.

It includes requirements uniquely applied to wind energy development which were described in more detail at the recent county board zoning committee meeting. The website has other reports on wind farms and their impact on communities.

Two more meetings about the wind ordinance are scheduled:
7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in New Berlin
7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1, Rochester Village Hall

Posted by Will at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sangamon county's strict guidelines for wind energy appear to be in reaction to a few objectors who are spreading misconceptions among county residents. The most frequent complaint aired at Monday's county board committee meeting was the fear of declining property values.

Regional Planning Director Norm Sims pointed out that studies of sales before and after wind farm development in the U.S. showed they had no statistically significant effect on surrounding property values. In some areas, positive attitudes about wind power caused property values to go up. The Planning Commission compiled information on this issue for a more thorough report to the county board.

The remaining menagerie of fears ranged from the inconvenient prospect of forcing crop dusters to coordinate their schedule with wind farm operators (the operator is offering to turn off turbines for crop dusting) to the specter of "shadow flicker." This refers to the terror of moving shadows being cast by a turbine if someone is unable to close their blinds for a few hours of the day during certain times of the year.

A myth v. fact paper by the American Wind Energy Association offers an explanation with less sarcasm than my blog.

For some who have homes close to wind turbines, shadow flicker can occur under certain circumstances and can be annoying when trying to read or watch television. However, the effect can be precisely calculated to determine whether a flickering shadow will fall on a given location near a wind farm, and how many hours in a year it will do so. Potential problems can be easily identified using these methods, and solutions range from providing an appropriate setback from the turbines to planting trees to disrupt the effect.

(Gob nob turbine near Farmersville)

When I visited the gob nob turbine in Farmersville I thought it was pretty loud. Then I realized it was just the frogs croaking. I couldn't hear the turbine on a windy day until I was standing directly under it.

The Planning Commission put together another report on health impacts from wind turbine sound. Additionally, you can check out their summary of setback requirements, which are stricter than many other areas. They also spoke of measures to prevent bird kills, which is an important issue when siting wind farms.

The planning professionals are doing their part to clear up misconceptions and provide unbiased information. It's up to the public to let county board members know that there's support for this project.

Besides, it's what Lincoln would have wanted.

"Of all the forces of nature, I should think the wind contains the largest amount of motive power—that is, power to move things. Take any given space of the earth’s surface—for instance, Illinois—; and all the power exerted by all the men, and beasts, and running-water, and steam, over and upon it, shall not equal the one hundredth part of what is exerted by the blowing of the wind over and upon the same space. ...As yet, the wind is an untamed, and unharnessed force; and quite possibly one of the greatest discoveries hereafter to be made, will be the taming, and harnessing of the wind."
- Abraham Lincoln, 1858

Posted by Will at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

As the nation attempts to come out of a recession, Sangamon county is thumbing its nose at new energy jobs. At a committee meeting of the Sangamon county board, the Regional Planning Director acknowledged that our local zoning ordinance for wind farms is stricter than most other counties reviewed in Illinois and surrounding states.

The Monday meeting included a description of the wind energy zoning ordinance, most of which is copied from similar laws in other areas, but with additional requirements. A copy of the presentation is on the county website.

Among the restrictions, the county will enforce violations of noise and some other regulations if the state fails to do so. I'm not aware of the county offering to police other state environmental regulations but it's interesting to think about who might be impacted if they choose to become green watchdogs. The distance turbines can be placed from incorporated areas and existing structures is already greater than many other counties require, and some residents are asking that it be increased even more.

(Iowa wind farm that provides power to CWLP)

The developers of the proposed wind farm weren't given time on the agenda but they were allowed two minutes each during the public comment period. One spokesperson stated that if the county enacts requirements for a one-mile setback, which some residents are calling for, the company would be forced to abandon the project.

It's disappointing that more time wasn't given to the developer or to a wind energy expert to clear up concerns raised by people in the audience. The county's strict guidelines appear to be in reaction to a few objectors who are spreading every youtube rumor about the supposed horrors of wind farms. I'll write more about their objections in another post.

In contrast, the county board took a very different approach to the Viper coal mine expansion near Williamsville earlier this year. The Viper mine has been cited for hundreds of safety and environmental violations. Despite their record, the county board approved $900,000 in sales and property tax breaks to the International Coal Group for expanding mining operations. It's hard to argue that the multinational corporation needed special help to expand Viper Mine since they also received massive taxpayer subsidies from the state.

That's the kind of corporate welfare people should keep in mind when the county claims they don't have money to avoid laying off Sheriff's deputies. They have money, but they choose to prioritize it elsewhere.

During the meeting, I asked the county board committee whether they considered giving similar incentives to attract a wind farm. If they're going to subsidize an energy source, shouldn't it be one that has the least negative impact on our community? It didn't appear that anyone has considered it.

The county board is mostly hearing from people opposed to the project. If you care about bringing green jobs to Sangamon county then make sure your county board member knows what you think.

Two more meetings about the wind ordinance are scheduled:
7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 715 E. Illinois St., New Berlin
7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1, Rochester Village Hall

Posted by Will at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I saw Avatar over the weekend and it lived up to the hype. The graphics, themes, characters and everything else are pretty much amazing. It's one of the great movies of our time. I can finally forgive James Cameron for making Titanic.

I'm not surprised that some conservatives are nervous about so many people seeing it. The Tribune gave a platform to one Chicago alderman who calls it anti-American and anti-military. I guess he didn't notice that two of the film's principle heroes are a former Marine and a former Army soldier.

If anything, it was anti-blackwater and anti-homicidal-war-crazed maniac. Two specific leaders looked bad in the movie, not the soldiers. This Alderman is playing the same old game the war-mongers played when anyone who criticized Bush's rush to war in Iraq was accused of being against the troops.

If the alderman's idea of America is best described by the Trail of Tears and the invasion of Iraq, then yes, this movie is anti-American. Anyone who recognizes that those weren't America's proudest moments won't have a problem with Avatar.

After Avatar, I thought about Transformers 2, which I rented on video when I couldn't find anything interesting I hadn't seen yet. I was impressed by the visuals but the themes couldn't have been more opposite from Avatar. First, they portrayed anyone who wants to negotiate or do a little thinking before jumping into war as a cowardly, meddling, weak politician who endangers all of mankind. I'm sure most conservative talk radio hosts didn't mind.

Then, Megan Fox's character gave young fans a lesson in war crimes 101 by torturing a small robot into switching sides. But at least she made it sexy.

Why isn't it controversial to have a movie for kids and teens that promotes a war-mongering, pro-torture mindset? Besides all the other reasons Avatar is an excellent movie, it's nice to have an antidote to nine years of fear-mongering and war-mongering from conservative leaders and media.

Posted by Will at 3:10 PM | Permalink

The next Liberty Brew & View movie is "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama" next week, Tuesday, January 19, 7:00pm at City Nights Theater in Capital City Bar & Grill.

It has only been shown on HBO so this is your chance to see it on the big screen. I like to keep the movies non-partisan but I'm sure there are many people in Springfield interested in this one. I hope everyone will feel welcome to come whether or not you supported Obama in the election.

You can read more at the movie website.

BY THE PEOPLE: THE ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA is a moving record of the Obama campaign's history-making odyssey to the White House. Interwoven with the drama of the campaign is never-before-seen footage of Obama behind the scenes, as well as interviews and candid moments with wife Michelle Obama, the couple's young daughters, Malia and Sasha, and senior campaign staff, volunteers, reporters, supporters and opponents.

Posted by Will at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The best new energy sources are ones that work well in combination with multiple solutions. The ability to power and regulate the electric grid through plug-in hybrid vehicles is a developing solution that's on my mind lately.

The trouble with plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles is that they soak up more of our power supply. The upside is that most of them will charge up at night when wind power is stronger and there's excess energy on the grid. Increasing power usage at night helps even out demand on the grid, which is good news for baseload plants that don't like to quickly fluctuate their output. And yes, even a plug-in car powered from a fossil fuel plant has lower life-cycle carbon emissions than a regular gasoline engine.

But, that's only half the benefit. Plug-ins will reach their full potential by storing energy at night that can be used to offset or produce power at peak-demand times during the day. By developing smart grid technology, utilities could automatically stop charging plug-ins for short periods of time during peak demand and even use some of the stored battery power.

The CTO of Duke Energy, which is retiring some of its oldest coal plants, sees strong potential.

Car batteries can provide a buffer to lighten the load on the grid during peak times and potentially provide back-up power to homeowners. Down the line, old plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) batteries could be recycled as storage devices, they said.

"I think PHEVs will be the killer application for the smart grid," said David Mohler, the chief technology officer of Duke Energy. "They are able to both consume and provide energy like no other device can and can really change storage."

"What proved most surprising was the concept of the Smart Garage is a lot closer to realization than we previously thought," said Laura Schewel, a transportation systems expert with MOVE and manager of the Smart Garage project.

"We found there were many misconceptions -- including that technology to make all this possible was not available -- when in fact the opposite is true," Schewel said.

"There are still definitely some barriers currently preventing the immediate adoption of Smart Garage. To move forward, the group at the summit created several key initiatives, which RMI is driving, to further break down these barriers. Initiatives range from research into advanced batteries and their potential second life options, to convening a group of leading 'seed' cities to make themselves a welcoming 'ecosystem' for electrified vehicles."

Google has already done successful tests using plug-in hybrids as a power source. The only question is which businesses, governments and utilities will move first to make it happen on a larger scale.

Posted by Will at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Jeff Biggers has a new book that touches on coal mining, Illinois history, and clean coal. He's stopping in Springfield this February for a reading on his book tour. I'll have more details soon.

There's more at his website.

Award-winning journalist and cultural historian Jeff Biggers takes us on a journey into the secret history of coal mining in the American heartland. Set in the ruins of his family’s strip-mined homestead in the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, Biggers delivers a deeply personal portrait of the largely overlooked human and environmental costs of our nation’s dirty energy policy over the past two centuries. Reckoning at Eagle Creek digs deep into the tangled roots of the coal industry beginning with the policies of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. It chronicles the removal of Native Americans, and the hidden story of legally sanctioned black slavery in the land of Lincoln. It uncovers a century of regulatory negligence, vividly describing the epic mining wars for union recognition and workplace safety, and the devastating environmental consequences of industrial strip-mining.

Posted by Will at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's the full text of the fiery 1892 editorial attacking coal pollution that I wrote about in my last post. It's funny how little the issues have changed. Notice the letter from Samuel Allerton, who must be the millionaire-industrialist father of Robert Allterton, who later founded the Allerton farm near Champaign, Illinois.

Pictured are the original front page and editorial. Let's see how many typos I make on my tiny new netbook keyboard...

Chicago Journal of Commerce.
Thursday, October 20, 1892.

THE PUBLIC BE ----.

We are living in an age of progress -- and cheek. The wonderful advances recently made in applied science has benefited mankind, almost incalculably. It has increase many fold the producing power of mankind and made many things "necessaries of life," which, but recently, were denominated luxuries to be enjoyed by the rich alone.

But these benefits have not been secured without loss to the people. Vast combinations of capital have built up monopolies and made the people pay an enormous tribute in the form of excessive prices. Not content with extorting money from the people, who, per fore, must be their patrons, these combinations assume and proceed to exercise privileges, which, fifty years ago, would not have been permitted for a single day. They calmly trample upon the rights of citizens, laugh at protests, and if pressed in the matter, buy a public official or a court of justice, and so maintain their position, ignoring at once the law and all sense of decency.

The Edison Company is one of the most conscienceless of all these offenders. The following letter, sent last Saturday, by one of the directors of the Society for the Prevention of Smoke to J. W. Doane, vice-president of the above named millionaire company, explains the situation:

"My Dear Sir: -- Last fall I met you at the Windsor Hotel, after your residence in Connecticut through the summer. You said to me that you dreaded to go back to Chicago an account of the dreadful smoke. Sitting in the office of the Society for the Prevention of Smoke at noon to-day, looking over the chimneys, I must say that Edison Company's chimneys throw out more smoke than all the other chimneys combined. I do hope that, as vice-President of that company, you will take it in hand. Myself and associates are spending a good deal of time to make you happy when you return from your summer trip by preventing the smoke. Now I hope you will come to our aid. Very Truly,
SAMUEL W. ALLERTON."

The Edison Company's two tall iron stacks are the most colossal smoke nuisances west of the Alleghany Mountains. They smoke day and night, and they pour out a volume of soot beside which the joint product of any score of the worst smoking plants left in town is as nothing. The smoke is always dense and black, sticky and sooty. Almost on a level with the stacks are the upper offices of the Home Insurance, the Insurance Exchange, the Woman's Temple, and the Rookery Buildings. Occupants of these offices are forced to keep windows close or breathe an aire thick with the filth of soft coal. Two or three blocks away the same thing is required of tenants in high buildings, when the wind is strong.

The Smoke Prevention Society has been untiring in its efforts to abate this most grievous and impudent of all the smut distributors of Chicago, and without avail. The offenders offer all kinds of flimsy excuses and keep right on defiling the air and injuring no end of fine goods and fine clothing with vast columns of smoke that would make old Vesuvius blush with envy.

The officials of the offending corporation claim that they have arranged to have smoke-consuming apparatus put into their plant and that some time in the future, all will be well. Let us trust that this is true. In the meantime, they continue to violate the law rather than go to the additional expense of burning anthracite coal, the use of which would at once abate the nuisance.

Why does the Edison Company take this defiant position? Why does it practically quote the words of Vanderbilt and suggest that the public may be damned, for all its officers and millionaire stockholders care? Simply because they posses enormous wealth and the power that wealth carries with it, and can afford, or think they can afford, to ignore and trample upon the rights of the public. And the probability is that the event will prove that they are correct in their position. A few suits will be brought and pressed by the company that is trying to abate the smoke nuisance, whereupon a representative of this soulless, grasping corporate offender will "see" the proper parties and the whole prosecution will end, as it began, in smoke.

"How long, Oh Lord," will the people submit to the power and insolence of combined wealth?

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