CapeCodToday Blog Chowder

Denmark: Renewables Poster Child- or Embarassment?

Danes have much to teach on green power - like how not to do it

BETWEEN THE LINES

DENMARK is often held up as a model of what Scotland could be: rich, environmentally friendly and impeccably politically correct in its international commitments.

This is a comforting myth that has just been kicked into touch by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) report on how EU countries are measuring up to their Kyoto targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Denmark generates about 20 per cent of its electricity using wind turbines. The country is aiming for 50 per cent by 2025. Just what Scotland should be emulating rather than building a new generation of nuclear power plants, goes the conventional wisdom. And Danish wind turbine technology now dominates the world market. The two top Danish turbine manufacturers, Vestas and Siemens Wind Power, grabbed 40 per cent of the global market in 2004.

Just one tiny problem: as the IPPR report reveals, Denmark is set to miss its Kyoto target for cutting emissions by a mile. Originally Denmark agreed to cut its greenhouse gases by 21 per cent by 2012 (using 1990 as the base year). However, according to the Danish government's statement to the European Commission in June, the country is actually set to increase its gas emissions over 1990 by 4 per cent. Which means nuclear-free Denmark will be 25 percentage points behind its stated Kyoto goal, despite all those windmills.

I'm really a fan of Denmark and (especially) cool Danish design. But I do think Denmark is a valuable lesson in confusing energy economics and wishful thinking, a disease we suffer from in spades in Scotland.

The Danish economy used to run on coal and oil. In the 1980s and 1990s the Danes switched to natural gas (like the UK) and a lot of wind power (unlike us).

Wind power has a defect: it only generates when there is a breeze, so it's no good for supplying peak electricity just when you need it.

Rest of story here:

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Farewell Filene's

As we bide farewell to this venerable New England retail landmark, it is well we remember its humble beginnings.

The Boston Globe felt the need to mourn Filene's passing in this Editorial.  saying among other things "On the other hand, Filene's is in a special category. It is a Boston landmark, along with the Red Sox (also a commercial enterprise), the Symphony, Faneuil Hall, the brick cityscape, and the other unique institutions that make our town Boston and distinguish it from a hundred other cities. At least the people who bought the Sox had the wit not auction off naming rights to Fenway Park."

Humble beginnings

But I want to tell you how this institution began over a century and a half ago. 

Back then the store's founder, Horatio Katz, wisely felt that a "foreign sounding", maybe even Levantine-sounding, name like "Katz" would be a detriment for the new haberdashery he was about to open in a decidedly Puritan town like Boston in 1849.

So he decided to name his new venture "Feline's" as the English version of his name, "Cats".

But the sign painter he hired transposed two letters, and presented Mr. Katz with a dozen freshly, painted signs which read "Filene's" instead of "Feline's". 

Since Katz was a typical, Yankee businessman of the era, he offered the painter half price for the typographically erroneous signs, and he called his new store "Filene's" which it remained until this year when the new owners ordered its demise.

A bridge too far

And if you believe that yarn, I have a three bridges to sell you in the Upper Cape.  

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New Year for New Memories

              As we turn another year it has been fun to look back at past times and remember what has been over the years.

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Rate-Fixing

What you are paying for besides electricity 

Today is the deadline NStar imposed on the Commonwealth to accept a $90 million deal in rate hikes for its electricity customers.

Nstar supplies electricity, which they don’t produce, to hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts customers. They also distribute electricity to even more customers by virtue of owning the transmissions lines that they all use to get electricity.

Most are familiar with the two charges on the electric bill. Here on the Cape the vast majority of us buy our electricity from the Cape Light Compact (CLC), the county sponsored aggregator of Cape and Island users; kind of a buyers club for electricity. In this function, the CLC competes directly with Nstar to supply us our electricity. But Nstar still distributes it.

Now comes the intrigue. Nstar wants to raise its rates. Maybe with good reason maybe not. But in order to minimize the impact on their electricity customers, they want to raise the charges on transmission and keep the prices on supply fixed for 7 years. In the sum total, Nstar is still raising rates to all their customers by some 40%, but not the 50+% other companies are this year.

They need approval to do this from the Department of Telecommunication and Energy (DTE). But rather than go to the DTE for a rate hearing, Nstar went to Attorney General (AG) Tom Reilly for a deal, a Rate Settlement, because they knew that they were treating customers differently. Namely, the Cape and a couple other areas that get their electricity from other suppliers would end up paying the higher transmission rates, while not benefiting from the “less-than-otherwise” price increases in supply.

A catastrophe for Cape Cod

This would be catastrophic for the Cape Light Compact if it comes to pass. It would put Nstar in an unfair competitive advantage over the CLC.  CLC customers would all convert back to NStar to get the better deal on electricity.  And to sweeten the deal, Nstar is also willing to defer the higher transmissions charges, to be paid later with interest. By the way, the deferral of transmission charges for now, would come with a usury interest rate of 11%, to be paid in 7 years, well after all the current parties are gone.

AG Tom Reilly, saw some political hay could be made with this deal. While making it look like he was brokering a deal for less-of-a-rate increase for most of,  if  not all Nstar customers, he made a political calculation that we on the Cape wouldn’t notice he was croaking the CLC in the process. By the way, the main benefactors of the rate deal are industrial customers, big consumers, and poverty advocates. Guys that have real political clout.

The AG thought he had kissed the Cape on the lips by opposing Cape Wind. That was easy, it didn’t cost any money, and only a few votes in a County he wouldn’t win anyway. But now we’re getting the royal treatment from the AG. Personally, I don’t like getting kissed before getting  screwed.

But what’s the AG-running-for-Governor supposed to do? The numbers are with NStar. More customers are getting a better price, even though some, like the CLC's, are getting screwed. And besides, there’s another numbers game that matters too. Thomas May, the overpaid CEO, (salary $4.5 million plus options) of the very profitable NStar (earnings up over 15% this year, and stock price at recent high), covers his bet by contributing heavily to Reilly for Governor.

Had enough? It gets better.

Not to be out tacked by changing political winds, the law firm hired by Nstar to argue the case for the deal before the DTE, (Robert) Keegan and (Robert) Werlin are heavy political contributors to Governor Mitt Romney and Governor-wannabe Kerry Healy. How does this matter? Romney recently appointed a political crony to chair the DTE, the agency charged with making a decision on this scheme, non other than Judith Jackson, the same DTE Commissioner who was doing the Governors’ bidding when she voted (in the minority) against the transmission line for the Cape Wind project.

Last night there was a last minute hearing in Yarmouth to take testimony from the Cape's electricity customers. Present were all the usual suspects, State Legislators, County officials, and CLC representatives. But the only one with any courage to call out the snake was County Commission Bill Doherty. “And keep in mind,” Doherty told the DTE staff, “that next year one of the parties to this agreement is running for Governor.”

State Senator Rob O’Leary, one time County Commissioner and driving force behind the creation of the CLC, was left wondering out loud, how could the AG make such a deal without first consulting the affected parties, like the pols who are supporting him in his run for Governor.  To borrow a famous movie line from Edward G. Robinson, “Where is your Moses now?”

Is Tom Reilly feeling the heat? Maybe. He sent down an Assistant AG last night to read a statement. Nstar also sent down a manager to handle the media. They were sitting together at the hearing.

Quote of the week.

But the best line of the week comes from a staffer at the CLC, who shall remain anonymous for obvious reasons, who said, “I wish I was a Democrat, so I could vote against Reilly twice next year.”

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Why it's too soon for deep-water wind farms

"In making her case, Ms. Parker cites numerous examples of how deep-water offshore wind is being developed around the world.

"She refers to the Beatrice Project, otherwise known as Moray Firth, as the flagship project for deep-water offshore wind energy. Talisman Energy, the developer of the project, is installing two experimental deep-water offshore wind turbines near existing oil rigs. The power produced by the wind turbines will be used to power oil drilling platforms and will not be sent to shore, thereby avoiding enormous additional expense.

"Even so, the project is not commercially viable and requires almost half of its development and construction costs to be picked up by public sources that include the British and Scottish governments and the European Commission. This fact is not difficult to uncover; according to Talisman's Web site, ''Current forecasts for electricity prices will never render the (Moray Firth) Project economic. It is an R&D project, not a commercial one, and as such requires public sector funding in order to proceed.''

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That's what they call a quadruple double, boy...

   While I don't bet for money personally, I can understand where someone reading my picks would wonder how I'd call games if I had to beat a spread.

   I'll do my best. If you are a serious gambler coming to this page for advice, my advice to you would be to find a better source. My record (140-80something, and I have no idea how I did last week) was built on calling the outcomes of games, sans odds. Factoring in the point spread changes everything. So does the fact that the regular season is ending.

   I'm not awful. Why, just a few weeks ago, I called the Browns beating someone 9-7. That's exactly how it turned out. I'm 3rd or 4th out of 10 in my Pick'em group. I also can't name more than 5 guys on the Houston Texans.

   I've made one cash bet in my life- a football card. Although everyone told me that you bet $5 on like 4 games, I went for 15 games on a dollar bet. There was some provision that would pay me if I got 14 out of 15, too. It was no more of an investment to me than a Megabucks ticket... and it seemed like a better waste of a dollar as far as fun goes.

   I bet all college games, and at the time I couldn't name more than two college players in the entire nation. I picked more than one game based on friends I had at a particular school, and I picked one because the name was cute.

   As you may have guessed, I was 13-1 going into the final game. While the more finite details of the game were somehow repressed in my memory, it was Texas vs Ohio State. I forget who I had, but there was a desperate-last-second-blocked PAT, and I was out a big wad of cash.

   Whatever my thoughts were on going 13-2 (especially when I knew nothing of the sport), the Mafia probably wasn't going to be sympathetic to my cause. That's why they're the Mafia, and I'm still cute.

   I do OK, but I wouldn't bet money on the advice of someone who has played ONE football game in her life... and it was a Powderpuff (I speared this one b**** something fierce, but that's A Whole Other Entry) game where play was actually stopped once because an offensive tackle broke a nail.

   If you just throw your money into the fireplace, you'll see just as much of it back as you will if you base money bets on what I tell you... and you'll keep nice and warm in the process.

   So, for entertainment purposes only...

Take the Giants, favored on the road against a god-awful Raiders team. New Yawk can rest the starters if they get a big lead, so look for the starters to come out blazing.

I see Denver and San Diego having difficulty combining for 40 points, especially where you stand a good chance of seeing a lot of scrubs. Chow down that 43 point under.

Speaking of which, take the 37 point under on the Baltimore/Cleveland game. Any sort of bad weather turns this into one of those 9-7 games.

Buffalo is bad. The Jets are really bad. Take Buffy and whatever points offered, especially the 1.5 I saw today.

Carolina needs to make a statement, and the Falcons chumped it up big-time this year. 4 points seems mighty tasty as a spread there, and I'd take Carol in this one.

The Dallas vs St. Louis spread isn't 43.5 for laughs. The mob sees this one being close, but I'll go with the under.

Will most of Green Bay's starters beat the second-stringers from Seattle? The Mafia has 4.5 saying they will, and I'm inclined to agree.

I have no idea if it's possible for a team to score only one point... but if it's ever going to happen, it'll happen as San Francisco and Houston stagger towards the end. I'll bet the Texans, giving a point.

Indy may not play anyone we've ever heard of, but they'll beat the spread on the hapless Cardinals.

Jacksonville should get a big lead early on Tennessee, and rest everyone after... take the under.

KC and the Bengals should bust whatever point spread is laid out before them. If the Bengals lose as we win, we take the 3rd seed. KC is favored, but I'll go with the Bungles.

New England is trying to steal #3 from the Bungles. Miami took us out in this game last year, but we look solid against the spread at home. GO PATS!

Minnesota is favored over Chicago, and that seems to speak of Chicago benching everyone. I'd take Minny and the spread.

Pitt has some crazy-fat 15 point spread on the demoralized Lions, but look for Detroit to make it close enough so we get a lot of camera shots of Bill Cowher's amazingly jutting chin.

New Orleans has been a 4 month disaster, and look for this trend to continue as Tampa can't help them up to that modest 37 point spread.

If a team will ever be hit by a comet as they enter the field, it'll be Philly. Look for God to be satisfied by having Washington smoke them by more than 7 as their own fans pummel them with batteries and whiskey nip bottles..

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Some bloggers are more equal than others

... such as the blogger who writes "Against the Wind" and calls herself  Magical Eye. How could I be so foolish as to forget that Magical Eye sets high standards for public discourse - except for herself and those who agree with her. 

For example, Magical Eye chided me today for alleged deception when it came to the National Geographic cover parody I posted - 10 days ago. Yet less than 20 minutes after I posted it on Dec. 19, she responded by writing - "Jack, you crack me up! Thanks, I needed a good laugh this morning and, once again, you supplied it. We certainly don't agree about Cape Wind but I love your sense of humor. And on that we do agree :) "

Doesn't look like there was much confusion as to whether the cover was a parody, at least not for Magical Eye. But to avoid future belated uncertainty, maybe I should describe such posts as satire, lest others so inclined later claim they couldn't ... connect ... the ... dots ...

In fairness to Magical Eye, she deserves credit for providing information about that provocative photo she posted, albeit only after repeated questions from me. She describes my inquiries as "bullying;" others with a keen interest in getting to the bottom of things might describe them as "persistent."

And how about that, the photograph in question turns out to have been "enhanced," in Magical Eye's memorable wording - which goes a long way toward explaining why I was skeptical of it to begin with. To my unmagical eye, it looked like a retouched photo and seemed to have been cropped to make the bird appear in imminent danger.

Was "Genuine Photo - or Genuine Fraud?" strongly worded? Most certainly - as intended. And the person it was directed toward wrote that "Wind Farms are BIG industry whose profits and products benefit no one other than the industry themselves (and some environmental groups who get into bed with them)". She posted this, incidentally, on the morning of Christmas Eve.

Who wrote on Dec. 17 that Nantucket Sound "should not be raped and sacrificed for corporate greed" and that "Cape Wind's lack of good will toward the people and this place is appalling. Shame on them for turning good people against one another."

Who on Dec. 18 criticized  "' 'sheeps in wolves clothing' environmentalists who try to worm their way into main-stream thought by actually sucking up to, sleeping with the other side and sacrificing those in the cause that don't."

Who wrote on Dec. 19 - "Finally, who stands to gain (View vs. BIG, BIG BUCKS) the most by what they say?"

Only someone wholly convinced of her own unassailable goodness could write in such a strident manner and not expect a reaction from people as entitled to their opinions as she is.

One last point - those quick to accuse critics of "bullying" and "harassing" are using code words with a specific intent - they seek to criminalize public discourse on the part of others having the gall to disagree with them.  

They possess all the interest in a genuine exchange of ideas as the guard who enjoys working in the Gulag.

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GOP Senate candidate Bennett loses local post

GOP State Senate candidate Doug Bennett is apparently a culture shock to older members of the Grand Old Party.  He said to us he's already been told by Tom George  "I don't like your style."  The style in question may be generational because Bennett is a serious and conservative 28 year-old, but more in the Frank Sargent or Elliot Richardson mold than the current Republican leadership in the state.

It might even be his haircut, or lack of same. 

When he visited the party H.Q. in Boston this month he was welcomed by some and held at arm's length by others. After all, this is the same fossilized GOP leadership which tried to foist the cuddle-some, big-haired Gail Lese onto the unsuspecting Cape Cod voters last Fall.  Bennett's boyish charm and Kennedy looks might not knock off well-entrenched Rob O'Leary, but he'd make it an exciting and news-worthy race for a change.

A knife in the night in Nantucket, "You martyred me." 

Now in an unexpected political maneuver last night, the Nantucket Board of Selectmen voted 3-1  to strip Selectman Doug Bennett of his vice-chairmanship on that board. Is this the long arm from Beacon Hill trying to give Bennett the same treatment Christy Mihos is getting?

The vote occurred in the final moments of the Wednesday night meeting when Selectman Whitey Willauer made a motion that the board consider rescinding Bennett’s election to the vice-chairman’s post at next week’s meeting.

After chairman Michael Glowacki explained to Bennett that he had the right to 48 hours advance notice of the vote and could decide whether the board discussed the matter in open session or behind closed doors, Bennett chose to proceed with the vote immediately.

A highly quotable Schwarzenegger look alike?

Bennett said at the meeting, "You martyred me. The way I look at it is, politics is a dirty game. If you don’t like the heat, stay out of the kitchen. I love the kitchen. And I love the heat. If you want to play rough, then fine. What they did was political and orchestrated. They met beforehand. All they’re trying to do is shut me out of the process.”

The vice-chairman’s primary job is to fill in for the chairman in his or her absence. Bennett's ouster has no real effect on anything but his candidacy, and maybe not even there. And imagine a Schwarzenegger in Massachusetts politics. 

The complete story in the Nantucket Inquirer & Mirror is here, and our daily newspaper finally noticed Doug two days after this report was posted, see the Cape  Cod Times story on 12/31/05 here.

Bennett's campaign site is here, and his email is dougbennett2006@yahoo.com.

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Genuine cover- or genuine hypocrisy?

C'mon, Jack - now its your turn to come clean.

Surely you can understand why you might be accused of hypocrisy after you spent five days harassing, bullying and pointing the wagging public finger at me for a simple enhanced photograph I used on my first blog post for "Against the Wind". 

No credit, no url, no disclaimer, no explanation of how you doctored the cover of National Geographic or if it was even you who did it but, I suspect it was.  Is this something  a professional  journalist is wont to do? Even a blogger on your post noticed the glaring omissions.  "Jack, I looked for the "satire" disclaimer, and there was none to be found. "

So Jack, the question of hypocrisy comes up. Are you a hypocrite for publicly and self-righteously (to the point of questioning my integrity on more than one of my posts, over and over again and then posting a blog to get public attention because you didn't get the answer you were pushing for in the comments) accusing me of deceit, manipulation and fraud? And if so, are you not really the one who is guilty of deceit, manipulation and fraud?

You know, at first I thought your magazine cover was funny but in the light of what you felt necessary to do where my photograph and personal integrity were concerned, I don't find it one bit funny. And furthermore, I really didn't want to get back into it and held my tongue, throughout your entire harangue, but since you told me not to hold my breath for a simple apology...  I decided to oblige.

Here is your post.

The cover of the first issue since Koch acquired the venerable magazine ...

Future cover stories include -

• "Nantucket Sound: This Pristine National Treasure of a Jewel off Our Shores,"
• "Offshore Wind Farms: Carnage Most Fowl," and
  
• "The Miraculous Curative Powers of Fossil Fuels"

The Alliance also plans to retain its controlling interest in the Cape Cod Times.

The cover of the first issue since Koch acquired the venerable magazine ...

Future cover stories include -

• "Nantucket Sound: This Pristine National Treasure of a Jewel off Our Shores,"
• "Offshore Wind Farms: Carnage Most Fowl," and
  
• "The Miraculous Curative Powers of Fossil Fuels"

The Alliance also plans to retain its controlling interest in the Cape Cod Times.

12 comments »

Pilgrim Nuclear Not Just Plymouth's problem

I'm new at all this blog stuff so please excuse me if I stray from the rules here and there.

 I was reading a blog the other day and put my ten cents in where I guess I shouldn't have. I think I should just stick to my own blog for now until I figure this out. It sure is interesting reading all the different opinions people have on these issues. I certainly can see both sides' point of view. I guess my main concern these days is energy, how we make it and how we use it.

Personally I like the idea of windmills but then again I wouldn't want a three hundred footer framed by my living room window. A wind farm in the distance I could live with as long as it wasn't detrimental to the environment.

We all have to agree that every form of energy production has its faults. We have to decide which ones make the most sense in certain areas and times. Windmills won't come close to doing it all but will help us get thru the next 20 to 30 years until they develop new alternatives. After that time if we don't like them we can simply take them down.

Crazy to do nothing while our kids die fighting for oil
Plymouth's  "rich developer" can contaminate all of Cape Cod

It would be crazy to do nothing while our kids die fighting for oil. The people of the Cape feel that a rich developer is trying to take advantage of them. Across the Cape Cod Bay Plymouth has a rich developer working its influence everywhere it can. They spread their donations in just the right places.

The difference being that this developer has the real potential to contaminate forever a 500 mile swath of land that includes the Cape. About 40 years ago our developer promised energy too cheap to meter and promised never to turn the South Shore into a high level nuclear waste dump.

Well guess what? After all those broken promises they're back before us looking to give us another 600 tons of high-level waste to add to the 900 tons we now host. They still have no idea what to do with this most toxic waste.  This waste is being "temporarily " stored in one of the most vulnerable waste pools in the country. Add to this the fact that nuclear particles spew daily from their vent stack and land wherever the wind might blow them. Have you noticed that Northwest wind lately?

I hope I'm not on the Cape that day

If something happened that required evacuation it would be a nightmare in Plymouth, never mind what would happen on the other side of the bridge. I hope I'm not on the Cape that day. Conservation is the first thing we should be doing , I guess we can all agree on that. Before we license all these new energy making machines and nuclear waste dumps we should buckle down and get serious about conservation.

Our government is terrible about conservation so they have to change and lead by example. I haven't had many comments at my blogs about Pilgrim so I guess everyone is more whipped up about the windmills coming to the Cape than they are about a nuclear dump site next door. Send me some comments about how you feel.

Should they continue to operate Pilgrim without knowing what to do with the waste or isn't it the Cape's problem to begin with?

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