Monday, July 16, 2007
Ben Luce Guest Blog: The Real Reason Desert Rock Coal Plant is Happening
This is a guest blog from Ben Luce of Break the Grip!:
Have no doubt, plans for the Desert Rock Power Plant are still rolling forward: Break The Grip! has learned that Sithe Global intends once again to seek a tax incentive from the New Mexico Legislature, and recently obtained more money from the Navajo Nation to keep their development on track. Although there are upcoming hearings on the plant's Environmental Impact Statement, there is little reason to believe that these hearings will be little more than pro-forma inputs to an unresponsive EPA.
Why is this happening? How, in an age of near panic about global warming, and with New Mexico supposedly adopting greenhouse gas reduction targets and policies to achieve those measures, can another massive conventional coal plant be built in New Mexico?
The answer is simple: The Richardson Administration and the Majority Leadership in the Legislature have utterly failed to oppose this project. True, the Administration and the Legislature have little jurisdiction over the Navajo Nation. But this is beside the point: They do have jurisdiction over the proposed tax incentive, and if the Governor were really serious about doing something about global warming, he would use his bully pulpit to oppose the project and press for economic incentives to help convince the Navajo Nation that they do not need Desert Rock.
Instead, Richardson only indicated some mild concern about Desert Rock's impact in one newspaper article during the last Legislative Session, and nothing since, a far cry from his extensive opposition to drilling in Otero Mesa (which he also lacked jurisdiction over). The impact from Desert Rock will likely be far greater than drilling in Otero Mesa, by about a factor of 50 in terms of emissions (and more over the long term).
What about the Democratic Majority Leadership? They were fully FOR Desert Rock: The Senate Sponsor was the Senate Pro Tem Ben Altamirano and the House Leadership, headed by Speaker Ben Lujan, was by all accounts pushing hard for Desert Rock behind the scenes. Watch for the Speaker to route the Desert Rock incentive directly to the House Business & Industry Committee in the next session, to simply bypass the House Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Committee (which opposed and helped kill the bill during this past session). The House Business & Industry Committee is completely hopeless from an environmental issues standpoint (and the committee is chaired by the Speaker's goddaughter).
Why is the Democratic Leadership so in favor of Desert Rock? It is enough to note that the lobbyist of Sithe Global, Richard Minzer, is a major fund-raiser for the Democratic Party, and that Sithe Global has lots of money to contribute. It's another classic example of undue corporate influence in New Mexico.
It's great that there are environmental groups and Navajo groups like Dooda Desert Rock out there fighting hard. But they have no power to stop this project directly: Their role can only be to get our governments to oppose this project. Either that or be dragged off the site in hand-cuffs at the bitter end.
Unfortunately, they will likely fail to sway our state leaders, because the Governor, and the majority leadership, completely let us down. And the Navajo Nation, in the face of the possibility of $50 million in cash from Sithe Global each year, and with no counter offer from the State, is unlikely to change course either.
It's time for the New Mexico public to realize that the environmental and Navajo opposition to Desert Rock has effectively been steam-rolled by our elected officials, and to start really holding those officials accountable.
You can email the Governor at https://www.governor.state.nm.us/emailchoice.php?mm=6.
Editor's Note: This is a guest blog by Ben Luce, the former Chair and Policy Director of the New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy (CCAE). Luce recently launched the nonpartisan citizen action group Break the Grip! because of concerns about the undue influence of powerful corporations on New Mexico government. Ben's previous guest blogs can be found here and here.
Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their views on pertinent issues. The views expressed may or may not represent our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand side of the page.
You can access recent posts on DFNM about the Desert Rock Power Plant and the public environmental impact statement hearings now being held around the state here and here.
July 16, 2007 at 09:03 AM in Corporatism, Democratic Party, Energy, Environment, Guest Blogger, Native Americans | Permalink | Comments (5)
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Rep. Steve Pearce Has His Head in the Sand: The Video
Adding to their Heads in the Sand on Global Warming campaign, the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund has released a new video (above) that pixilates our predicament with Republican Rep. Steve Pearce (NM-02) and his obtuse nonresponses to the threats of global climate change. Pearce wants to keep things just as they are because so many of his big donors make lots of money producing fuels that create greenhouse gases. He'd rather sacrifice the future of our children and grandchildren -- and maybe even the planet itself -- by defending the status quo instead of facing reality and supporting the actions necessary to address one of our most urgent problems.
You can check out the particulars of Pearce's disturbing record here. For instance, did you know that Pearce voted against the environment on 20 out of 20 related bills in the 109th Congress? He earned a zero percent score for 2005 and a zero percent score for 2006 in the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund scorecard.
Pearce to let him know what you think of his Head in the Sand approach to our environmental future. After all, he's supposed to be representing all the people, not just his favorite promoters of pollution. While you're at it, you might want to lend a hand to one of the Democrats who want to challenge Pearce in 2008 election:
Also see our previous post on Head-In-The-Sand Pearce. Click to support the work of the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, including their radio ad targeting Rep. Steve Pearce's dismal environmental record.
Of course, Pearce is just one ally of the Republican campaign to stop the advancing movement towards renewable energy. Be sure to check out the excellent Rolling Stone article, The Secret Campaign of President Bush's Administration to Deny Global Warming, for the dirty details.
Remember, the Republican members of Congress in our state -- Rep. Steve Pearce, Rep. Heather Wilson and Sen. Pete Domenici -- all stick with the Bush agenda no matter what. Can the planet stand another term from any of them?
June 28, 2007 at 03:02 PM in Corporatism, Energy, Environment, NM-02 Congressional Race 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Desert Rock Power Plant Update: Public Hearings Set for July
From the NM Wilderness Alliance:
Public Hearings will be held for citizens to speak out about the planned Desert Rock Power Plant in the Four Corners area. This is your chance to stand up for clean air, land and water in New Mexico! On May 22nd the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) released a draft EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) which strongly supports the Desert Rock Power Plant and 10 public hearings will be held on this, starting July 17th, 2007 (see below).
The BIA is holding these hearings because these communities and the people living in them will be directly affected by the Desert Rock coal-fired power plant. The mercury emitted by Desert Rock will find its way into the watersheds serving these communities, including both rivers and fishing lakes.
For more information, please contact Trisha London: trishal@nmwild.org.
Editor's Note: Here's the listing of all the scheduled hearings from https://www.desert-rock-blog.com, which is an activist site that covers the fight against the proposed filthy, coal-fired Desert Rock Power Plant:
• July 17, 5 - 8 PM, Farmington Civic Center.
• July 18, 10 AM - 1 PM, Ute Mountain Casino, Towaoc, Colo.
• July 10, 5 - 8 PM, Iron Horse Inn, Durango, Colo.
• July 19, 1 - 4 PM, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque.
• July 20, 1 - 4 PM, Runnels Building (Larrazolo Auditorium), Santa Fe.
• July 23, 10 AM - 1 PM, Shiprock Chapter House.
• July 23, 5 - 8 PM, Nenahnezad Chapter House.
• July 24, 10 AM - 1 PM, Burnham Chapter House.
• July 24, 5 - 8 PM, Veterans Memorial Center, Sanostee, N.M.
• July 25, 10 AM - 1 PM, Navajo Nation Museum, Window Rock.
You can download a copy of the draft EIS here, where you can also submit written comments about the proposed project. The closing date for comments is Aug. 20, 2007.
Also of interest is a recent that describes how the originally scheduled hearings were abruptly postponed without word getting to the Navajo activists who intended to testify, many of whom traveled many miles to attend the hearing orginally set for June 18. The article also reports on the process for plant approval and had this to say about the draft EIS:
The draft environmental impact statement, a document about the size of the Phoenix phonebook, analyzes how the power plant would affect the surrounding environment and people under various development scenarios. A technical consultant funded by Sithe Global and the DinŽ Power Authority prepared the EIS, which is required under federal law.
It concludes that there will be adverse impacts but that these would be outweighed by the benefits of job creation and revenue for the tribal government.
Opponents fault the study for inadequate research and misleading conclusions, and say it dodges the most significant question of this era - how the power plant would contribute to global warming.
You can find most of our previous posts on the Desert Rock Power plant in this archive.
June 27, 2007 at 02:01 PM in Corporatism, Energy, Environment, Local Politics, Native Americans | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, June 25, 2007
Guest Blog: Ben Luce on Why He Launched "Break The Grip!"
This is a guest blog by environmental activist Ben Luce of Break the Grip!:
For the past ten years I have tried as hard as I could to work through our existing political system, as a mostly polite and "professional" environmental advocate, to bring about policies that support renewable energy development and energy efficiency. I collaborated with the Richardson Administration and the utilities, to the extent that this was possible, to "move the ball forward" as people say. Mind you, this was not an easy process, I sometimes sparred publicly with the Administration and the utilities, and often sparred with them behind the scenes, but I mainly pursued the usual channels of lobbying politely, participating in PRC cases, etc.
We did make some progress, to be sure, getting things such as solar tax credits and stronger solar rights through, and the initial renewable energy standard and some other things. I am still very happy and proud about those things.
But I did fight many quiet wars, things were often delayed or compromised to a great extent, and I was always bothered by the pervasive and blatant undue corporate influence that I saw around me at the Legislature in general.
Then, in the recent Legislative Session, I experienced undue corporate influence to the extreme: The Richardson Administration, to my great sadness and dismay, basically teamed up with PNM to exclude citizen advocacy at all costs and try to gut the effectiveness of the new renewable energy standard, of course while making it look good for Richardson. They also tried to strip out crucial renewable energy provisions from the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority (already an extremely scary piece of legislation), and force a clean coal incentive down our throats. The Administration even had a PNM lobbyist working inside and officially representing the Administration (Art Hull), who was assigned to work on the Transmission Authority. Similarly, the clean coal incentive was forced us by a coal-industry connected LANL person named Charryl Berger, who was "on loan" to the Legislature.
Moreover, I sadly watched as the Democratic Leadership put a PNM lobbyist forward and bully citizen advocates to pass a PNM originated bill that rolls back protections for low-income people, and also try to force a $60 million tax incentive through for the Desert Rock Power Plant.
All of this obscene abuse of power was finally too much for me. After mulling it all over, and writing down my experiences over the past ten years (and storing this for safe keeping with others), I finally decided to go public about what actually happened. More than that, instead of just issuing an angry "rant" (as the Administration characterized my first press conference), I decided to launch, with other concerned citizens, a new campaign called "Break The Grip!". This will hopefully be a persistent citizens' campaign to systematically expose as much of the corporate political monopoly over New Mexico as possible, and call for a wide range of reforms.
I spent a few weeks developing the web site , which now contains much detail about the past relative to my own experiences, and we launched the campaign on Tuesday, June 19th (Tuesday being associated with the Greek God of War).
Since that time, AP coverage of the event has spread widely, including nationally, so I think we've made some impact.
We've also received tremendous support from the public: It seems that many people feel the way I do.
But we will need lots of help from the public on keeping the buzz going. We already used up a lot of publicity capital in our first press conference, so we need people to write letters-to-the-editor, join our network , etc. Don't let these guys hear the end of it!
The forces that be are already fighting back: A Richardson appointee named Gregory Green already crashed my press conference on behalf of the Administration and attempted to blunt our coverage by playing dumb about what happened during the session (he was a lobbyist for my former organization during the session), and apparently conveniently managed not to mention that he is currently a Richardson Appointee to the powerful Environmental Improvement Board. This is the kind of unethical response that needs to be countered. Who knows what else they will try? I've certainly written my fair share of embarrassing emails in the past, and I expect to start seeing them turning up in public. Do I care? Sure, things will likely be painful for me. But I'm persona non grata now anyway (at least among the corrupt! I've gotten lots of support from people on the inside too).
So, please help us rid our state of the obscene grip of corporations over our political system here in this state. Now is the time. Visit , read through the materials there, join the network, and await news of further opportunities to participate. We intend to take this campaign to the doorsteps of the powerful, and not back down.
Thanks and best wishes,
Ben Luce
Editor's Notes: This is a guest blog by Ben Luce, the former Chair and Policy Director of the New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy (CCAE). Guest blogs provide our readers with an opportunity to express their opinions on political issues, and they may or may not represent our views. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper right-hand corner of our main page.
Click to read a previous post on the formation of Break the Grip!
June 25, 2007 at 11:01 AM in Corporatism, Energy, Environment, Ethics & Campaign Reform, Guest Blogger, Local Politics, NM Legislature 2007, Nuclear Arms, Power | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Rant of the Day: Privatize This
Henry Rollins Tees Off. To augment that, read this IndyMedia report on Iraqi unionists speaking out during a U.S. tour against the American occupation and privatization schemes. This kind of corporatist money and power grab is at the very core of many of the festering problems our elected officials refuse to address effectively, whether they're related to health care, energy, education, natural resources like water, voting machines, trade, jobs, media, the prison industrial complex, our highway system or other areas where "privatization" to fill corporate coffers is being pushed to the detriment of the common good and common sense.
Is it any wonder? The powerful lobbying arms of these profit-at-any-cost outfits siphon tons of cash into the "campaign funds" of politicians on both sides of the aisle. They don't do that without getting what they want in return. They aren't donating large sums of money to be nice. Bottom line -- the "contributions" are nothing more than bribes masquerading as "free speech." Isn't it time we strengthen the challenges against politicos in both political parties on this score?
Secrecy Continues on Earmarks
I happened to turn on the TV this morning and caught a story on CNN about a project they're conducting to gather information on the specific "earmarks" being stuck into bills by members of Congress. Remember how one of the promises made by Dems in the 2006 election was that they'd reduce the rapid proliferation of these hidden subsidies to cronies and make the process transparent? Don't hold your breath. Of the 435 House members contacted by CNN interns, only 31 provided data on the specific earmarks they're pursuing. I guess they don't believe we have a right to know what projects are being supported with our tax dollars. Remember, we're just here to vote, pay our taxes and do the grunt work door to door while the "important people" who "contribute" generously to their campaigns get to call the shots.
NM House Members: Show Us the Money
According to the database compiled by CNN, New Mexico Reps. Heather Wilson (NM-01), Steve Pearce (NM-02) and Tom Udall (NM-03) all failed to provide the requested information on earmarks. What are they hiding? If you'd like to contact them to ask, click here. You know they always like to hear from contituents, as their websites and emails always state.
Private Equity and Hedge Fund Scams
In a related vein, don't even get me started on the "private equity funds" that are buying up public American companies, taking them private, dumping employees and benefits and essentially stealing their pension funds and other capital assets for distribution to their secret members. Have you heard ANY politician in the national spotlight criticize the full extent of this robbery? Even John Edwards, our token "populist" candidate, hems and haws when asked about private equity or hedge funds. After all, he recently worked for Fortress, a private equity firm that was taken public and produced large gains for its officers. And as this article reports, the majority of hedge fund "donations" are going to Dem candidates.
Again, don't hold your breath for any meaningful action by politicos anytime soon. They wouldn't want to subject members of such filthy outfits as the Carlisle Group to public scrutiny or fair taxation. It would cut down on the level of today's record-breaking campaign contributions!
Oh, there's a small dent in the dam as Congress has been so shamed by the revealed shenanigans of the Blackstone Fund that a bill has been introduced to address a narrow instance of the widespread problems with the equity funds. As this article in The Nation explains, Blackstone's greed and opportunism represents only the tip of the iceberg. Meanwhile, the Dem presidential candidates remain silent. Their owners don't like to be outed.
June 19, 2007 at 09:56 AM in Civil Liberties, Corporatism, Economy, Populism, Iraq War, Visuals | Permalink | Comments (4)
