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CINDY WALSH FOR MAYOR OF BALTIMORE----SOCIAL DEMOCRAT
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June 24th, 2014

6/24/2014

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VOTE FOR CINDY WALSH FOR GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND TODAY ALL ACROSS MARYLAND AS THE ONLY CANDIDATE WITH A PUBLIC JUSTICE, OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY PLATFORM THAT WILL HOLD THESE GLOBAL CORPORATIONS AT BAY AND BUILD A DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF SMALL AND REGIONAL BUSINESSES.



As I walked to the polling booth in Maryland to vote I stopped and talked with three people on the way as well.  I listed the platform issues of my campaign without letting them know who I was and we talked for a few minutes----these people saying exactly what I say in my blog every day.  Everyone supports the issues in my platform.  When we finish talking I introduce myself as a candidate for governor and none of them know me but say they will vote for me.  Meanwhile, WYPR, Johns Hopkins' corporate 'public' media has staff who have been involved in all the primary events lamenting the voter turnout----no knowing just what to do to get more people out to the polls.  Remember, it was WYPR that literally said-----

IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THE CANDIDATES WE PUT IN FRONT OF YOU----THEN DO NOT VOTE.  THERE'S THE PROBLEM.

This capture of elections in Maryland is what makes these global corporate neo-liberals and neo-cons operate with impunity when it comes to public policy that is killing the citizens of Maryland and is directly behind the rising taxation hitting the middle/working class.  I just want to remind the citizens of Maryland of some of the more well-known corporate give-aways and remember, we do not have to give all of this away to keep large corporations in the state.  In fact, we want them to leave so we can rebuild the small and regional businesses that rely on good service and quality products to win market-share.

I listened this morning about the rising sea levels and how it will affect the US coastline.  Predictions of anywhere from 12-30 inches in sea level rise over just a few decades is not hyperbole----it is scientifically valid.  So, let's look at Maryland to see how the corporate pols operate with total disregard to the citizens of Maryland and the state and local revenue spent on behalf of these corporations.


Below you see the infamous Exelon/Harbor Point debacle that had every sector in the city of Baltimore out and protesting because the level of corruption was breath-taking.  This deal was so openly racketeering by Baltimore City Hall and Mayor Rawlings-Blake and the political pay off of developers and political contributions is astounding.  Baltimore City is indeed third world in its level of fraud, corruption, and lack of transparency.

Just a quick overview of the problems ------Exelon just finished a merger deal with BGE that required the corporation to keep its headquarters in Baltimore so the city did not have to provide this tax break to keep this corporation in the city-----it gave it away for absolutely no reason.  The developer is building on land that is a known toxic waste dump that should be simply made into a green space at best until toxic waste cleanup can be done but the city is allowing a high-rise right on water's edge on this site.  Residents in nearby communities are concerned about the toxic chemical barrier being penetrated as it will compromise the integrity of the seal of toxic chemicals that will leach into the water and be released by air.

Equally as troubling is my reference to the rise in sea level and this development will have the taxpayers paying to build a sea wall around this entire Harbor East development that should never have been allowed to be constructed on water's edge.  It is all public malfeasance and will cost taxpayers countless money to implement and maintain.


THE PUBLIC AND MEDIA OUTCRY WAS IMMENSE AND THESE CORPORATE POLS IGNORED IT BECAUSE THEY WORK FOR THESE CORPORATIONS AND NOT THE CITIZENS OF BALTIMORE AND MARYLAND.

Activists plan protest against $107M in city financing for Harbor Point development


Hearing on TIF financing scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall
About 100 protesters object to the $107 million in tax increment… (Baltimore Sun photo by Luke…)July 16, 2013|By Luke Broadwater | The Baltimore Sun


Activists plan to protest the $107 million in city financing requested for the waterfront Harbor Point development.

The Fair Development Campaign will hold a demonstration in front of City Hall at 4 p.m. Wednesday to protest the tax increment financing plan

"Time and again, the city has awarded our resources to wealthy developers at the taxpayers’ expense in the hope that money will trickle down," states a news release from the group. "This model has failed. The Harbor Point TIF deal is more of the same."

The activists said they expect dozens of Baltimore residents to attend the event, including the homeless and unemployed workers. 

Immediately following the rally, the City Council's taxation committee will hear testimony about the request for more than $100 million in city-issued bonds to pay for the project's roads, pipes, public parks, promenade and other infrastructure. The 30-year bonds will accrue millions in interest over time.

Under the deal, the developer Michael S. Beatty is required to pay back both the bonds and interest through his projected tax revenue. If the tax revenue falls short, the project will be assessed a special tax, according to proposed legislation. 

The $1 billion Harbor Point development is the planned home of Exelon's new regional headquarters, a Morgan Stanley facility and other office buildings, residential towers, stores and a hotel.

Currently, the site is assessed at $10 million, but the Baltimore Development Corporation projects it would be valued at $1.8 billion for tax purposes when developer Michael S. Beatty completes it.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has said the Harbor Point project would create thousands of jobs. In addition to the tax increment financing, the development is benefiting from more than $100 million in tax breaks.








O'Malley is king of corporate brown-nosing giving these corporations anything they want no matter the cost.  He has single-handedly mortgaged the future of Baltimore for decades unless Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland takes to court these bogus corporate tax breaks and public private partnership deals that even a third grader would know are against the public interest.

YES, POLITICIANS ARE SWORN TO PROTECT AND SERVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE-----IN THIS CASE THE CITIZENS OF MARYLAND.  IT IS PUBLIC MALFEASANCE WHEN THEY KNOWINGLY THROW THE PUBLIC UNDER A BUS.


Makeover Monday: Hyatt resort spa gets $1 million revamp

USATODAY 6:04 p.m. EDT September 17, 2012(Photo: Hyatt Regency)

The 10-year-old Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa & Marina on Maryland's Eastern Shore today sports a new, $1 million spa and salon.

The waterfront resort, about 90 miles from Washington D.C., spruced up its guest rooms, lobby and dining areas in 2009. But earlier this year, it updated its 18,000-square-foot Sago Spa & Salon.

The 400-room resort's located in Cambridge, Md.

So where did the $1 million go?

The money was spent on everything from the new limestone reception desk to a new design inspired by the Chesapeake Bay in a color palette of golden hues, steel blues and earth tones, says Caroline Gould of the Washington D.C. design firm, RD Jones and Associates, which completed the revamp.


Sago has a renovated steam room and sauna, a larger retail area and a new co-ed relaxation room. Also, its salon was expanded to allow for more stations for manicures and pedicures, hair styling and make-up application.

The redesign is based on an abstract interpretation of its Eastern Shore location, so you'll see nautical-inspired wall sconces and natural textured wallpapers, Gould says. The spa was named after a strong underwater grass in the Chesapeake Bay that provides life and nourishment to the water and inhabitants.


_____________________________________________

Above you see more money spent to make a luxury hotel more luxurious even as it continues to lose money and the state allows bonds.  Raise your hands if you know a massive economic collapse is coming soon that will be broader and deeper than the one in 2008------EVERYONE THAT READS REAL JOURNALISM.  So, will there be an uptick in the near future?

OF COURSE NOT----THERE WILL BE A DEFAULT ON THESE BONDS FOR THE STATE OF MARYLAND AND THE PRIVATE PARTNERS WILL BE INSURED AGAINST ANY LOSSES.


The idea that any region is lucky to have tourism jobs that not only pay poverty wages but the lowest poverty wages around is an insult to the citizens of the Maryland Eastern Shore.  They need good solid manufacturing and small business opportunities that allow them to prosper----not toil as people living in third world countries do with these same resort areas.

Easton is a wealthy enclave that wanted this in their neighborhood and got it.  We are not against people being wealthy------we are against corporate and wealth subsidy at the expense of the greater population.


The reference to Rocky Gap is just a look at the pattern of economic development that makes no sense and is done simply to placate people connected to the politics of Maryland.  We are supposed to be happy with the solution of handing this resort having huge taxpayer investment to private corporation for gambling which is exempted from paying taxes on the gambling proceeds......this is why you do not hear Cindy Walsh for Governor of Maryland in any media or large 501c3 venue----the corruption is complete.

IT IS LOL IF IT WAS NOT SO PITIFUL.



The Maryland Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO) functions under the provisions of Title 10, Subtitle 1 of the Economic Development Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland.

The legislative purposes of MEDCO are to: relieve unemployment in the State; encourage the increase of business activity and commerce and a balanced economy in the State; help retain and attract business activity and commerce in the State; promote economic development; and promote the health, safety, right of gainful employment and welfare of residents of the State.


We need to look at what MEDCO is backing and as with  MECU ----Maryland Employee Credit Union------it is the public sector paying for what will prove to be public malfeasance on the part of elected officials.  This is not a democrat only issue----the republican party is just as crony and corrupt as republican voters know.

Rocky Gap II?Our view: The state-backed Cambridge Hyatt has been a winner for the Eastern Shore, and its struggles pale next to those of its Western Maryland predecessor


June 12, 2013  Baltimore Sun

Henceforth, let there by a rule that nothing can be compared to Maryland's failed investment at Rocky Gap, located just outside Cumberland in Western Maryland, except for Rocky Gap and perhaps any other $55 million white elephant loss that comes along. We know Rocky Gap. Rocky Gap is an acquaintance of ours. Sorry, Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay resort in Cambridge, but you're no Rocky Gap.

Incidentally, let us insert a reminder here. Even the infamous Rocky Gap hotel and conference center isn't Rocky Gap anymore. The place was turned over to private investors last year and is now the Rocky Gap Casino Resort. With slot machines and table games (along with the lakeside hotel and Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course they picked up for a bargain price), they are unlikely to lose money. The state even lowered its share of slot machine revenue just to be certain.

The Rocky Gap legacy — its star-crossed history and cost to taxpayers — lives on, however, and naturally it came up with news that the state-owned Hyatt, another project financed by the Maryland Economic Development Corp., is having trouble paying the bills. The state recently withdrew $2 million from a reserve fund to meet debt service.

Admittedly, the situation isn't good — not for the 400-bedroom hotel, not for investors and not for Cambridge and Dorchester County. The resort hotel business in general has been on the rocks since the economic downturn and is only now showing signs of life across the country. The Hyatt is meeting its operating costs but operating in the red because of its bond payments. The reserve fund could be depleted later this year, and bond holders are likely taking a hit (but probably won't seek foreclosure).

That's nothing to celebrate. But it's also not something to call a disaster on the scale of Rocky Gap. And it's certainly not time to talk about underwriting the business with slot machines, table games, poker or any other form of expanded gambling. (Seriously, does every economic hardship now require that a casino be authorized in response?)

The fact is, the Hyatt was a success and arguably continues to be one despite the drop in revenue that's been eating away at reserves since 2010. Ask anyone who has been there. It's a first-class facility with a spa, golf course and marina on a gorgeous location convenient to both the Washington-Baltimore area and the Maryland-Delaware beach resorts. But more importantly, its presence has helped transform Dorchester County, not only by creating travel and tourism-related jobs but in changing how visitors perceive a part of the Eastern Shore that was once known as much for racial unrest as anything produced by its native farmers or watermen.

Cambridge in the summer of 1967 was where H. Rap Brown — a militant activist who would surely be seen as a terrorist today (were he not currently in jail serving a life sentence for an unrelated murder) — told his fellow African-Americans to riot and burn the place down. What ensued was four years of racial violence followed by decades of economic hardship and poverty. The county still has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state — even slightly higher than Baltimore's.

But the situation has unquestionably improved since the 2002 opening of the Hyatt,
made possible by MEDCO's $120 million in tax-exempt revenue bonds. The Dorchester County of today may still be suffering, but it has potential. Indeed, in the pre-recession years after the hotel opened, county residents' big concern was the fast pace of construction and the volume of new arrivals to their communities. It was not until 2008 that the bottom fell out and bookings dropped by 30 percent. It might even have recovered by now except that sequestration has taken a huge bite out of hotel spending by the federal government and its contractors.

That was never the case in Cumberland, where the isolated Rocky Gap seemed a pie-in-the-sky concept even before it opened in 1998. The Hyatt, now the county's second-largest employer with as many as 700 jobs in the summer peak season, has survived most of its 11 years without teetering on default. That alone sets it apart from its politically motivated Western Maryland counterpart. It's hard to believe there's anything wrong with the Hyatt that can't be cured by an uptick in tourism, in its conference trade and in traffic on U.S. 50. The nonrated bonds aren't even the responsibility of state taxpayers.

Certainly, a case could be made that MEDCO might want to look at resort projects more skeptically in the future. But it would also be a mistake to evaluate the Hyatt in Cambridge solely on the recession-related red ink on its ledger and not on the benefits it has provided to the surrounding community for the past decade.



____________________________________________

Below you see the development plans that everyone knows is bad policy but is it stupidity or is it deliberately calculated to keep the public on tap to make sure a corporation brings in profit and pays no taxes?  Right now any tax base this hotel would have paid----and believe me all the TIFs and breaks given for zoning have those taxes at a minimum are now being used to keep the hotel solvent.  So a large sum of revenue is going to keep a hotel-----in the midst of tons of hotel space that have a crisis in filling rooms----going to Hilton. 

Note when this deal finally started-----2006-2008. This is exactly when all the press was calling the US economy and the stock market a 'HOUSE OF CARDS'. 


Greenspan and Geithner had just refused to acknowledge and prosecute massive subprime mortgage fraud and the fraud exploded and imploded the economy all between 2006-2008 and all politicians knew this was happening.  Remember, I am not a rocket scientist----I simply read the financial news.

So, O'Malley pushes to place this albatross on the neck of the citizens of Baltimore and Maryland knowing the economy was going to crash in a big way and a recession would no doubt be deep and long.  He knew the business would not be there-----he built it because of a Master Plan of Baltimore Development Corporation and Johns Hopkins that projects 50 years out in development.  They say the loses to the citizens living in Maryland now do not matter----we are building for the 21st century and we are going to do it our way!!!!

What Baltimore's downtown needed was thousands of small businesses supported by people employed and earning a Living Wage.  You cannot do that in Baltimore because the public policy keeps most Baltimore citizens in poverty and unemployed----unable to provide the product consumption to fuel a domestic economy.  THIS IS DELIBERATE.


The Hilton Baltimore is a 757–room hotel located on West Pratt Street in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Initially proposed in 2003, actual construction of the city-owned venture took place between 2006 and 2008 as part of the Baltimore Convention Center.

Despite Losses Baltimore Won’t Sell Taxpayer Funded Hilton Hotel

Losses mounting for financially troubled hotel

November 1, 2013 by Brian Griffiths Watchdog Wire


The City of Baltimore decided to do an extensive investigation into the city-owned Hilton Hotel. And their decision on this matter
shows exactly why you don’t do stupid stuff like build city-owned hotels in the first place:

There’s too much money tied into the city ownership of the Hilton Hotel to put it on the market, Baltimore City officials said Thursday. 

City officials said the hotel is not for sale and that they would expect to lose tens of millions of dollars by putting it on the market. They said restructuring the debt is not an option, and they believe the hotel will turn a profit in 10 years. 

This study indicates the Hilton is outperforming other hotels in the city and that holding onto it will pay off down the road.

Read the whole thing. The city has lost money on the hotel for years because it could never meet the revenue projections promised by its supporters, which some predicted at the project’s inception given its comparison to similar projects in other cities that had been completed at the time. Since then the hotel hasn’t exactly been swimming in profits; just last year the hotel had to withdraw money from their reserve fund in order to pay their bills after running up over $54 million losses since its opening. Of course, any sale of the hotel would certainly create political headaches for one Governor Martin O’Malley. Remember the city-owned hotel was O’Malley’s brainchild all along. Once created, O’Malley used the construction of the hotel to engage in one of his favorite sports; throwing development dollars to Democratic operatives. The hotel wound up being developed by Ronald Lipscomb, notorious developer, Democratic fundraiser , and boyfriend of disgraced former Mayor Sheila Dixon. Despite his flaws and issues with jurisprudence, O’Malley called Lipscomb “a man of vision, talent, and commitment to the greater good.” And to top it off, O’Malley was able to create the hotel, enrich a crony, lost the new Hilton company headquarters to Virginia despite his support of a public financed hotel, and then attempt to blame former Governor Bob Ehrlich for the failure of the hotel when it was preordained to fail in the first place.Needless to say that selling the hotel would be an admission that Martin O’Malley failed, something that the Governor can ill-afford to have as he embraces on his Titanic-like Presidential campaign. While there are obvious political reasons that would make Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake want to protect O’Malley and her Democratic cronies, there is no legitimate reason to keep the hotel in city-controlled hands. With $54 million in losses and counting, there is no reason to believe that the Hilton is going to turn a profit at any time in the near future. In a city that is in serious financial straits, with crumbling schools, dilapidated infrastructure, and not enough police in order to keep basic order in all parts of the city, something has got to give. If the Baltimore sold the hotel right now and was able to get out from under the cost of operating the hotel and the cost of the debt service of the hotel, it would in a small way reduce the fiscal burden that the city faces, and would cut the city’s losses at around the $54 million mark where it currently sits. Baltimore would then be able to redirect the funds from the occupancy tax (which are partially funding hotel operations right now) back into its general fund so that it can be used for city-related endeavors which are not related to competing with the private sector. Baltimore’s inability to admit defeat and sell the Hilton is just another example of how city elected officials either don’t understand basic economics or don’t take their role as fiscal stewards seriously. It’s time for the city to cut its losses, get out of the hotel business, and try to focus on fixing the myriad of problems facing Baltimore. Brian Griffiths




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May 29th, 2014

5/29/2014

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PRIVATIZING ALL THAT IS PUBLIC IS THE NEXT PHASE OF THE 21ST CENTURY OR NEW ECONOMY------NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS WORKING TO GIVE GLOBAL CORPORATIONS COMPLETE CONTROL OF ALL ASPECTS OF GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMY.  WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THAT?  MASSIVE CORPORATE FRAUD AND GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION AND LOSSES TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE OF TENS OF TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN CORPORATE FRAUD AND FLEECING OF GOVERNMENT COFFERS.

Today I want to look at the privatization of the Port of Baltimore and two pay-to-play that will be an environmental nightmare for the citizens of Maryland but moves forward because it earns billions of dollars and advances political careers for corporate pols.  Let's look at why the Port of Baltimore has been given an 'F' in environmental stewardship ------BECAUSE, AS WE KNOW, NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT. 

REMEMBER, TRANS PACIFIC TRADE PACT (TPP) IS ALL ABOUT ALLOWING GLOBAL CORPORATIONS WORKING IN THE US TO IGNORE ALL ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS IN THE PURSUIT OF PROFIT.  Do you hear your environmental or justice organizations shouting this?

All states have a Port Authority that is controlled by State and Federal governments.  So, when a decision to privatize these ports comes with public private partnerships----IT IS CORPORATE DEMOCRATS MAKING THIS DECISION.  Republican Erhlich and Democrat O'Malley pushed to hand the Port of Baltimore to a private investment firm HighStar-----yes, the same investment firm behind Water, Waste, and Sewage privatization-----behind bringing VEOLA and transportation privatization.  All of this is tied with HighStar shareholder Johns Hopkins earning billions in these privatization deals.  See why O'Malley and neo-liberals are working hard to privatize all that is public?  So, neo-liberals decided that instead of a few billion coming to the State Treasury from state business at the port------it should LEASE the port for a few hundred million and then give the billions of dollars earned from the port to HighStar.  NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS MAKING THE PUBLIC RENTERS IN ALL WAYS!!!!

This is not only a loss for the state financially------it is an environmental disaster for the bay.  Expanding the port to bring global cargo ships brings invasive species that choke native species and fill the bay with species that are generally of no value ----killing the bay.  This does not even take into consideration the level of chemical and waste pollution coming from these ships.  THE PUBLIC LOSES BILLIONS IN STATE AND LOCAL REVENUE AND ITS BAY IS KILLED.....THAT'S A NEO-LIBERAL FOR YOU!  Meanwhile, there is no appreciable job creation as the port goes robotic and trains simply pass right through the city ------only the cost of infrastructure development for HighStar's port operations all paid for by taxpayers.  We have communities fighting what will be cargo train terminals that will kill their communities shouting THERE IS NO BENEFIT TO THE COMMUNITY OF CITIZENS OF BALTIMORE-----AND THEY ARE RIGHT.

REMEMBER, SUSTAINABILITY IS ABOUT GROWING DOMESTIC AND LOCAL ECONOMIES ------FOR A HEALTHY FUTURE.  THIS IS THE OPPOSITE.


Sparrows Mill Steel plant has been slated for closure for decades but recently a pay-to-play sent millions of Federal, State, and local taxes for a deal supposedly to restart this steel mill------and yet, the deal included nothing that required the mill owners to upgrade mill equipment that was a must to make the mill competitive and able to survive.  It handed this mill to corporate players who then took charge of dismantling and deciding who would own this huge and valuable property on the bay.  So, as would be expected, the new mill owners closed this mill two years after receiving all that tax money to open and went into bankruptcy to shed all the costs of labor contracts, pensions, and bills owned to venders and the city.  What the state and Baltimore County could have done is take this property into the hands of the state and dismantle this mill in a way that protected labor contracts and vendors and handed all the profits from salvage to public coffers-----instead, all the profits from salvage went to a Chicago corporation known to be connected to Obama's campaign.  THIS WAS A PAY-TO-PLAY.  Besides having the state and county lose control of valuable waterfront property-----the deals never included that the costs of environmental cleanup from decades of industry and a sewage problem that makes this area an environmental nightmare.  WE HAVE SOME MILLIONS GIVEN TO STUDY THE PROBLEM.  This mill was constructed in a way that Baltimore's waste water drains right into this mill and openly floods the Port of Baltimore. 

THE STATE COULD HAVE USED THE PROCEEDS FROM THE STATE OWNERSHIP OF THIS MILL TO CLEAN UP AND FIX WASTE WATER AND CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION----BUT DID NOT.


Now, guess who will be made to pay for all of this as part of a taxpayer subsidized waste water infrastructure upgrade and development of this former steel mill------TAXPAYERS. 


MORE CORPORATE SUBSIDY AND THE EXECUTIVES BROUGHT IN TO HANDLE THIS MASS MOVEMENT OF ASSETS OUT OF BALTIMORE COUNTY/ THE PORT-----MADE MILLIONS FOR THEIR TROUBLE.  The Steel workers lost pensions and health care as the mill was allowed to go into bankruptcy instead of being taken by the state for assets.

ALL OF THIS LAND NOW IN THE HANDS OF INVESTMENT FIRMS WILL NO DOUBT BE DESIGNATED 'TAX FREE'.


One more quick mention of the next environmental catastrophe for Port of Baltimore-----Harbor Point and the development of a toxic waste landfill right on the water's edge.  Even as the citizens are assured that none of the toxic waste will blow in the air and into people's lives and none of it will seep into the bay-----EVERYONE KNOWS TOXIC WASTE WILL INDEED DO BOTH.  This development is on land that could have simply been left natural as a public green space-----but NO-----we must maximize profits say neo-cons and neo-liberals.  All of this brings hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate tax breaks and the public building SEA WALLS around these Harbor East properties built right on waters edge because everyone knows global warming will have sea level rise 12-20 inches in just 20 years.  THE PUBLIC WILL PAY FOR SEA WALLS TO PROTECT DEVELOPMENT THAT SHOULD NOT EVEN BE THERE.

THIS IS WHEN YOU KNOW YOU HAVE NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS MAKING ALL THESE DECISIONS.  THEY COULD CARE LESS ABOUT PUBLIC INTEREST OR JUSTICE.
 

THIS IS WHAT TRANS PACIFIC TRADE PACT LOOKS LIKE.

Maryland was once again ranked with an 'F' in environmental stewardship as the Port of Baltimore is filled with trash, sewage, chemicals, and invasive species.....all while O'Malley and the neo-liberals in Maryland Assembly claim to be environmental and a Blue State.  Neo-liberals dismantle all oversight and accountability in government and that includes environment----so as they pass laws that make them look progressive, they then simply ignore these laws.  When O'Malley runs for President he will use all kinds of Maryland media making him sound environmental.

Keep in mind that it was the Maryland Assembly and Governor O'Malley that signed off on this so the idea that the Maryland Department of Environment comes in after all the deals are made to say these things are wrong is ridiculous.  Hilgo is the Chicago-based firm connected to Obama's campaign.

Sparrows Point owners warned on environmental allegationsAsbestos, sludge issues cited by state

March 13, 2014|By Alison Knezevich,

The Baltimore SunState environmental officials and the owners of the Sparrows Point peninsula are moving toward a settlement to correct alleged regulatory violations at the former steelmaking site.

Regulators say an array of problems have occurred over the past year on the 2,300-acre peninsula, including illegal open dumping of industrial sludge, improper handling of hazardous materials and the running of an unlicensed scrap tire operation.


"We are drafting a settlement in the form of a consent order which will provide terms and a schedule for corrective actions — and which will include a financial penalty," Maryland Department of the Environment spokesman Jay Apperson said in a statement. Apperson said the penalty amount has not been determined.

The steel mill at Sparrows Point, which employed tens of thousands in its heyday, closed in 2012. Officials are now eyeing the property, which has a decades-old history of environmental problems, for future economic development.

Baltimore County formed a partnership to explore ways to bring jobs to the peninsula. Last year, County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said county officials want to capitalize on the expansion of the port of Baltimore, with hopes of bringing a new marine terminal to the peninsula's Coke Point area. County leaders have said environmental contamination should not deter redevelopment of the land, contending much of the peninsula can be cleaned up in the near future.

In a December letter to owners Sparrows Point LLC and Hilco Industrial and to site contractor MCM Industrial Services LLC, Maryland Secretary of the Environment Robert Summers wrote that over the past year, inspections had revealed "a pattern of significant and ongoing violations of Maryland environmental laws" by the companies.

"Most troubling, however, is that many of these violations have been brought repeatedly to your attention and have been largely unaddressed," he wrote.

Since the letter was sent, representatives of the companies have met with state officials, Apperson said.

Randall Jostes, CEO of ELT, of which Sparrows Point LLC is an affiliate, said the company is working closely with the state agency to address the allegations.

The peninsula is a huge site "that has 100 years of history of steelmaking activity," he said.

"We're in the process of bringing down the legacy to reach the vibrant, redevelopment future," he said. "The process itself uncovers a lot of historical site issues and we are working with MDE on each and every issue discovered."

A spokesman for Hilco declined to comment. A spokeswoman for MCM said officials familiar with the matter were traveling and not available to comment.

Russell Donnelly, an Edgemere resident and environmental activist, said the community has dealt for years with polluted water in the area but has seen improvements in recent years. He said he doesn't want to see that progress reversed.

"I applaud MDE for at least keeping an eye out," Donnelly said. "I'm glad to see they're on the job."

The letter from Summers says the firms could have to pay substantial penalties.

Asbestos violations — which dealt with alleged failure to comply with regulations on packaging and processing asbestos-containing waste material — were initially corrected within 10 days, but then officials found other alleged violations, Apperson said.

The site has sparked environmental concerns for decades. In 1997, a consent decree was issued as part of a settlement between then-owner Bethlehem Steel and state and federal environmental regulators. The decree ordered Bethlehem Steel and any subsequent owner to investigate the existence of contamination and determine how best to remediate it.

Thus far, the current owners have not fully investigated the extent of contamination, said Jon Mueller, vice president for litigation at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Mueller contends the new owners have tried to buy time and spread blame around about environmental problems on the peninsula.

"I think the government agencies are rightly concerned that the new owners are kind of playing the shell game," Mueller said, adding he was pleased that the state appears to be taking action.

The foundation, as well as Blue Water Baltimore and local citizens, sued the then-owner RG Steel in 2010, seeking an investigation and complete cleanup of the site. The lawsuit was dismissed in February through an agreement by all parties after they reached a plan to investigate off-site contamination, Mueller said.


The quick succession of owners has made it difficult to hold someone accountable and has "allowed this contamination to continue for years," Mueller said.

"There've been multiple owners since then, and the full investigation of the property hasn't even occurred, let alone full corrective measures," he said. "With all these different owners, it's made it really hard to pin somebody down to get this work done so these problems have lingered for a decade."

John Long, of the Dundalk-based environmental group, Clean Bread and Cheese Creek, said it's hard for residents to know what's happening on the peninsula.

"Nobody's communicated any type of oversight that's taken place on the dismantling process,"
Long said. "I think everyone would like to see the site become something that's useful and beneficial to the community, that's healthy."

___________________________________________

Below you see what was the biggest Baltimore City racketeering deal done completely out in the open.  If you look at the photos of development plans you see this massive complex built right on the water's edge-----PURE VANITY DEVELOPMENT.....and besides all of the corporate tax breaks they are going to get LEED certification for this building......more tax breaks from a LEED program rife with fraud and corruption.  LEED is about green construction given to this environmental boondoggle.

The racketeering charges come from the fact that Exelon----just handed BGE----was required by this merger to keep its headquarters in Baltimore so, there was no need to give Exelon $100 million tax break to 'keep this business in the city'----IT WAS ALREADY IN THE CITY.  So, this deal involves fraud and public malfeasance galore.  What is worse is the building on a toxic waste dump and the need to build sea walls all distorting all environmental issues in the area. 


THIS WAS OBSCENE DEVELOPMENT AND IT IS DRIVEN BY BALTIMORE DEVELOPMENT AND JOHNS HOPKINS------NEO-CONS WHO COULD NOT CARE LESS ABOUT ENVIRONMENT AND NEO-LIBERAL POLS.


Yet, when election time comes------labor unions and city justice organizations-----church leaders all tell there members to vote for the same neo-liberal pols doing all this damage. 

AS WE CLEAN UP THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY BY GETTING RID OF NEO-LIBERALS DO THE SAME WITH YOUR LABOR AND JUSTICE LEADERS.  None of this development means good jobs or help for the underserved communities and citizens.
  It is pure profiteering.

How do you mitigate these injustices?  You take away all the tax breaks as illegal and public malfeasance and you slap this corporation with the costs of the environmental damage and cleanup.


Why Exelon chose Harbor Point over downtown – more like suburbia

Baltimore Brew Stirring up News and Views in Baltimore Maryland

Thursday, May, 29th, 2014 29
Fern Shen


Reporters were given a bundle of new details yesterday about the planned $120 million Exelon Corp. building – including the developer’s hope it will be 22 stories high and get a crunchy-green “platinum” LEED certification – but something subtler was being delivered as well.

It was a tutorial on the development realpolitik of Baltimore from the chief emissary of the man who’s mastered the process, bakery magnate John S. Paterakis Sr.

“We are all connected. This project is downtown,” said Michael S. Beatty, president of Paterakis’ Harbor East Development Group.

As he spoke, Beatty gestured to the place where he was standing: the 24th floor of Legg Mason’s headquarters in Harbor East, adjacent to Paterakis’ Harbor Point, the site of the proposed Exelon tower that is about a mile – a very long mile – from the city’s “central business district.”

“Where’s My Office Park?”


In light of the civic fuss that arose because Exelon passed over four sites in the traditional – and ailing – downtown core, Beatty was offering a mollifying message, that Harbor Point is “growing the downtown of Baltimore” and “will help all of Baltimore.”

Calvin Butler, of Exelon, and Michael Beatty, of Harbor East Development Group, speak to reporters about Exelon’s new building. (Photo by Fern Shen).

But his presentation was also a treatise on why Beatty and Paterakis think downtown has been foundering over the last decade, while Harbor East has been booming.

“We’re going to go after those tenants that are leaving downtown Baltimore because they’re looking for this suburban dream of ‘Where’s my office park? Where’s my big floor-plated office building?’” Beatty said, as the panorama of Baltimore’s waterfront sparkled on the other side of floor-to-ceiling windows.

“The reality was, downtown Baltimore didn’t have the large floor-plated building,” he declared. No one piped up to note that there are three or four vacant sites in the “old” downtown where such a building could be constructed.

Branding Safety in the City

A feeling of safety, Beatty said, was another suburban feature they have marketed as part of their “brand.”

“Tenants were looking out to the suburbs and saying it was safer out in the suburbs, and the reality was there was an impression downtown Baltimore wasn’t a safe environment,” Beatty said, as a representative for their latest trophy, the energy giant Exelon, stood by smiling.

Nodding in agreement, Calvin G. Butler Jr., senior vice president for corporate affairs for Exelon, nevertheless insisted that the company’s site selection did represent its commitment to downtown Baltimore.

Artist’s rendering of how the Exelon building at Harbor Point might look. (Credit: Harbor East Development)

But the two downtown finalists – the Baltimore City Community College site on Lombard St. and the former McCormick spice plant site on Light St. – didn’t cut it with the company.

“We wanted to create a presence and make a statement,” Butler said of the Harbor Point site. Exelon is committed to paying $125 million for a 15- to 20-year lease on the building, he said.

Moving to the new building will be the 2,000 employees from Constellation’s current buildings on Pratt Street and Market Place (on the eastern edge of downtown), as well as employees from Exelon’s energy marketing operation in Kennett Square, Pa., and its corporate headquarters in Chicago, Butler said.

Cubicle Workers and a Lacrosse Field

An artist’s rendering of the Exelon building released yesterday shows a glassy tower very similar to the Legg Mason building. Construction is planned to commence upon completion of Exelon’s $7.9 billion acquisition of Constellation, likely to take place at the end of March.

“We are looking at occupancy by the end of 2014,” Butler said.

Also on display behind Beatty and Butler were sketches of the 70,000 square-foot trading floor and schematics of the entire $250-million Harbor Point development.

Harbor Point layout with new streets and waterfront park. (Harbor East Development Group)

The mixed-use project (which already includes Thames Street Wharf and the Morgan Stanley building) is rising from a 27-acre brownfield site where the former Allied Chemical chromium plant once stood.

When fully built out, the developers said, Harbor Point will include a million square feet of office space, 150,000 square feet of retail, 600 residential units, 250 hotel rooms and 3,000 parking spaces.

Double Tax Breaks

The Exelon relocation stirred up another hot-button issue in town along with the fate of the central business district – tax breaks.


A key factor in developing Harbor Point will be the $155-million tax increment financing (TIF) subsidy approved by the City Council in December 2010. Moreover, the site is located in a state enterprise zone, entitling the developer to an 80% cut in property taxes for five years.

Beatty answered some of the criticism by suggesting the subsidy was a good use of public funds in part because some of it was going to be used for open public spaces.

What’s that back behind the Marriott? Oh yes, the Inner Harbor and central business district. (Photo by Fern Shen)

The TIF financing, according to material the company released yesterday, would cover 2/3 of a mile of new roads and one mile of new sidewalks. The TIF also would also help finance 11 acres of open space, including a park and half-mile waterfront promenade, a central plaza, and a lacrosse field associated with a new U.S. Lacrosse complex on the site.

Finally, the TIF would help pay for a new bridge that would connect Central Avenue to Harbor Point. The bridge would run past the west side of a current Living Classrooms building, said Marco E. Greenberg, Harbor East’s vice president for development, standing on an open terrace and pointing the spot out to reporters.

Embry and Others Question Tax Breaks


Harbor Point’s designation as a state enterprise zone would reduce the amount of property taxes going to the city of Baltimore to virtually nothing.

That’s because the state’s partial reimbursement to the city for the enterprise zone break would go to pay off interest on the TIF bonds, not to the city’s coffers.

The prospect of this double tax break at Harbor Point was the subject of some pointed words today at a meeting by a task force on tax breaks appointed by City Councilman Carl Stokes.

Detailed layout of the former site of an Allied chemical plant. (Developer drawing)


Robert C. Embry, a former city housing commissioner and president of the Abell Foundation, expressed surprise that Harbor Point was part of a state enterprise zone.


Wondering how “one of the most affluent areas of the city” got this designation, he speculated that it qualified as a disadvantaged area because it is located near one-time public-housing projects, long since razed, along Lombard Street.

Embry asked “whether the city can get out of the enterprise zone” or when the designation expires. (The zones are enacted for a ten-year period.) Whenever that happens, Embry recommended that the city review the zone’s boundaries and economic justification.

How the Harbor Point site looks now, from Legg Mason’s 24th-floor terrace.
The site is capped over to contain hazardous wastes from the old chemical plant. (Photo by Fern Shen)

City Councilman James B. Kraft, whose 1st District encompasses Harbor Point, also expressed dismay about the tax breaks. He complained that Exelon “does not need to be subsidized by the city of Baltimore.”

Noting that the energy giant reported profits of $600 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, Kraft said the company “ought to be saying, ‘We don’t need it,’” and should voluntarily agree not to apply for the enterprise tax incentives.

Transit-Friendly or Car-Oriented?

Another question raised about the Harbor Point project is whether it will essentially be a car-oriented development, much like Harbor East.

“Definitely not,” Beatty told reporters yesterday.

He noted that many of the occupants of Harbor East’s residential units don’t commute. He cited city bus service and the Charm City Circulator, and pointed to a stop on the proposed $2.2 billion East-West Red Line light rail as possible mass transit options.

“Here’s the Red Line,” he said, “that’s probably seven years away.” (That’s a prediction that even state transportation officials aren’t comfortable making.)

As for cars, he noted that Central Ave. is due for a $24-million makeover designed to relieve congestion that already plagues the area.

Asked how many parking spaces the two developments will have, Beatty added up Harbor East’s current 4,000 spaces to Harbor Point’s proposed 3,000 and agreed that the development will feature 7,000 spaces.

That makes for a very big office park.


____________________________________________
Keep in mind that it is the same investment firm------HighStar that has been handed the private contract for most of these East Coast ports and is behind all of the global corporate cargo ships killing the environment.  In our case this is Johns Hopkins.  Everyone knew these invasive species would follow this port expansion and everyone knew it would cost the public taxpayers billions of dollars fighting to eradicate these species.  Note, HighStar does not pay to eradicate these invasive species-----the taxpayers do.  So, first you end these public private partnerships and you tax these corporations to pay for the cleanup.  Neo-liberals instead have eliminated all taxes paid by these investment firms and actually give copious amounts of corporate subsidy making profits soar.

NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS KNOW THESE DECISIONS WILL COST TAXPAYERS BILLIONS AND KNOW THE PUBLIC WILL LOSE CONTROL OF ALL PUBLIC POLICY AT THE PORTS.





Friday, May 17, 2013

More invasive species detected at US ports in the Mid Atlantic

               Insect as well as plant and animal species from around the world can hitch a ride in a manner of speaking, on cargo shipments, moving from their native lands to exotic foreign destinations, and sometimes stay and establish a new home. Ports of entry like Baltimore and Norfolk are doorways to establishment of species that may impact livelihoods by altering the characteristic services of ecological systems.
               The front-line of defense is the U. S. CBP, "one of the Department of Homeland Security’s largest and most complex components, with a priority mission of keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S. It also has a responsibility for securing the border and facilitating lawful international trade and travel while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws and regulations, including immigration and drug laws. Amopng other tasks," CBP performs two crucial roles in facilitating trade to and from the U.S. and around the globe: securing it from acts of terrorism and assuring that goods arriving in the U.S. are legitimate and that appropriate duties and fees are paid."[1]
Working with USDA ARS Systematic Entomology Laboratory and USDA APHIS Plant Inspection Stations, and APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ). the organizations work to protect American jobs, businesses and the ecosystems that support them. Recent interceptions of non-native and potentially harmful insect species provide  highlights of the impossible nature of their underfunded mission. USDA APHIS PPQ reported at the Maryland Invasive Species Council's May 2013 meeting the following interceptions.
Macroglossum stellatarum
tpittaway.tripod.com
               At the port in Norfolk, Virginia CBP intercepted for the first time, Macroglossum stellatarum  Linnaeus (1758), the hummingbird hawk-moth. The moth is found though out most of Europe, Asia and Northern Africa. While the species is unable to survive cold winters, the adults are strong enough fliers that they seasonally migrate from the Mediterranean region North to Sweden & Iceland. The Encyclopedia of Life notes that "The hummingbird hawk-moth is named for its long proboscis (straw like mouth) and its hovering behavior, which, accompanied by an audible humming noise, give it remarkable resemblance to a hummingbird as it visits flowers to feed on nectar."[2] Humans see various shades of dull brown or grey in the forewings of the moth. On the other hand, they reveal characteristic fluorescent yellow, violet, purple and green patterns under ultraviolet light . Thus to birds and other insects the moth is most likely brightly patterned.[3]
Coreus marginatus
www.britishbugs.org.uk                The Port of Norfolk also saw for the first time the arrival and discovery of Coreus marginatus Linnaeus (1758). The uninvited accidental visitor was found in a shipment of tile from Italy. This species if found throughout most of Europe where it feeds on plants in the genus Rumex. In addition inspectors also discovered at the Norfolk facility an adult moth hiding out amongst military cargo. The moth was identified as Autophila ligaminosa Eversmann (1851). This is the first time this species found in the sub-alpine region from the Balkans west to Afghanistan has been identified entering the US.   Autophila ligaminosa 
www.ppis.moag.gov.il -

               In the historic rivalry between Virginia and Maryland, the Port of Baltimore was not without its own early detection of non native visitors taking advantage of the enormous flow of global trade. And to make matters even worse one of the interception was yet another stink bug. Baltimore CBP found a moderate sized stinkbug in a shipment of tile that was later identified to be Sciocoris sideritidis Wollaston (1858). This is the first time this species has been identified entering the US. Just wait until an undetected mating pair of this new species to the shores of the United States sets up shop and works with the two existing invasive stink bugs already sucking their way through vegetables, fruits, and soya beans. Reducing USDA funding through political mismanagement and grand standing in Congress is a sure way to encourage this opportunity. 
Sciocoris sideritidis
www.naturedugard.org 

             And last but not least, remembering that airports are ports too, a baggage interception in Baltimore was confirmed to be Tetraleurodes andropogoni Dozier (1934), a type of white fly. This is the first time this species have been intercepted entering the US.  According to CPB "the insects were discovered on fresh leaves being carried by a passenger originating from Nigeria and arriving from the United Kingdom."[4]  


___________________________________________

Below you see an article that has the State of Maryland and O'Malley selling this idea of privatization as a boon for the citizens of Maryland.  More jobs, more businesses connected to the port.  In Red you see what actually happens.  Just as our BWI airport was privatized to great loss -----now the Port of Baltimore is seeing ever greater losses to the citizens of Maryland.  Lease revenue of a few hundred million replaces the few billion the state and local government collected in revenue from the port businesses.  Labor is immediately under attack for wage concessions to maximize profits.....as always.  Federal and state money is dredging in soil known to be filled with toxic waste from chemical plants.  Don't worry they say.  The costs of Homeland Security now worried about dirty bombs coming from world ports-----the costs of invasive species eradication-----

ALL COSTS BORN BY THE TAXPAYERS.  THE NET LOSSES TO MARYLAND AND FEDERAL TAXPAYERS WILL BE BILLIONS AS THE INVESTMENT FIRM HIGHSTAR POCKETS BILLIONS IN PROFIT.


THIS IS PUBLIC MALFEASANCE AND EVERYONE INVOLVES KNOWS IT!


As we see in red......the first thing that happened was a request to lower public lease amounts 'to make the port more competitive'.  So starts the chipping away of the little the state makes in leasing.


'An item before the Oct. 31 state Board of Public Works would give the Port permission to lower rates for “the lease and use of marine terminals or facilities owned by the MPA.”  '
*********************************************************

As we see in red------more and more Federal money coming to open this global port.....remember, the port was earning the state and local economy billions before this all started.  Look below and see rather than create jobs the investment firm is outsourcing jobs, automating much work and as expected----jobs are not created but destroyed.

'Last week, Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski announced $21 million in federal Department of Homeland Security funds to support shipbuilding and repair jobs at the U.S. Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay'.

116 Port of Baltimore workers to lose jobs

Wed, 05/12/2010 - 6:16am The Associated Press

Amports Inc. will lay off 116 workers at two auto terminals at the Port of Baltimore this summer.




Longshoreman Strike Shuts Down Port of Baltimore
Port of Baltimore Shutdown: Longshoremen in solidarity with nationwide labor struggle -   October 17, 2013

*****************************************************
Here is an assessment of the Port of Baltimore before all these privatization deals took hold.  The port was healthy-----workers earning good wages, lots of smaller and regional businesses creating a broad economic base.....and now----one great big global corporation starting to strangle-hold the port economy.

NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS----WORKING TO STRANGLE THE LIFE OUT OF THE US ECONOMY!

Because of all this, the Maryland Port Administration says that the Port is a major source of personal and business revenue in the state, shown by these statistics:

  • The Port was responsible for $3.6 billion in personal wage and salary income in 2006.
  • The Port generated $1.9 billion in business revenues in 2006.
  • Local purchases by businesses directly dependent on port activity amounted to $1.3 billion.
  • Activities of the Port generated state, county and municipal taxes of $388 million.
  • The U.S. Customs Service collected $507 million in duties in 2005.

Published: June 2007      
Baltimore switch Ports America Inc, the port operating arm of AIG Global Investment Group, has entered into an agreement with Universal Maritime Services Corporation (UMS) to take over operations at the Dundalk Marine Terminal at the Port of Baltimore.



This is the standard hype given by neo-liberals as they know they are selling the citizens of Maryland to global corporations and profits.


STOP ALLOWING NEO-LIBERALS AND NEO-CONS TO PRIVATIZE ALL THAT IS PUBLIC!!

Ports America Chesapeake Successfully Closes 50-Year Lease and Concession Agreement To Operate and Upgrade The Seagirt Marine Terminal In The Port of Baltimore
BALTIMORE, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ --

Ports America Group ("Ports America") today announced that its subsidiary Ports America Chesapeake ("PAC") has successfully closed on a 50-year lease and concession agreement to operate the Seagirt Marine Terminal ("Seagirt") in the Port of Baltimore.  The concession was approved by the Maryland Board of Public Works on December 16, 2009.

The agreement provides more than $1.3 billion in value to the State of Maryland, creates 5,700 jobs, and delivers more than $15 million annually in new tax revenues.  Importantly, PAC will provide 100% of the funding to implement the Maryland Port Administration's ("MPA") long-standing vision and commitment to make Baltimore one of only two eastern ports capable of handling the large "Super Post Panamax" container ships that will begin calling the East Coast upon the completion of the Panama Canal widening project in 2014.  

"I share Governor Martin O'Malley's passion for the Port of Baltimore, and creating high quality jobs so critical to the Port's future and Maryland's competitiveness on the Atlantic seaboard," said Christopher Lee, Founder and Managing Partner of Highstar Capital.

"Baltimore is one of the best, most efficient ports in the country" Lee said. "I'm very proud to be a partner with the State of Maryland and look forward to our long association in making sure Baltimore maintains its great maritime heritage."

Commenting on the Baltimore Concession, Ports America Chesapeake CEO Mark Montgomery said: "We're proud and excited to work with the Maryland Port Administration, the International Longshoremen's Association, and all our ocean carrier customers, including Mediterranean Shipping Company and Evergreen, to help make this historic American port the most competitive facility on the East Coast."

Ports America is the largest independent American terminal operator and stevedore, with operations in 44 ports and 84 terminals. Ports America and its predecessor companies have served in the Port of Baltimore for over 88 years and have operated Seagirt since it was opened in 1990.

Ports America is owned by Highstar Capital, a leading independent operationally focused and value-added infrastructure investor that has directly invested over $5.2 billion of capital in infrastructure investments to date, primarily in the United States.  Ports America Chesapeake is the newly formed affiliate of Ports America that will be the day-to-day operator of Seagirt.

Goldman Sachs and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP served as financial advisor and legal advisor, respectively, to Ports America Chesapeake.  

About Ports America

Ports America, headquartered in Iselin, N.J., is the largest independent port terminal operator in North America, providing terminal management and a full suite of stevedoring and related services.  Ports America, including its predecessor companies, has almost 90 years experience operating American seaports. Its current business includes 44 ports and 84 terminals in North America, handling containers, roll on/roll off cargo, general cargo and cruise ship passengers and luggage.

For more information please visit Ports America's website at www.portsamerica.com

About Highstar Capital

Highstar Capital is an independent, owner-operated infrastructure investment fund manager with an operationally focused, value-added investment strategy.  Since it closed its first fund in 2000, Highstar has directly invested $5.2 billion for its limited partners and co-investors across its core infrastructure sectors of energy, environmental services and transportation.

For more information please visit Highstar Capital's website at www.highstarcapital.com

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May 22nd, 2014

5/22/2014

0 Comments

 
Maryland consumers are being ignored and taken to the cleaners because its energy utilities have been handed to national corporations and rate payers are used to subsidize the costs of doing business.  Our Public Service Commission once regulated in public interest and is now stacked with corporate interest officials with O'Malley and Erhlich.  Just as with health care we are losing control of the most critical public services as energy is a must and needs to be affordable.  As most people are now needing subsidy for heating, cooling, and cooking, these essential needs make people captured to simply getting basic necessities.  This does not allow for freedom or democracy when most people must beg for subsidized necessities.

SMART METERS
are not about sustainability ----they are about rationing energy as prices soar and public subsidies end.


The Public Service Commission of Maryland


was created in 1910 to regulate utilities. Also during this time, natural gas was becoming a popular substitute for manufactured gas. Warfield wanted to bring natural gas to Baltimore but did not succeed in doing so. Between 1906 and 1910, gross income increased by 31 percent, and in 1910 Warfield resigned and was succeeded by J.E. Aldred as chairman. Aldred embarked upon vigorous expansion. Much of the company's electricity was supplied by hydroelectric plants on the Susquehanna River, and Consolidated owned several gas generating plants. With production in place, the company could offer more competitive rates.



When BGE was sold to Constellation there was a billion dollars from the sale placed in public trust for the closing of Calvert Cliffs.  Financial analysts now show that the closing will be done for far less so there is a bolus of public money that can come back to consumers or pay for infrastructure.  What we see is an insulting $170 dollars and soaring rates to pay a second time for infrastructure.  Just as happened with the subprime mortgage fraud settlement that never made it to the victims of fraud and went to subsidize corporate developers.

Time and time again public wealth is lost through fraud and corruption or handed outright as subsidy to now billion dollar a year corporations fat with profit from the public's money.

STOP VOTING FOR GLOBAL CORPORATE POLS RUNNING AS DEMOCRATS!


Below you see Exelon is soaking its consumers across the country as it is here in Maryland.


BGE's customers to get $170 rebate -- ...www.topix.com/forum/com/ceg
BGE customers will get one-time rebates of $170 and other benefits totaling $2 billion in ... Constellation and BGE to ... Constellation Energy ...




ComEd customers face big price increases
May 07, 2014|By Julie Wernau | Tribune staff reporter

Just as the Chicago area is getting ready for air conditioning weather, residents can expect to be jolted by higher electric bills.

Starting June 1, Commonwealth Edison customers on average will see monthly bills jump 21 percent, to about $82 a month from about $69 a month.

City residents and others who have switched to competing suppliers won't escape the higher prices because the cost of all electric power is higher.




Demand had continued to grow, and in 1981 the Safe Harbor Hydroelectric Project started a four-year expansion project. In an effort to improve profitability, BGE trimmed its operating budget in 1982 and 1983 and sought diversification into other businesses. In 1983 however, the Maryland Public Service Commission turned down BGE's application to form a holding company, stating that Maryland law forbids such a structure for utilities. The holding company reorganization would have enabled BGE to diversify freely.

The Brandon Shores Unit Number 1--a coal-burning electricity-generating plant--opened in 1984, helping to eliminate the company's dependence on foreign oil. A second Brandon Shores unit started up in 1991. In 1983 about 60 percent of the company's operating revenue was in electric power sales, and around the same time gas sales began to slump.
In 1986 BGE formed Constellation Holdings, Inc., a subsidiary through which it planned to expand its nonutility interests, despite being denied the right to form a holding company.



Deregulation in the 1990s

In 1992 the company faced a dramatic shift in the way it did business when Congress passed the Federal Energy Policy Act. The act permitted competition in the wholesale power market and, by allowing retail competition, signaled the end of regulated, regional monopolies. Although its relatively small size and regional coverage would work against it in a competitive market, analysts felt BGE's customer mix could be a benefit. Because it had few industrial customers, BGE would not be so much at the mercy of large manufacturers who would set one supplier against another in a bidding war. However, BGE apparently felt the disadvantage of its size and responded to the act's passage by looking for a partner that would help cut costs through economies of scale.

In the mid-1990s, the electricity market was growing at a rate of only two percent a year. BGE focused on expanding its gas customer base and managed to increase that division's profits 25 percent in 1995. However, the company's real estate investments were performing poorly, which pulled down overall company earnings that year.

BGE forged an agreement to merge with Washington, D.C.-based Potomac Electric Power Co. (PEPCO) in 1995. The two companies anticipated making substantial staff cuts to reduce overlapping jobs; those cuts and savings from eliminating related redundancies were expected to save $1.3 billion over 10 years. Stockholders approved the deal in 1996, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave its okay in 1997. Maryland followed suit with conditional approval, but the process was held up by conditions placed on the merger by the District of Columbia. BGE and PEPCO had proposed splitting the expected savings from the merger evenly between customers and shareholders. D.C. regulators, however, wanted customers to get a larger share, and made that a condition of the merger. BGE and PEPCO would not agree to that condition, and the two companies called off the merger in December 1997. The companies had invested more than two years and $100 million in arranging the merger. Analysts considered both companies as likely candidates for other merger or takeover deals in the coming years.

In 1998 BGE began a major organizational restructuring that split the company into three discrete units: utility operations, power generation, and unregulated subsidiaries. "All the rules under which we operate are being rewritten," Christian H. Poindexter, BGE's chairman and CEO, said to Baltimore Sun correspondent Kevin McQuaid. "That's what's driving this." Part of the reorganization entailed the creation of Constellation Enterprises Inc., a holding company for the utility's unregulated subsidiaries. The company expected to continue to make management and organizational changes in 1998 as part of its preparation for competition, which Maryland had slated to begin in 2002.

Principal Subsidiaries: Constellation Enterprises Inc.; BGE Energy Projects & Services, Inc.; BGE Home Products and Services, Inc.; BGE Commercial Building Systems; Constellation Energy Source.



___________
This is a good look at the progression from public to privatized utility from the 1990s/early 2000s anticipating the problems we have today.  Remember, all this is the time of Reagan/Clinton and neo-liberalism....deregulating and consolidating for powerful corporate control of government. You see, all that happened was BGE staffing was slashed, pay declined, service and quality disappeared, and now we cannot even reach a real customer service representative as we 'wait on hold'.  Long power-outages come from no investment in infrastructure and maintenance so profit could soar.  Now, with the Maryland Public Service Commission stocked with pro-corporate officials from Erhlich and O'Malley----this commission looks at the public with contempt at public forums.

The citizens of Maryland are ready to return our vital public services to the hands of the public to operate in the public interest with money invested building public value and not profit.

Below you see the same questions being asked at the end of the 1990s as are now asked today, only it is getting worse.
Sadly, Progressive Maryland is now taken corporate as currently it advocates for the most Wall Street of pols in elections.  Anthony Brown will of course act just as O'Malley as corporate pol extraordinaire and this is whom Progressive Maryland today endorses.  So, it is not only our public commissions taken corporate but our democratic political action groups.  Do you hear your pol or political organization fighting these fights?  See why only Gansler, Brown, and Mizeur hit Maryland election news?


STOP ELECTING CORPORATE NEO-LIBERALS WORKING FOR WEALTH AND PROFIT.  RUN AND VOTE FOR LABOR AND JUSTICE!

Energy Companies

Progressive Maryland  2000s

Energy companies – led by Pepco and Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE, owned by Constellation) – have for decades invested heavily in lobbying in Annapolis and campaign contributions to lawmakers. In just the past year, energy companies spent at least $477,679 on lobbying during the 2004 session (see attached list for Pepco, Mirant, and Constellation) plus untold thousands of dollars on campaign contributions (Common Cause estimates conservatively that they have donated $440,000 since 1999).

Those investments have yielded handsome dividends. Sometimes the dividends come in the form of anti-consumer, anti-environmental bills that pass, such as California-style electricity deregulation that became law in Maryland in 1999 and only now is being fully implemented, so far with negative results for environment and consumers.

And sometimes the dividends come in the form of what does not happen. The dog that failed to bark helped Sherlock Holmes solve the mystery of The Hounds of the Baskerville. A big and curiously silent hound is the Maryland state government when it comes to the abysmal performance of Pepco and BGE in the aftermath of last year’s Tropical Storm Isabel, when hundreds of thousands of customers went for days (and in some cases weeks) without electricity. That fiasco and the negligence of BGE and especially Pepco have been amply documented.

The two committees with jurisdiction over the electricity industry – the Senate Finance Committee and House Economic Matters Committee – held a joint hearing in October 2003, one month after the blackout. At those hearings, lawmakers decided to limit themselves to fact-finding so as not to pre-empt the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) from fixing the problem through regulation. But rather than fix the problem, PSC put the fix in. First, in April of 2004, PSC’s Ehrlich-appointed Chairman, Kenneth D. Schisler, fired the engineers and senior civil servants with the technical expertise to evaluate (and potentially criticize in detail) the utilities’ dysfunctionality. Then, in June, the PSC issued an “Order” that actually compliments the utilities for their improved performance since the 1999 blackouts following Tropical Storm Floyd (!) and merely suggests a few costless proposals. These bromides include “enhancing communications between utilities, local emergency management agencies, media and customers” and “consider[ing] taking additional steps with municipal governments to increase private landowner awareness of the risks attendant with off-rights of way tree and vegetation problems that pose risks to utility electrical facilities.” Lending new meaning to the term “captive agency”, the PSC then concludes its Order (“Suggestion” is more like it) with this amazingly counter-empirical claim: “No new 4 evidence or industry information has been adduced or presented that would suggest a need to alter the existing policies regarding overhead and underground wiring of the general electric distribution system.”

Will the hound of Maryland state government continue its peculiar silence vis-à-vis electric companies during the 2005 session of the General Assembly? Lawmakers were probably correct this past year to give PSC a chance to do its job. But considering PSC’s failure to do so, and considering Pepco’s subsequent 16 percent rate hike on customers this year, it is high time for the General Assembly to intervene. Lawmakers should hold public hearings and get answers to some obvious questions, such as: • Since deregulation in 1999, has the Pepco and BGE service-areas had more annual black- and brown-out days than before deregulation? • Since deregulation, have the Pepco and BGE service-areas had more annual black- and brown-out days than other parts of the country? • Why was the industry allowed to deregulate in such a way that the utilities could cut investment in infrastructure, such as power lines, poles, transformers, and vegetation-pruning capability? • Why, since deregulation, did the Public Service Commission allow Pepco’s CEO, John M. Derrick, Jr., to double his annual compensation up to $1.9 million per year in 2002? Worse, why did PSC allow BGE’s top executive, Mayo A. Shattuck III, to more than triple the CEO’s salary since deregulation, paying himself a whopping $6.9 million in 2003? Given BGE’s lousy performance during Isabel, how in the world could Shattuck justify a salary like that?•

Are PSC members allowed to work for the same companies they supposedly “regulate” after they leave public service? If so, does this help explain the failure of the PSC to chastise either Pepco or BGE after Isabel? And does it help explain PSC’s supine willingness to approve any hike in executive compensation, no matter how outrageous? • Why did power outages in the BGE and especially Pepco areas last longer than power outages in some other areas hit by Isabel, such as North Carolina and Pennsylvania? • Considering that Isabel’s overall impact was not much worse than Floyd’s had been in 1999, why did the BGE area suffer 790,450 customer outages over a period of nine days after Isabel compared to only 503,831 over the same time-period following Floyd? Worse, why did the Pepco area suffer 545,000 customer outages over a period of eleven days after Isabel compared to only 79,000 after Floyd? Granted, 2004’s wet summer made 5 trees easier to topple during Isabel, but was the ground so much softer as to explain this huge increase in power outages? Based on the answers to these and other questions, lawmakers can and must pass reform legislation – with a strong presumption that re-regulation is the only way to avert a California-like energy mess in Maryland. Will lawmakers take this kind of decisive action in the weeks and months ahead? Or will all that utility spending on lobbying and campaign contributions induce in lawmakers the kind of lethargy that killed reform following the Tropical Storm Floyd blackouts of 1999?

__________________

As you see below the consolidation of all industries with the Reagan/Clinton deregulation and global market push has been a disaster for citizens of all states.  This happened because the politicians elected as governor appointed officials to the State Public Service Commission who would vote in favor of the corporation and not the public.  We saw in the 1980s where this commission worked for public interest and today O'Malley actually wants to place Exelon executives on our PSC.

THIS IS WHY IT MATTERS WHO YOU ELECT AS GOVERNOR.  ALL CANDIDATES EXCEPT CINDY WALSH WILL CONTINUE TO FILL THE PSC WITH CORPORATE APPOINTMENTS.  I WILL START TO TAKE THIS UTILITY BACK TO PUBLIC SERVICE.


For those who think this is big government-----WAKE UP-----these are vital public services that are being priced out of most people's reach.  When the number of people needing subsidy for energy grows you have disenfranchised those citizens and those subsidies will end.


BGE Wins Competitive Bid For Privatization of the Fort Meade Gas and Electric Utility Distribution Systems.


Link to this page




Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) has been awarded a 50-year contract for privatization of the natural gas and electric distribution systems at the United States Army's Fort George G. Meade facility in Anne Arundel County, MD. The Army selected BGE as the successful bidder in a competitive procurement process, which began in 1999. Under the contract, the Government's aged gas and electric distribution systems will be replaced with new, modernized, BGE owned, operated and maintained systems that will provide safer and more reliable service for Fort Meade, its tenants, and the people who live and work there. BGE plans to begin the three-year construction project, which will add about 350 commercial services to BGE's infrastructure, once design and engineering work have been completed.

"BGE is proud to have won the contract for privatization of the gas and electric distribution systems at Fort Meade," said Frank O. Heintz, President and CEO of Baltimore Gas and Electric Company. "It is indeed an honor to be entrusted with this tremendous responsibility. The extension of BGE's surrounding gas and electric distribution systems onto Fort Meade is a natural and logical extension of our existing relationship, which began in 1917 with the establishment of Fort Meade. Fort Meade is one of our most important customers, and I am confident that BGE will meet all of the needs of this sensitive and crucial operation."

Note: BGE is a member of Constellation Energy Group . A Fortune 500 company based in Baltimore, Constellation Energy Group is the nation's leading competitive supplier of electricity to large commercial and industrial customers. We market energy nationally and manage the associated risks. We own and operate a diversified fleet of generation plants throughout the United States. We also deliver electricity and natural gas through the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), our regulated utility in Central Maryland. In 2002, the combined revenues of our integrated energy company totaled $4.7 billion.

CONTACT: Linda Foy (media), BGE, +1-410-234-7433, Linda.J.Foy@bge.com, or Jack Thayer (investor relations), +1-410-783-3647, Jonathan.Thayer@constellation.com, for BGE


________________________________________

There is not a SMART METER critique that shows energy costs going down for the consumer.  In fact, consumers are being hit with inflated bills and not able to attain recourse because these new too big corporations just ignore these consumers and with public justice dismantled-----Americans across the country are having their money taken with no recourse.  This is happening in the energy sector and with this consolidation comes the public's loss of control.

WE MUST BRING UTILITIES BACK TO PUBLIC STATUS AND WE MUST BRING BACK REGULATION.


These profits are ever climbing because the taxpayers and ratepayers are footing the bills for infrastructure and operations while service and quality declines and environmental issues grow.  Natural gas is fracking and having Exelon in our backyard increases pressure for fracking in Maryland.


Exelon to buy Constellation in $7.9 billion deal
Print By Associated Press business staff
on April 28, 2011 at 12:13 PM, updated April 28, 2011 at 12:15 PM



Associated Press fileExelon Corp.'s nuclear plant in Byron, Ill. NEW YORK  --

Exelon Corp. agreed to buy Constellation Energy Group Inc. for $7.9 billion Thursday, the latest in a string of acquisitions in the electric power industry.

Exelon CEO John Rowe, the longest-serving utility CEO in the country, has long been a proponent of consolidation. He has failed three times since 2003 to acquire a smaller rival. Now the market conditions appear to be on his side.

A combination of lower power prices and rising costs tied to tightening environmental standards has been the catalyst for several recent deals, including Duke Energy Corp.'s $13.7 billion buyout of Progress Energy Inc.

Constellation shareholders will receive 0.93 shares of Exelon for each Constellation share. That's worth $38.59 a share, a 12.5 percent premium over Constellation's closing price on Wednesday.

In Constellation, Exelon would acquire a company much like itself -- with one important difference. Along with a regulated utility and a wholesale power division, Constellation has among the largest retail power divisions in the country.

Analysts say Constellation's large retail arm and Exelon's large wholesale power division could work well together.

"Constellation's retail arm is a good fit, because it tends to do well when wholesale markets are bad," said David Grumhaus, a utility analyst at the Chicago hedge fund Copia Capital.

Wholesale electric providers own generating stations and sell their power to local utilities or retail power providers either through long-term contracts or through regional power pools.

Retail electric providers buy blocks of wholesale power and resell it to industrial, commercial and residential customers. Through most of the last decade, when power prices were rising steadily, retail providers struggled to sign up new customers because they couldn't offer rates lower than what customers were already getting from traditional utilities.

Lower demand for electricity in the wake of the recession and persistently low natural gas prices have lowered power prices and allowed retail providers to advertise low rates in order to attract customers. Also, new devices such as smart meters that track when power is used throughout the day have allowed retail providers to offer new rate plans based on when customers use power in order to lower overall bills.

"It's a deal that makes sense," Grumhaus said.


_________________________________________

The same benefits are offered again and again as to why merger after merger is good for the State of Maryland and as the article shows below-------none of the benefits happen.  The 600 jobs toted with this deal ended being a staff shakeup where local employees were fired and 600 new staff brought from out of the area.  This is a loss of jobs, not a gain.  The rate payers were immediately slapped with a whopping rate increase to pay the costs of infrastructure upgrades and operational costs, they were given $100 million tax credit for absolutely no reason to build a complex right on the water's edge in Baltimore------racketeering and unsustainable development in one swoop.  This deal kept the coal- fired power plants open and the billion dollars of taxpayer trust tied to paying for the closure of Calvert Cliffs is now in the hands of Exelon.

These are all political deals as you see the donations to these campaigns and the connection of Exelon to Obama goes directly to O'Malley's top position on the Democratic Governor's Association
. 

THE CITIZENS OF MARYLAND HAVE A LOSE LOSE ON THIS MERGER.


Now we see Exelon as the main lobbyist for exporting natural gas which will make natural gas prices soar and rates as well.  We are being tied to the most invasive and corrupt system of energy control----the SMART METER ----that has as its only goal the rationing of energy as costs soar and public subsidy disappears.

It is good to note that as this article states the movement to natural gas in producing energy in Maryland will not take coal-fire out of the equation as Exelon simply sold the coal-fired plants to eliminate its footprint----they are still in operation.  Natural gas is far more damaging to global warming than electricity-operation of plants and will be used as an excuse to frack in Maryland.  Indeed, Exelon spends heavily to lobby for exporting natural gas and for the export facility here in Maryland.  Lastly, the mention of Exelon being required to pay for low-income subsidy was found to be a joke as the money sent was found to be fungible taxpayer subsidy to Exelon.  Even the jobs did not happen!


YOU MUST ENGAGE IN POLITICS TO BE THE CHANGE!!

Break up the Exelon bohemoth!

Posted on January 12, 2013 by interestingblogger


I recently read in The Daily Record an article which brought some ideas to my mind. The article noted that “Baltimore’s design review panel Thursday gave a preliminary thumbs up to a design for a sleek, glass, brick and metal tower to house the city’s new Exelon Corp. headquarters at Harbor Point.” As I mentioned in another post, the Inner Harbor benefited big business, not the workers. What about Exelon?

I’ll give you some background. A while ago last year I wrote opposing the Constellation-Exelon merger in my previous blog, Sunshine Politics that “the merger would be a victory for the monied interests because $7.9 billion dollars went into the pocket of Exelon Corp. for their purchase of Constellation Energy Corp…[and] 120 of those megawatts [of new generation Exelon is required to developed within the state, which is 280-300 megawatts] will come from a natural gas-powered plants. I [also noted]…the merger…causes the last Fortune 500 company to leave Baltimore…[which won't] help lower the city’s 20%+ unemployment. [Using the Baltimore Brew I learned that]…the site selected by Exelon…has been the subject of controversy among Baltimore real estate factions…[which could]…adversely affect electric utilities across the Baltimore region and across the state…[I later added rhat] Exelon paid for [numerous] fines for…past negligence…[including a fine] in 2005, the corporation paid $602,000 for exceeding the sulfur dioxide level in Pennsylvania.” I even predicted the merger would be approved, and I bemoaned the fact that there was not strong public opposition, saying that due to this fact, elected officials fell in line with the deal like Maryland’s  Governor Martin O’Malley who “appreciated the PSC’s decision, saying that it will add 6,000 new jobs in Maryland,” who had previously opposed the deal. Using OpenSecrets, I found that “Exelon has been the top contributor to 162 Congressmembers in the House and Senate from 2000 to the present, including Bob Ehlrich is 2000, Ben Cardin in 2012 and Steny H. Hoyer in 2012. Even Constellation Energy gave $10,000 to Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who I’ve previously described as the anti-occupy mayor. The conditions of this merger set by the Public Services Commission (PSC) seemed notable including a hundred dollar rate credit to all BGE customers within 90 days, an investment of over 113 million dollars over three years by Exelon to “provide energy efficiency and low-income energy assistance to BGE customers” and the development of 285-300 “megawatts of new generation within the state,” 120 of which will come from a  natural gas power plant, 125 from “renewable resources” and 30 from solar power. Next, the PSC required the amount of staff at BGE and the two power plants to be the same for the next two years (no firing), but didn’t mention firing from Constellation or Exelon which will not be prohibited. Most importantly, Exelon is required to divest itself of BGE “if Exelon files for bankruptcy or allows its credit rating to drop six levels below investment grade,” which doesn’t seem to take into account the bad record of credit agencies like Moody’s and Standard and Poors which are partly responsible for the current financial crisis (the movie Inside Job explains this well).

You may wonder why this merger was a bad idea. Consider the occupiers, who criticized it before they were evicted, who said it is a bad “deal for Baltimore (and the surrounding areas) because it does not protect jobs and has no guarantees for rate relief.” They even organized a march against the merger at one point! The Tribune-owned Baltimore Sun revealed some about the merger that should make one opposed to it, which noted that once Exelon and Constellation are combined, the new company will be “the largest non-utlity energy provider in the United States.” In 2005, a similar merger approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with a company in New Jersey would have created such a behemoth, but after massive public action, it was stopped. Even without public action to stop the merger, a consumer advocacy group in Maryland, the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, and its counterpart in Pennsylvania were opposed, saying that “the combined company would hold too much power in the…Mid-Atlantic electricity grid, potentially pushing wholesale electricity prices higher.” As I noted when I wrote this originally, the merger itself could possibly eliminate 630 jobs in Constellation Energy and Exelon, most of which would in Baltimore, along with the fact that Exelon has a horrible safety record.

What could we as citizens do about this injustice? I did write in the past that the common folk of the state should participate in “militant non-violence opposing this merger and must push for re-regulation of the energy markets by the PSC,” but I feel more is needed.  I still support militant non-violence, yet I think that one can look to the Maryland Declaration of Rights for inspiration. Article 6 points out that “all persons invested with the Legislative or Executive powers of Government are the Trustees of the Public, and, as such, accountable for their conduct,” that “the People may…reform the old, or establish a new Government; [and that] the doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.” The bolded section I believe is the most important. The common folk of Maryland should use the ideas of Article 41 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights, and declare that the monopoly of the Exelon-Constellation merged company is “odious, contrary to the spirit of a free government and the principles of commerce, and ought not to be suffered.” The people must tell their government that the energy markets must be re-regulated and that the Exelon-Constellation merger must be broken up by the state, otherwise Marylanders will suffer.


0 Comments

February 03rd, 2014

2/3/2014

0 Comments

 
TPP is the worst of economic situations as Americans would lose their sovereignty and rights, but the build up in consolidations since Obama took office.....you thought all that money the FED was given for free was for corporate stabilization and not just to further consolidate all US industries.  Trillions have been spent by the few at the top to gain control across industries.
The American people have been reduced to shouting to stop taking all of our wealth and retirements even as neo-liberals are indeed doing just that!

IS YOUR POLITICIAN, MEDIA OUTLET, OR LABOR AND JUSTICE LEADERS SHOUTING OUT AGAINST THIS?  WELL, THAT MEANS THEY ARE WORKING FOR NEO-LIBERALS AND NOT YOU AND ME!  THIS IS NEO-LIBERALS DOING MORE DAMAGE THAN REPUBLICANS!

I have referenced how corporations are now the welfare queens with so much corporate welfare as to make our taxpayer money an income for shareholders.  I want to look at development since the crash to show that all those tens of trillions of dollars in corporate fraud we have not gotten back are now being used for merger and acquisition in ever greater consolidation that gives us this situation of only a few global corporations owning all.  Maryland is ground zero for this so as I point out how Maryland citizens are affected negatively by these policies and how the neo-liberals you elect over and over are working to do great harm to you and me and our communities.....know that the same thing is happening in your neck of the woods!

The concern today is the energy sector consolidation.  We know that the same people owning the oil companies are the ones doing the natural gas fracking and as a result, when Obama and neo-liberals talk about funding an national infrastructure project, it will be these same corporations and investment firms getting all the money as natural gas lines, wind mills, processing plants will all be the infrastructure funded.

O'Malley has handed the most public assets over to corporate interests than any other -------BGE going to Exelon.....HighStar and Veola getting incinerator and waste management that will produce a small amount of energy, and now the wind farm project I wanted to emphasize today.  I've spoken about the wind mills as a loser for jobs and taxpayers/ratepayers, but I wanted to look at how deeply Maryland is tied over and over to Wall Street investment vehicles and the few shareholder corporations tied to all this privatization of public assets.

REMEMBER, THIS IS HAPPENING BECAUSE MARYLAND HAS THE SAME NEO-LIBERALS ELECTED EACH TIME OVER DECADES WHO WORK FOR WEALTH AND PROFIT AT OUR EXPENSE.  YOUR POL IS NOT CUTE AND FUZZY HANDING OUT A PROGRESSIVE BONE NOW AND THEN.  THEY ARE GREAT BIG GLOBAL CORPORATE POLS BENT ON HANDING ALL PUBLIC ASSETS AND REVENUE TO CORPORATE PROFIT ESPECIALLY FOR MARYLAND'S 1%.


Regarding wind farms and McCord's ode to Ocean City views:

As an environmentalist recently from Seattle, I have always pushed wind and solar. The idea was to move away from fossil fuel and carbon emission. The problem with any progressive issue in the age of neo-liberal control of the democratic party is that none of it is done for the environment....it becomes public subsidy of another corporate industry. When O'Malley and the corporate Maryland Assembly did their usual sell of jobs and environment to push public subsidy of a wind farm that will do absolutely nothing for global warming....it became a pay-to-play. There will be no jobs created from a Federal program outsourced to private contractors with a wind turbine factory from Germany. As with all these subcontracted projects....the workers are brought from out of state or the work is done in a Right to Work state where workers are impoverished....not a real job.

As this article shows, the amount of energy created by a Maryland wind farm is so small that the public subsidy for building and operating these farms will far exceed the value of energy produced. It is like subsidizing mid-west farms for crop loss during prolonged drought from global warming. IT SIMPLY SETS A PATH OF TAXPAYER SUBSIDY TO AN INDUSTRY NO DOUBT OWNED BY THE GLOBAL CORPORATE GROUP. These turbines not only kill birds and wildlife but as the article below shows, the need to keep them running burns more electricity than running a gas-fired plant. It is the money made by building these turbines and the ongoing public subsidy that drives this industry.

If we were indeed moving away from fossil fuel this would be a good move. As I have said time and again, neo-liberals want to make the US a third world source of raw energy by exporting the worst carbon-emitters......oil, natural gas, coal, and raw timber. Maryland wants to do all of the above. So, the goal is not environmental, it is profits. The citizens of Maryland should be offended that O'Malley and the Maryland Assembly tied them with yet another corporate subsidy and in the very least, making this a public utility.

MARYLAND NOW HAS A TAX TO PAY FOR INFRASTRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS OF A NATIONAL ELECTRICITY AND GAS CORPORATION EXELON EARNING BILLION IN PROFIT EACH YEAR.......WE ARE GOING TO PAY HUGE INCREASES IN WATER AND SEWAGE TO BUILD A NEW SYSTEM FOR WHAT NEO-LIBERALS INTEND TO HAND OFF TO VEOLA ENVIRONMENT-JOHNS HOPKINS.....AND NOW THIS WIND FARM TAX SUBSIDY TO OPERATE THIS ENERGY SOURCE. NONE OF THESE ARE PUBLIC UTILITIES BRINGING PUBLIC VALUE AS WAS ONCE THE CASE.


The solution is voting neo-liberals out of office by running labor and justice. ......WAKE UP AND GET RUNNING!

January 30
MAINE COMPASS: Industrial wind power a catastrophe on every level
Mike Bond

As a lifelong Democrat, environmental activist and renewable energy advocate, I commend Gov. Paul Le Page’s recent criticisms of the huge taxpayer-funded industrial wind power scam, which will ruin Maine unless it is stopped.
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Though initially a proponent of industrial wind, I’ve learned it’s a catastrophe on every level — environmental, fiscal, social and economic. And now with Maine’s southern neighbors halting industrial wind in their states, they’re paying to build thousands of turbines in Maine, to devastate every magnificent Maine ridge, pinnacle and mountain with howling machines more than 50 stories high, some so tall they’ll be the third-tallest structures in New England.

Industrial wind projects have been clearly proven to slaughter millions of birds and bats, destroy scenic beauty, lower property values and tourism, sicken people and drive them from their homes, increase erosion and raise electric rates. But they make billions in taxpayer-funded subsidies for the investment banks that develop them.

Yet the biggest trouble with industrial wind is it doesn’t lower greenhouse gas emissions or fossil fuel use. Not one molecule. The reason is that winds (particularly in Maine) are erratic, and as a result, industrial wind “farms” have to be backed up constantly by “fixed” generation, e.g, fossil fuel plants. This problem, called spinning reserve, basically invalidates any claim that wind projects lower fossil fuel use or carbon dioxide generation.

Online one can find numerous scientific, utility and environmental studies showing that, despite nearly three decades of huge federal subsidies, industrial wind projects don’t lower greenhouse gas emissions or fossil fuel use, and in some cases even increase them. In Germany and Britain, for instance, development of wind projects has led to an escalation in coal use.

This is without even considering the extensive greenhouse gases produced by constructing these huge towers, shipping them across the ocean, trucking them to wherever the wind industry has overridden the local folks and imposed a wind farm and building them.

Consider a typical Maine wind farm advertised as 100 megawatts, about 35 turbine towers. Because Maine winds are poor, turbines run at a low rate, sometimes as little as 4 days a month. Even industrial wind developers admit the capacity of wind projects in Maine is only 25 percent of their advertised amount. Thus a 100MW project creates only 25MW.

Even when the turbines are turning, however, the power can’t always be used, such as at night, so utilities curtail or dump it. In Maine, this reduces our wind projects used power to barely 17MW. And because most wind electricity will be transmitted out of Maine to Connecticut or Massachusetts, the transmission loss could exceed 5 percent, lowering this to 16.6MW.

One also has to deduct the fuel to run the spinning reserve, which means the real power provided to electricity consumers by a 100MW industrial wind project is barely 8 percent of advertised capacity — 8MW, not 100MW.

This 8MW is disastrously low for a project that could cost taxpayers $300 million. By comparison an 8MW gas-fired power plant could be built for less than $15 million and would create far less carbon dioxide. Or, for the same $300 million, we could equip 20,000 Maine homes and businesses with rooftop solar, and significantly reduce Maine’s carbon dioxide emissions.

Ever noticed the turbines turning when there’s no wind? To keep them from seizing up, they have to be turned by buying electricity. This is why three of the largest electricity consumers in Maine are wind projects. They each use more power than Maine’s largest pulp mill.

I may not agree with LePage about everything, but he has clearly enunciated an absolute truth for Maine. If we care about the beauty of our precious state, the superb individuality of our Maine people, and the enormous economic engine that this beauty and cohesion represents, then we must all, Democrats, Republicans and independents stand for what is right for Maine, and reject what is wrong.

We hear a lot of pro-wind commercials on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, and a lot of pro-wind talk from groups such as Maine Audubon, the Sierra Club of the Maine and the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Guess why? Many such organizations get major funding from industrial wind developers.

Years ago, I learned a lot about life as newspaper boy, delivering it sometimes in a blizzard at 30 below, but I made sure my customers got their papers. That’s a spirit Maine inculcates: fairness and reliability. Industrial wind projects have neither.

Mike Bond of Winthrop is an environmental activist, renewable energy advocate and author of a wind industry exposé, “Saving Paradise.”

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It's not that wind energy was never a good idea or could be implemented on small scale to good return. It's that it is profit-driven and the money made is not re-invested to wean from public subsidy.....it increases public subsidy to maintain profit.

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THIS WIND FARM SCAM WILL DO IN MARYLAND. WHATEVER COMPANY IS SELECTED TO RUN THIS BUSINESS....THEY WILL SEE PROFITS GROW AS PUBLIC SUBSIDY GROWS. If a state and country is not serious about global warming with policy that exports the worst of emitters of carbon....this is all a corporate profit-driven hoax.


January 13, 2014 • Germany
German wind farm operator Prokon warns of imminent insolvency

Credit: UPI | Jan. 13, 2014 | www.upi.com ~~

The controversial German wind farm operator Prokon has warned 75,000 retail investors of imminent insolvency, perhaps by the end of the month.

Prokon, based in Itzehoe, Germany, warned in a letter to investors published on the Internet that if they don’t waive repayment of the money, it will be bankrupt by the end of January, making it one of the largest bankruptcies ever in the German “grey capital” market, Suddeutsche Zeitung reported.

Consumer advocates have long warned against the company, which spends heavily on online advertising and direct mail solicitations promising incentives of 8 percent returns on its over-the-counter shares, the German newspaper said.

In the letter, the wind farm operator’s board appealed to its investors for further financial help.

“If our investors do not succeed, together with you, to stabilize the liquidity situation very quickly, by the end of January, we will probably be forced by law to initiate an insolvency plan for threatened bankruptcy,” it said.

The shares are essentially unsecured loans, without the participation rights of regular shareholders – thus the investors are threatened with a loss of their capital.

Over the years Prokon says it has collected nearly $2 billion through such advertising. It has built wind farms and sold the electricity into the German grid, and also invests in biodiesel and biomass.

For several years its has faced criticism from investors, consumer advocates, the media and prosecutors. They suspected the company could not keep its promise high returns and that investors’ money would possibly be lost in the wind farm projects.

Critics have asked where the profits that have been paid out to investors have been coming from – now those fears could be borne out.

In the letter, the company used dramatic language in an appeal to investors asking them to accept delays in paying out the millions of dollars owed to them under a profit participation plan, the newspaper said.

“An insolvency plan can only be prevented if we receive the agreement of at least 95 percent of the profit participation capital that you will not (demand) your capital at least until Oct. 31, 2014, and a payment within 12 months, which may be paid out in installments,” it said.

At the end of the letter, company president Carsten Rodbertus escalated the request into an open call for help.

“Don’t let there be an insolvency plan!” he wrote, urging investors to not let “locusts” and negative media reports destroy “a flagship” green energy company.

The Higher Regional Court of Schleswig-Holstein in September upheld an unfair advertising complaint against Prokon made to the government consumers affairs office in Hamburg, Deutsche Welle reported.

It found a company prospectus contained misleading statements about the supposed safety of the advertised participation rights after claiming the investments were “as safe as a savings account.”

In December Prokon called on its investors to forgo their returns for the second half of 2013 to ease what it called a temporary liquidity crunch.

Officials of the company could not be reached for comment on Saturday, the German broadcaster said.
Source: UPI | Jan. 13, 2014 | www.upi.com



Turbine Trouble: Ill Wind Blows for German Offshore Industry

By Michael Fröhlingsdorf
August 2, 2013

Only recently, the offshore wind industry was seen as an opportunity to regenerate Germany's coast. But amid changing political attitudes and spiraling costs, several companies are struggling to survive. Is the wind boom over before it even really began?

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Below is an example of what this Maryland wind farm will look like with all the Wall Street financial instruments and investment firms owning and running it. One way these wind farms have proved useful is when a corporation like Google builds its own wind farms to augment the super amount of power it burns running its main frames. So, having corporations buying and building these systems is the first step. But no, we need the public paying for all the costs and getting soaked with a bad deal as these articles show! You see these investment firms are getting Federal subsidies to build these things.....they get greening tax breaks for being environmental.....and they get the Maryland taxpayers and ratepayers subsidizing the operations.

RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU KNOW BLACKSTONE GROUP IS INVESTED IN ALL KINDS OF FOSSIL FUEL PROJECTS THAT NEGATE ANY CARBON-SAVING THIS PROJECT WILL BRING------EVERYONE.

STOP VOTING FOR CORPORATE NEO-LIBERALS WHO DO NOTHING BUT WORK FOR WEALTH AND PROFIT!


Blackstone blows $3.5B into German wind farms


by Jonathan Braude | Published August 5, 2011 at 10:18 AM

New York private equity house Blackstone Group LP brushed up its green credentials on Friday, Aug. 5, with the announcement of a gusty €2.5 billion ($3.5 billion) investment in two offshore wind farm projects, one 50 kilometers and the other 100 km off the German North Sea coast.

The deal taps into a government-backed commercial lending program set up through state-owned development bank KfW Bankengruppe as part of a consortium of German and international banks. The banks will provide €822 million for the first €1.2 billion project, known as Meerwind, or Seawind. The equity has been committed by Blackstone funds and initial permit holder Windland Energieerzeugungs GmbH.

Blackstone vehicle WindMW GmbH said the completed funding would come from Commerzbank AG, KfW IPEX-Bank, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., Dexia SA, Lloyds Banking Group plc, Banco Santander SA and Siemens Bank GmbH together with EKF, the export credit agency of Denmark, and KfW Bankengruppe. About half the financing will reportedly come from KfW.

The 80-turbine, 288-megawatt Meerwind project is scheduled for completion in 2013 and is expected to produce enough electricity to power 400,000 households, although, even in the North Sea, wind output can fluctuate dramatically. It is expected to help Germany eliminate approximately 1 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year.

The Meerwind operation includes the installation of turbines supplied by Siemens AG and the connection to the national power network by grid operator Tennet TSO GmbH.

Sited northwest of the island of Helgoland, Meerwind will be followed by a second 64-turbine project, requiring a further investment of €1.3 billion and situated much further out at sea. The second project, known as Nördlicher Grund, will be completed in 2016.

Blackstone's and the banks' funding for Meerwind follows the German government's decision to phase out nuclear energy in the country by 2022 in the panic following the Japanese tsunami earlier this year. Although widely criticized as a hasty decision that will do more to promote investment in fossil-fuel generation than renewable energy, the government has also committed itself to a program of rapid adoption of new technologies.

The German government looks for renewable energies' share of power generation to rise from the current 17% of power consumption to at least 35% in 2020. On its website, the Environment Ministry also says, "The German government will strive to ensure this share is 50% by 2030, a figure that should rise to 60% by 2040, then 80% by 2050," though critics argue that is neither a firm commitment nor a sufficiently ambitious target.

WindMW was established in 2008 as a Blackstone portfolio company to develop German offshore wind farms. Meerwind first obtained the permit to build its wind park in 2007.

WindMW was advised by Green Giraffe Energy Bankers, KfW IPEX-Bank and Dexia with legal advice from Gleiss Lutz. The lenders were advised by Watson, Farley & Williams LLP.

Blackstone's announcement comes as its New York rival Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP reportedly agreed to invest a further $75 million in Indian fossil-fuel power company Avantha Power & Infrastructure Ltd. to take its share in the company from 9% to 20%. It invested the initial $50 million in October.

_________________________________________________

As we see here.....Blackstone is getting all kinds of tax breaks for this wind farm while it is invested in natural gas and coal-fire stations. The key here is that it is cornering the energy market and these wind turbines will be using tons of electricity to keep the turbines running when no wind will. It is a money-making deal with you and I paying the tab.


NEO-LIBERALS ARE WORKING TO CONSOLIDATE THE ENERGY MARKET SO THAT YOU AND I WILL BE CAPTURED FOR ANY KIND OF ENERGY NEEDED FOR EVERYDAY LIFE.....REMEMBER, THIS ALL USED TO BE PUBLIC.

FERC approves Blackstone's acquisition of Dynegy
EBR Staff Writer Published 02 November 2010


The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a joint application of Dynegy and an affiliate of The Blackstone Group relating to the acquisition of Dynegy by an affiliate of Blackstone. Dynegy Inc. is an electric utility company based in Houston, Texas, in the United States. It owns and operates a number of power stations in the U.S., all of which are natural gas-fired or coal-fired.


______________________________________________

As we see with Blackstone Group capturing a monopoly on all energy sources, Maryland's policies are being directed by HighStar and Johns Hopkins as a major shareholder. Below you see why Maryland is tapped to be a natural gas exporter ----a raging global warming policy tied to these windmills------

O'Malley and Maryland Assembly has tied all of Maryland public utilities to mega-corporations and this windmill project will not be any different. Good idea to have one global investment firms controlling all the regional energy? OF COURSE NOT. WE ARE GOING PUBLIC WITH OUR UTILITIES IN THE FUTURE!


Highstar Capital to invest in Caiman Energy

EBR Staff Writer Published 28 July 2011

Private equity firm Highstar Capital IV has entered into an agreement to invest up to approximately $270m in US-based midstream energy firm Caiman Energy through a preferred equity investment.

This investment will provide Caiman with additional growth capital for the ongoing expansion of its midstream infrastructure network in the Marcellus shale.

Highstar Capital founder and managing partner Christopher Lee said that Caiman will continue to play a key and growing role in helping Marcellus producers get their gas and liquids to market.

Caiman provides midstream services including natural gas and condensate gathering, compression, dehydration, measurement, treating and conditioning, processing, liquids transportation and fractionation.

Highstar Capital currently manages over $5bn of investments on behalf of its managed funds and co-investment vehicles in a diversified portfolio of energy, transportation and environmental/waste management assets and businesses.

About Highstar

Highstar is a group of investment professionals specializing in value added equity investments in infrastructure assets and businesses. Since 2000, the Highstar has led or co-led infrastructure investments totaling in excess of US $10 billion in enterprise value, including investments in power generation, water and waste water, natural gas transmission and storage, waste management, waste-to-energy, transportation logistics and port concessions and operations. Currently, Highstar is managing a portfolio of assets valued in excess of US $3 billion.

____________________________________________

This is a look with whom is all this energy and infrastructure going and as we know Blackstone is BUSH and AIG/HighStar is the Harvard/Hopkins cabal. Blackstone/AIG are partnered in many deals and as we know, AIG spun off HighStar to gut AIG of assets as it was ready to collapse from the AIG subprime mortgage loan fraud and CDS insuring of what all knew to be toxic mortgage loans. So, much of that profit from the massive mortgage fraud including all the homes lost to the American people from fraud was spun off as HighStar and Harvard, Hopkins and other Ivy Leagues have billions in their endowments from it.

THIS IS WHAT DRIVES MARYLAND POLICY IN ENERGY AND UTILITY PRIVATIZATION AS O'MALLEY SENDS ALL PROJECTS AND I DO NOT DOUBT THESE WIND FARMS WILL BE WITH THIS WALL STREET GROUPS AS WELL.

The citizens of Maryland had a system of public utilities that worked fine and employed workers getting a strong wage and benefits with corporations paying taxes and supporting community. It was William Donald Schaffer that started handing over Maryland public agencies with O'Malley supersizing it and all this is driven by Hopkins' profit.


Blackstone IPO: Mega-Payday for Bush Cabal (continued)

by ELITEWATCH.911REVIEW.ORG

Blackstone IPO: Mega-Payday for Bush Cabal

NIST, asked by INN World Report in February 2004 in New York, answered, they would look into these circumstances.



"In 1985 Blackstone opened its first small office with a staff of four, including the two founders Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman and a balance sheet of $400,000.

"Strictly friendly private equity investing in corporate partnerships has been a signature form of investing for The Blackstone Group since 1987 and accounts for 69% of the firm's private equity investments in terms of equity capital invested. The firm, investing side-by-side with 32 corporations and their management teams, has invested over $3.5 billion in such partnerships with a total transaction value of more than $40 billion. Such partnerships have included AT&T (Bresnan transaction), AOL Time Warner (Six Flags transaction), Union Carbide, Union Pacific (CNW transaction), USX, Vivendi, IBM, BP Amoco, Arthur Andersen and many others.�

Blackstone Group & 7 World Trade Center

"New York, NY October 17, 2000: Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, the global real estate investment and management arm of The Blackstone Group, L.P., announced today that it has purchased, from Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, the participating mortgage secured by 7 World Trade Center, a commercial office complex controlled by real estate developer Larry Silverstein" (source)

"But before the building can rise further than the substation, major financing issues have to be resolved by Larry Silverstein, who controls the long-term lease on 7 World Trade Center as well as the World Trade Center complex.

The good news for Mr. Silverstein is that the company that insured 7 World Trade, Industrial Risk Insurers, has indicated that it will make a full payment under its $861 million policy. But it's not clear whether Mr. Silverstein can use those proceeds to start building without first reaching an agreement with the mortgage holder on 7 World Trade Center, Blackstone Real Estate Advisors. (source)

Blackstone - Kissinger McLarty Associates - American International Group

Kissinger McLarty Associates has a "strategic alliance" with the Blackstone Group. The Blackstone Group describes their relationship thus:

"Blackstone's alliance with Kissinger McLarty Associates is designed to help provide financial advisory services to corporations seeking high-level strategic advice. The relationship was announced in 2000 and recently completed its first strategic advisory assignment on behalf of a NYSE-listed company." (source)

In fact the alliance also incorporates Maurice Greenberg�s American International Group, as per this press release on February 21st 2000:

"American International Group, Inc. (AIG), The Blackstone Group L. P. and Kissinger Associates Inc. announced the establishment of a new venture to provide financial advisory services to corporations seeking high-level independent strategic advice. The venture will operate globally and will take advantage of the existing relationships between the partners:

- AIG has an ownership interest in Blackstone and is an investor in several of Blackstone's private equity funds;

- AIG and Blackstone have a joint venture, specializing in restructuring and M&A advisory services in selected Asian countries;

- Henry Kissinger chairs both AIG's International Advisory Board and the advisory boards of several AIG-sponsored Infrastructure Funds.

The AIG-Blackstone-Kissinger Associates venture recently completed its first advisory assignment on behalf of a New York Stock Exchange listed U.S. company." (source) (note: "M&A" means �Mergers and Acquisitions�)

Indeed: "In 1998, American International Group ("AIG") acquired a 7% non-voting interest in The Blackstone Group for $150 million and committed to invest $1.2 billion in future Blackstone-sponsored funds." (source) And Maurice Greenberg sits on Blackstone�s Domestic Advisory Board.

(& an anecdotal story about Blacktone�s Peter G Peterson & Enron)

"When Enron executives started dumping stock, and the warning signs that Enron was in deep trouble were everyone except on the evening news, Winokur and Rubin called Peter Fisher, the current undersecretary of the Treasury to determine the practicality of artificially supporting Enron's credit rating in order to enable Enron to borrow enough money to stave off bankruptcy. Fisher, a former New York Fed governor, called his former boss, Peter G. Peterson, the New York Fed chairman - and the current chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations. Peterson was also a top Enron financial advisor through his own company, Blackstone Group. Peterson was also against the idea of artificially supporting a phony credit rating for Enron." (source)
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January 29th, 2014

1/29/2014

0 Comments

 
FOLKS, IF YOU DO NOT HERE YOUR INCUMBENT POL SHOUTING LOUDLY AND STRONGLY AGAINST ALL THESE POLICIES AND TPP-------THEY ARE NEO-LIBERALS AND NEED TO GO!  RUN AND VOTE FOR LABOR AND JUSTICE IN ALL PRIMARIES!

I want to take today through Friday to talk about why Obama and Congress are now ready to focus on domestic issues and why his mantra of helping the middle-class and poor is ridiculous......all the items on the Congressional agenda are tied to TPP and they intend to pass TPP in the near future.

The good news for US citizens is that TPP is illegal and a COUP against the US Constitution and American people and we can simply declare it NULL AND VOID when we reinstate Rule of Law. 

I'm starting with the environmental issues in Obama's speech and TPP because we have a corporate 'public' media outlet....WYPR with commentators who pretend to lament issues that they really support.


You may have seen the Huffington Post article on TPP and the environment but continue down to see how Maryland is one big TPP sesspool thanks to your neo-liberal!

ALL THE CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR ARE NEO-LIBERALS AND WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH THE TPP AGENDA!


In Maryland, labor and justice simply backs the worst of TPP neo-liberals even as they intend to make labor and justice just like Chinese workers and citizens.  WHY ARE THEY NOT RUNNING LABOR AND JUSTICE CANDIDATES IN ALL PRIMARIES!!!!!??????


Regarding Obama's domestic agenda that all involves passing TPP:

Basu's shout out for attention to global warming is a HOOT isn't it!  The US is the number one exporting now of all the raw materials that hasten global warming and Basu supports every one as this makes the rich richer in the US while it kills our environment.  TPP makes sure that all those silly US environmental laws won't get in the way of corporate profit and that is why we have XL Pipeline preparing to export the worst methane and carbon emitter TAR SAND OIL.  Basu is for building this pipeline....it creates jobs you know as he is in building a natural gas export right here in Maryland.  Fracking is a great methane/carbon emitter.  The US exports coal and raw timber all of which are great carbon emitters so all this talk of global warming by neo-liberals is only to sell windmill funding to make another source of profit for Wall Street investment firms.  YOU CANNOT BE A NET EXPORTER OF ALL THE MATERIALS CREATING CARBON AND METHANE EMISSIONS AND SAY YOU ARE AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING FOR GOODNESS SAKE.   All of Maryland pols are backing the natural gas terminal that will place fracking on steroids.

 NEO-LIBERALS WILL VOTE ON A TPP BILL THAT KILLS ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT AND THAT IS WHY WE HAVE SUCH A HIGH LEVEL OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEVASTATION TODAY....OBAMA AND CONGRESSIONAL NEO-LIBERALS ARE ALLOWING FREE TRADE OF ALL OF US NATURAL RESOURCES.


You wouldn't know that Obama's entire agenda surrounds the legislation needed to pass the TPP and we all know that has nothing to do with making a strong middle-class and helping the poor.  Remember, there is no wealth inequality because tens of trillions of dollar in corporate fraud still needs to come back.

The reason we had a do-nothing Congress is that these few years your neo-liberal has been working on behalf of their state's global corporations in writing TPP and now that Obama's Trade Rep signed the TPP agreement Congress is ready to go full court passing all the domestic bills that are written just for TPP.

ALL OF MARYLAND POLS ARE NEO-LIBERALS!!!!!

Let's look at each one to remember how they are attached to TPP and how they kill American workers and families.  THESE ARE EVIL DUDES YOU ARE ELECTING AND RE-ELECTING FOLKS!

So why are corporate NPR/APM and WYPR not connecting these TPP/environment dots?  More important, why are Maryland's environmental groups and 'progressive' action groups not sounding the alarm?  Maryland Progressives give Maryland Assembly strong marks on environment without ever shouting that TPP will knock the socks off of anything local.  Building windmills off of Maryland coast while exporting natural gas.....REALLY?


Let's look closer at what this environmental catastrophe means to labor and justice.  First, look at the Incinerator project everyone is fighting here in the Baltimore area.  Why would you build something like this with all kinds of 'green language' when we all know it is bad news for health and climate?  THE INCINERATOR IS PART OF A GLOBAL CORPORATION THAT RUNS THESE AROUND THE WORLD -------VEOLA ENVIRONOMENT OWNED BY JOHNS HOPKINS.

Remember, VEOLA is a global corporation and is TPP is passed we will not have all those air quality standards met as all this hampers corporate profit!!!!!




 WikiLeaks Exposes What Obama's Secret Trade Deal Would Do To The Environment


Posted: 01/15/2014 12:22 pm EST  |  Updated: 01/25/2014 4:01 pm EST


WASHINGTON -- WikiLeaks published a leaked draft of the environment chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Wednesday, and environmental groups are lining up to take a swing.

The leaked documents come from a meeting of the trade deal's chief negotiators held in Salt Lake City, Utah, from Nov. 19 to 24, 2013. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) includes 12 countries –- the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Chile, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam, New Zealand and Brunei –- and would govern a number of international environmental and trade issues.

The draft indicates the pact will include a number of promises on the environment, but will lack strong enforcement tools. "When compared against other TPP chapters, the Environment Chapter is noteworthy for its absence of mandated clauses or meaningful enforcement measures," wrote WikiLeaks in its release. The chapter is intended to deal with issues like overfishing, trade of wood products, wildlife crime, and illegal logging. But most of the measures in the chapter are voluntary, rather than binding, and do not include penalties or criminal sanctions for violations. Compliance is largely left to the respective countries.

Enviros offered similar criticism. "The lack of fully-enforceable environmental safeguards means negotiators are allowing a unique opportunity to protect wildlife and support legal sustainable trade of renewable resources to slip through their fingers,” said Carter Roberts, president and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund, in a statement.

The leaked document from November is only a draft, but if the trade pact's final environmental chapter looks like it, it would make the Obama administration's environmental trade record "worse than George W. Bush’s," said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. “This draft chapter falls flat on every single one of our issues -- oceans, fish, wildlife, and forest protections -- and in fact, rolls back on the progress made in past free trade pacts.”

According to a report from the chairs of the TPP Environmental Working Group drafting the chapter, also released by WikiLeaks, there remains significant disagreement among the parties on many of the pact's provisions. The chairs wrote that Vietnam, Peru and Malaysia object to a provision calling for countries to "rationalize and phase out" fossil fuel subsidies "that encourage wasteful consumption." They also noted that the United States and Australia object to the climate change portion of the pact as it is written.

Negotiation of the pact has been underway since 2010, but all discussions take place entirely outside of public view. The Obama administration has already received backlash for leaked portions of the pact that indicate it would grant greater rights to corporations to challenge national laws in private courts.

Efforts to fast-track the trade deal met resistance from Democrats in Congress this week.


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VEOLA ENVIRONMENT IS OWNED BY HIGHSTAR WITH JOHNS HOPKINS AS ITS MAJOR SHAREHOLDER AND THIS IS WHY O'MALLEY AND RAWLINGS-BLAKE ARE PUSHING THESE PLANTS IN MARYLAND.  

It has nothing to do with greening or environmentalism.....it simply moves all public waste and recycling to this Hopkins' owned business VEOLA.  As this happens, communities around it will see all kinds of health effects and the air quality already bad in Maryland will get worse------THAT'S A DOUBLE WIN FOR JOHNS HOPKINS AS ASTHMA IS THE NUMBER ONE HEALTH PROFIT FOR MARYLAND HOSPITALS!!!!

Just imagine how likely having a global health corporation like Hopkins owning and running the disposal of medical waste.....their major expense.  Remember, in China there are no environmental laws and that is why all kinds of hazardous dumping and leeching has made China an industrial dump.


This policy is not only disgusting......but O'Malley and Rawlings-Blake and your Maryland Assembly and Baltimore City Hall neo-liberals are tying the funding of public schools to this Johns Hopkins business that kills the environment.  If you look at who supports these incinerators--------Baltimore museums and many Maryland public school districts.  The public sector tied to yet another corporation.




VEOLA ENVIRONMENT
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Safely Incinerate without Burning Through Your Budget

Our incineration services provide benefits such as:

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    The security of complete cradle-to-grave services, from collection and transportation of your hazardous waste materials, through the final disposal of any ash or other residue in a secure land disposal facility
    A full-range incineration system that includes both rotary kilns and fixed-hearth incineration technology for the ultimate in flexibility for handling your most difficult hazardous wastes
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Medical Waste Disposal

Manage all your medical waste disposal needs with a partner that can ensure your staff’s safety and your company’s regulatory compliance. Medical waste treatment can take place at Veolia facilities, if the waste is both medical and RCRA, or at audited and approved third party partner facilities. We also provide SHARPS+PAK® medical waste disposal services via U.S. mail, which is mainly designed for businesses with smaller waste quantities.
Medical Waste Disposal Services Customized for You

First, we conduct an initial medical waste review and breakdown analysis to help your company reduce waste and minimize your costs. Once your unique needs are determined, our partners train your staff on waste stream segregation, procedures and safety. Services offered include:


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Keep in mind Maryland's Governor O'Malley led the way for exporting natural gas while leading the Governor's Association because, of course, O'Malley is a raging Wall Street pol.  Mike Miller has said this will happen as as all Maryland neo-liberals keep voting him as leader.....they will vote for it as well.

The infrastructure funding bill by Congress and by Maryland Assembly would fund the construction of this project.  That is why they want this BOLIS OF MONEY as Clinton investment banker turned pol Dulaney moves forward.


ISN'T IT AMAZING THAT YOU NEVER HEAR ANY OF THIS FROM MARYLAND MEDIA OR WYPR AND MARYLAND ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS ARE MOSTLY SILENT TO SOMETHING THAT WILL HAVE DEVASTATING ENVIRONMENTAL AFFECTS ON THE STATE???

I want to add that it is Frosh that heads the judiciary committee that vets judicial appointments and if you liked Maryland's court decision that MERS was not criminal.....you can expect that Frosh placed  pro-global corporates judges in Maryland courts.  See why we do not want Frosh as Maryland Attorney General?  Wonder why Maryland labor groups are backing him?


Court Considers Natural Gas Exports From MD Terminal  

Mon, 01/13/2014 - 11:02am
MAX EHRENFREUND, The Washington Post  

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The future of a massive, controversial construction project on the Chesapeake Bay for exporting natural gas could depend on one poorly written sentence.

Attorneys for the Sierra Club were in court last week fighting the $3.8 billion proposal by Dominion Resources to renovate its terminal in Calvert County so the facility could send domestic gas overseas. The case — which turns on several words in a contract first signed in 1972 and rewritten over the years — is pending in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.

Labor and business leaders argue that construction would bring a huge influx of capital to a state still recovering from the financial crisis. But environmentalists say that the project would worsen global warming, and residents are concerned about the effects on traffic and property values in the sleepy coastal community of Lusby about 60 miles southeast of the District.

"We are all following it really closely," Kelly Canavan, president of a local community organization, said of the dispute between the Sierra Club and Dominion.

Canavan's group, the Accokeek, Mattawoman, Piscataway Creeks Communities Council, opposes Dominion's plans. She said the court case "is one of the strongest possibilities for actually stopping the project."

The case also demonstrates how radically the global energy economy can change in just a few years.

Dominion's Cove Point terminal, which began operating in 1978, was built to receive imported natural gas. But recently, few tankers have come through as the new drilling techniques commonly known as "fracking" have produced an unexpected glut of domestic shale gas.

Dominion now proposes to use Cove Point for export instead of import. But natural gas must be cooled into a liquid before it is loaded onto a tanker. Dominion will have to build cooling facilities at Cove Point — a project that would require three years and thousands of workers.

Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club — which aims to decrease the country's reliance on naturalgas — worry that allowing the exports would encourage domestic drilling, damage the ecology of the bay and ultimately hasten climate change.

Whether the project proceeds could depend on how the court interprets the contract, which curtails how the site can be used. The facility's original owner, Columbia Gas, initially signed the agreement with the Sierra Club and another environmental group. Relations between business and the environmental movement were friendlier then than they are today, and Columbia wanted to avoid a legal dispute.

Sierra argues that the most recent version of that agreement, which Dominion signed in 2005, a few years after acquiring the property, precludes the company from exporting natural gas from Cove Point by sea.

The agreement provides that Dominion can use the site for "receipt by tanker and the receipt or delivery bypipeline" of natural gas in its various forms.

According to the environmental group's lawyers, that phrase means that Cove Point can receive shipments of natural gas by sea or overland via pipeline, and that it can deliver gas to domestic customers, also viapipeline. Delivering gas to outgoing vessels is not permitted, they argue.

A lower court ruled against the Sierra Club last year. Circuit Judge James Salmon agreed with Dominion that the facility could make a "delivery by pipeline" to the pier where deep-water tankers dock.

The offshore pier, just over a mile from the coast, is indeed connected to land by an insulated pipeline along the bottom of the bay.

The Sierra Club appealed the decision.

The parties to the contract in 2005 did not anticipate that Dominion would ever need to export natural gas. During arguments Wednesday, appeals court judges questioned attorneys for both sides on economic and technological aspects of shipping gas at that time, trying to reconstruct a world that already seems far in the past.

Dominion has signed contracts with importers in India and Japan, who agreed to buy capacity at Cove Point for 20 years. The company asked the court to rule quickly on the case, citing the volatility of the global market for fossil fuels.

For those who live near the facility, the debate about Cove Point is much more than a disagreement over the meaning of "receipt or delivery."

Carolyn Hart, president of the Calvert County Chamber of Commerce, said her group's members are eager for the jobs and people they expect construction to bring to the area. "I can tell you, we're waiting," she said. Hart lives a quarter of a mile from the terminal, and she and her husband own a nearby wine shop.

Dominion said they are among many people who think the project will benefit the community. "The support for this kind of a project is extremely broad and very deep," said Chet Wade, a spokesman for Dominion.

Others worry about the risk of an industrial accident.

"We feel like Dominion is transferring environmental and health risks to their neighbors, and we're not getting compensated," said Sue Allison, who can see Cove Point's storage tanks from her kitchen window and made the trip to the courthouse in Annapolis to demonstrate her opposition to the project.

**************************************

Do you know that selling the coal fire- power plants with the deal with Exelon is an environmental greenhouse disaster and your Maryland Assembly pol voted for this merger deal that could have required these power plants be shut down?  O'Malley handed them to Exelon who simply handed them to a connected figure and Maryland still has coal-fired power plants all by a governor who Maryland press labels a friend of the environment!!!!

I NEVER HEAR BASU TELLING US ALL THIS AS HE LAMENTS GREENHOUSE GAS LEVELS AND GLOBAL WARMING.....HE WILL SHOUT OUT TO BUILD WINDMILLS, BECAUSE THAT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH ALL THIS OTHER BAD ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN MARYLAND!

Know where the windmills will be built?  I know, Maryland pols said this was a job creator.....yet, very few Maryland workers  will be involved.  IT'S ABOUT CHANNELLING FEDERAL AND STATE FUNDING TO CAMPAIGN DONORS YOU KNOW!

Look below to see yet another foreign global corporation coming into the US to build manufacturing.  Remember, TPP gives global corporations a pass on all US labor and justice laws if it cuts into profits.......TPP will allow Siemens to bring workers from around the world to work in Kansas and if Kansas citizens want a job.....they will work for the same third world wages these immigrants get...... THIS IS WHAT GREEN TECHNOLOGY BUSINESSES BRING TO THE US.....AND YOUR FEDERAL AND STATE TAX MONEY WILL SUBSIDIZE THE BUILDING OF THESE PLANTS BECAUSE.....AFTER ALL.....THEY CREATE JOBS!

See why WYPR does not connect the dots......see why public media was taken corporate?



Siemens will Build Wind Turbine Production Facility in the U.S.
05.05.2009 · Posted in Wind Energy

 
Additional capital investment in green technologies – 400 new jobs to be created

Erlangen, Germany, May 05, 2009

Siemens intends to build a new production facility for wind turbines in the state of Kansas. Initially, 400 new jobs are expected to be created in the new wind turbine production facility in Hutchinson, Kansas. When production begins at this facility, Siemens will be able to even more effectively meet the strong demand for wind turbine equipment in North and South America in the future.

75px Siemens AG logo.svg Siemens will Build Wind Turbine Production Facility in the U.S.“The United States already is and will continue to be one of the world’s fastest growing wind energy markets. We are thus intensifying our commitment to this green technology to further expand our leading global position in this field,” stated Peter Löscher, CEO of Siemens AG. “We are already the leading green infrastructure giant. And by making these investments, we will become even greener.” With revenues totaling EUR19 billion in fiscal year 2008, Siemens now has the world’s largest portfolio of environmental technologies.

Construction of the 300,000-square-foot nacelle production facility is scheduled to begin in August 2009. A nacelle is mounted on top of the tower and supports the rotor. It houses a wind turbine’s major components for electric power generation, including the gearbox, the drive train and the control electronics.

The nacelles to be produced in Kansas will weigh 90 tons and the first nacelle is expected to be shipped in December 2010. All nacelles produced in Hutchinson will be used in the company’s reliable 2.3-MW wind turbine product family. Initially, the factory’s planned annual output is approximately 650 nacelles – or 1,500 megawatts (MW).

“Just two years ago we opened a rotor blade manufacturing facility in Fort Madison, Iowa. By expanding our investment in Kansas, we are strengthening our presence in the U.S. and, at the same time, we are increasing the proximity to our U.S. customers. This new location will enable us to serve them more rapidly and cost-effectively,” said René Umlauft, CEO of Siemens Energy’s Renewable Energy Division.

Hutchinson is near the geographic center of the continental United States and offers a viable workforce and excellent transportation logistics. The factory will include direct loading onto rail, which will provide easy access to project locations throughout the Unites States and Canada. Shipments can also be made utilizing the barge facilities at the port of Catoosa, located 250 miles from the plant. Kansas also has excellent wind conditions. In terms of wind energy potential, this centrally located state ranks third in the U.S.

Since entering the wind industry in 2004, Siemens has greatly expanded its worldwide manufacturing network. In addition to opening and consequently expanding the wind turbine blade manufacturing facilities in Fort Madison, Iowa, USA, and Engesvang, Denmark, the Danish facilities in Brande and Aalborg have been expanded and a new R&D center in Boulder, USA, was established. Siemens’ global wind power business has grown from approximately 800 employees in 2004 to more than 5,500 today, which equals an increase of approximately 650 percent.

Wind power is an important feature of Siemens’ environmental portfolio. In 2008, revenue from the products and solutions of Siemens’ environmental portfolio was nearly EUR19 billion, which is equivalent to around a quarter of Siemens’ total revenue.
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November 07th, 2013

11/7/2013

0 Comments

 
I REVISIT THE ISSUE OF PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC WATER AND WASTE AND SMART METERS FOR ENERGY WITH BGE ----IT IS CRITICAL THIS NOT HAPPEN AND NO ONE IS SHOUTING!

Across the nation these investment firms that are now rich from the massive corporate frauds of last decade are now being handed all of public assets and services.  In Baltimore, it is Johns Hopkins that has stakes in all of what is transpiring with public assets from Port to public water and waste.  What we see here today is a partner in this goal......Intron is a global corporation with Smart Meters and tracking resources while VEOLA is a global Water and Waste corporation with the same goals.  Baltimore made VEOLA transfer ownership of its Water and Waste to its corporate holdings in HighStar while allowing VEOLA to have all of MD public transportation.  IT IS A FEEDING FRENZY FOR PUBLIC ASSETS AND NEO-LIBERALS ARE LEADING IT.  NO ONE IS SHOUTING PEOPLE!

We have unions backing these neo-liberals doing this no doubt just for the present job but it will hurt all in the long term!





Regarding the Smart Meter Baltimore Board of Estimates debacle:

Did you know that VEOLA Water and Waste is seeking to privatize our public water and waste systems and Johns Hopkins is a major shareholder in VEOLA water? Did you know that Smart Meters have as their main intent to ration energy and water according to what people can afford to pay as sending BGE to Exelon and now building our public water with national VEOLA WATER will have yet more public commodities tied to Wall Street speculation and manipulation for profits----just like gas at the pump? SEEMS THESE ARE IMPORTANT ISSUES THAT NO ONE IS HEARING ABOUT FROM MARYLAND/BALTIMORE MEDIA!



We are seeing all over the world where Smart Meters are used to force energy and water conservation and used especially to maximize profit by limiting access to energy and water if you cannot afford to pay the ever increasing rates!

Power rationing ruling alarms consumer groups

Posted on December 8, 2011

by Stop Smart Meters Australia


CONSUMER groups are concerned that a ruling to allow power companies to ration their supply to households could leave some people high and dry.

A final ruling by the Essential Services Commission this week opens the way for power companies to temporarily interrupt the power to households that choose to take part in customer trials using supply control features on smart meters.

The ruling specifies that the supply controls could be used only for ”non-credit management” purposes.

But consumer groups, including the Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) and the Consumer Action Law Centre (CALC), say energy retailers have no other reason to ration energy supply than to control the level of debt and ensure struggling households pay their bills.

Under the ruling, power companies could cut off electricity briefly to remind customers paying a lower rate for a capped amount of electricity, that they are using more energy than they had agreed to.

”We do not believe there is any reason for retailers to offer such products except for credit management purposes, whether this is explicit or not,” VCOSS has stated.

Janine Rayner, of CALC, says there are ”fairer and more balanced ways” for consumers to manage their energy use and debt.


These include flexible payment options, bill smoothing, hardship programs and energy efficiency audits, rather than ”taking the onus on themselves to self-manage and self-disconnect”.

This week’s ruling will also allow energy companies to turn off individual appliances


________________________________________________
Below is an article that addresses what we all know will be the result of these Smart Meters-----it moves the cost higher for consumers at the same time the costs of energy and water soar because they are being privatized and made a commodity.

Below you see a series of articles by the Brew.  Mark always does a good job collecting the data but will not state future goals.....WE NEED PEOPLE SHOUTING THAT THIS CAPTURE OF ALL PUBLIC COMMODITIES IS VERY, VERY, VERY VERY BAD!!!


'The high-tech, high-cost meters are great for detecting minute flows of water. But other cities have found they are subject to frustrating computer glitches'.

“One of the most outrageous things is that if you wanted to challenge your water bill, you have to pay the city $180 to have your automated meter checked by a human being,” de Blasio said. The high-tech system presented a “classic’Catch-22″ where customers were forced to choose between a high water bill or an equally high price to appeal.


Smart meters will drive up customer bills, but not necessarily cut down on billing errors The high-tech, high-cost meters are great for detecting minute flows of water. But other cities have found they are subject to frustrating computer glitches.

Mark Reutter October 28, 2013 at 7:37 am

The Baltimore Brew

By measuring every last drop of water coming into a household, this smart meter manufacturer promises water utilities with plenty of fresh revenue.

Photo by: Sensus Metering Systems

When Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says smart water meters will yield “more accurate” bills for customers long frustrated by water billing errors, what’s left unsaid is that the new meters will also increase residential water bills.

The new meters will employ technology that better records low-flow water usage by households, a key to charging more per customer. “By measuring every single drip every time” with smart meters, one manufacturer brags, a water utility can increase its revenues even when rates remain the same.

According to Dynis LLC – the front runner of the yet-unannounced meter award despite a bid $100 million more than its competitor – its Sensus iPERL meters are calibrated to measure as little as 1/32 gallon per minute of flow, a rate eight times lower that the typical mechanical water meter.

Dynis says this attribute will allow measurement of low-flow usage to increase “by 10 percent, at a minimum,” adding $22.98 a year to an average user’s bill at the current water rate. Over the 20-year life expectancy of the meters, Dynis promises the city $160 million in added revenues.

The group’s figures are based on the current water rate. Given the sharp rate increases enacted in July by the Board of Estimates, a typical city customer will pay closer to $40 a year when the new meters go into full operation in 2018 – and the city will gain an equivalent jump in revenues.

Sticker Shock

Another factor likely to cause “sticker shock” to homeowners is that when old meters malfunction, they tend to “slow down” – or under record the true flow of water. Very rarely do meters speed up. In cities where smart meters have been installed, consumers often find immediate spikes in their bills.

On the other hand, whether the new technology will produce bills that are less prone to error is open to question.

Currently, meter readers (the city employs 39 of them) go house by house, open the meter lid and read the dial. The readings are then recorded on a hand-held device. When asked about inaccurate water bills, Mayor Rawlings-Blake laid blame on the reading of the old meters.

“Once the meter read gets to the billing department, the process is smooth, so now it is making sure that the meter reading is accurate. That’s why we’re focused on and moving forward with trying to get more accurate meters across the city . . . [because] so many of these meters are so old,” the mayor said at a press availability last Wednesday.
________________________________

FULL COVERAGE IN THE BREW:

Politically-wired firm wants $100 million more for city contract than competitor (10/9/13)
Mayor tightlipped about Dynis contract (10/9/13)
Rejected company had lowest bid for city’s water meters (10/10/13)
Finances of firm seeking $185M water meter contract appear shaky (10/11/13)
Mayor issues statement on water meter contract and Dynis (10/11/13)
Totaling up the costs of “smart” water meters (10/18/13)
Team that got $107 million for Harbor Pt. is now pushing the Dynis water meter bid (10/24/13)
______________________________________

The smart meter will use a radio transmitter attached to the meter to send signals to a collection unit or cell tower, which will transmit the information to a central office. Software will then read the data and store it in a new Meter Data Management System (MDMS).

Glitches Around the Country

The city is calling on hourly meter readings for all meters across the city – or 9.8 million reads per day. These readings will be stored for seven years and made available to city personnel and consumers (who will need to purchase software to fully access the information).

Critically, though, the MDMS data will have to interface with the Finance Department’s billing system in order to generate bills. The merging of the new technology to a “legacy” billing system frequently results in erroneous billings.

Baltimore has 201,000 meter customers, with another 203,000 in the county. City meters are serviced at this shop in West Baltimore. (Photo by Mark Reutter)

The Rawlings-Blake administration says that a new billing system will be installed by the time the smart meters are operating.

But detailed planning has not yet gotten underway and money could run short, leaving the city with a hybrid system subject to computer errors.

Just such glitches plagued the installation of 800,000 smart meters in New York two years ago.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio received hundreds of complaints from consumers. He issued a report that ripped into what he called a too-hasty rollout of the system and the difficulties faced by customers seeking redress to what they considered to be inaccurate bills.

“One of the most outrageous things is that if you wanted to challenge your water bill, you have to pay the city $180 to have your automated meter checked by a human being,” de Blasio said. The high-tech system presented a “classic’Catch-22″ where customers were forced to choose between a high water bill or an equally high price to appeal.

“Proof of Concept” After Contract Award

In the meter contract under review by the Rawlings-Blake administration – there are two bids, by Dynis for $185 million, and by Itron for $84 million – there is little leeway for technical errors. Unlike some major contracts, the city has not run a pilot program to evaluate the feasibility of smart meters.

Instead, the winning bidder is required to undertake a “proof of concept” test as its first order of business. The contract calls for the vendor (either Dynis or Itron) to install 5,000 meters and transmitters in downtown Baltimore, and another 5,000 meters in Bowleys Quarter in Baltimore County.

If 100% of the readings from the new meters are “successfully passed” to the city’s billing system over a 30-day test period, the city will authorize the smart meter project to proceed.

The timeline for the new meters is as follows: completion of the “proof of concept” 12 months after the contract is awarded; “substantial completion” of the city sector of the program by April 1, 2016; “substantial completion” of the county sector by April 1, 2017; and final installation and operation of smart meters by January 1, 2018.


__________________________________________

The reason Itron got the bid is that it is a global corporation working to privatize public water and waste all around the world-----along with VEOLA WATER AND WASTE....they are a team! So, as DYNIS is just as bad as Itron.....local bad lost out to global bad. DYNIS did make two great statements at the Board of Estimates meeting:

Itron has has problems with getting these systems up and running in cities choosing them for awards. Systems failed (think speed ticket cameras in Baltimore). Remember, these corporations CENTERED ON PUBLIC WORKS AS THE NEXT MARKET BUBBLE at the time of economic collapse because starving the government was going to 'force' public assets and services into the hands of these private corporations. THAT IS WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT.....STARVE GOVERNMENT COFFERS WITH MASSIVE CORPORATE FRAUD AND TAX EVASION AND THEN PRETEND EVERYTHING PUBLIC NEEDS TO BE PRIVATIZED!!!

Do we really want a global corporation running Smart Meters and our public water and waste like Exelon and Fracking operates energy? I think we are going back to hiring enough public employees to walk around a read our public water meters thank you very much!!!!

DOES EVERYONE GET THE THEME HERE???? MAXIMIZING CORPORATE PROFITS!




From Itron's webpage:


City of Baltimore Awards Contract to Itron for Advanced Metering Infrastructure and Water Meter System Installation Project
Nov 7, 2013

Itron Announces Third Quarter 2013 Financial Results

LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. — Oct. 30, 2013 — Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) announced today financial results for its third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2013. Highlights include:

Quarterly and nine month revenues of $495 million and $1.4 billion;


__________________________________________



Texas utilities admit billing errors with SmartMeters

Wednesday, April 14, 2010
michael finney


Two major utilities in Texas have confirmed that some customers received inaccurate and sometimes inflated bills after turning to SmartMeters to measure their energy usage. PG&E is under fire for its program to install SmartMeters in Northern California. 7 On Your Side has been following the debate since last year.

Hundreds of consumers have blamed SmartMeters for overcharges and sudden spikes in their bills. Consumer advocates say the billing problems that occurred in Texas should be a lesson learned in California.

More than five million SmartMeters will be installed in Texas by the year 2012. It is the second-largest rollout in the country -- second only to California's. In both states, hundreds of consumers have filed formal complaints about SmartMeters with their public utilities commissions; at least 600 in California and up to 800 in Texas.

But unlike PG&E, the utilities in Texas have actually admitted to billing errors. "It's a software glitch," says Floyd LeBlanc with Centerpoint. "We found the software glitch and corrected it."

Centerpoint blames a communication error in the software for sending the meter readings for 5,200 customers back to the utility incorrectly; 3,500 of those were overbilled. Another Texas utility has also acknowledged problems. Oncor says it under-billed 2,000 consumers when the communication software it used failed to sync up with the device.

"We're now measuring data every interval, which may be an hour or every 15 minutes. So, there's more data being transferred and there's more opportunities where an error can occur," says Matt Wakefield with the industry funded non-profit The Electric Power Research Institute.

The institute says industry standards call for SmartMeters to have an error rate of one-half of 1 percent and its testing shows that SmartMeters meet that standard. PG&E is just now beginning to acknowledge the possibility of even minor problems in its SmartMeter installation program.

In January 2010, Paul Moreno with PG&E said, "In every situation, the meters have been shown to be accurate."

In March 2010, David Eisenhauer with PG&E said, "With any rollout of this magnitude, you can expect to run into some issues and that's what's going on."

This week, Eisenhauer said, "There were, on a handful of occasions, the meters were not transmitting any information. When that happens, we immediately work to correct it."

PG&E says no bills have been impacted. Both Oncor and Centerpoint use communication software from IBM. PG&E uses a different company called Silver Springs Network of Redwood City.

"There's a number of differences. They're using different equipment, different technology, different communication devices," Eisenhauer explained.

The admission of billing errors in Texas came from monthly reports from the utilities required by the PUC of Texas.

The California PUC has made no such requirement of PG&E, and PG&E has thus far refused to conduct side-by-side testing of SmartMeters with the old meters. That is something Oncor in Texas has voluntarily done.

"We chose people who weren't necessarily happy with us and didn't trust the data they were getting from those new meters," says Chris Schein with Oncor. "So therefore, our biggest skeptics then become our testers."

The PUC in California has now hired the Structure Group to conduct an independent investigation into SmartMeters. The PUC says side-by-side tests will be part of that investigation. The Utility Reform Network (TURN) is now calling for citizen oversight of that investigation.


"TURN is very concerned about the Structure Group because of the fact that they have been a consultant to PG&E from 2002 to 2008," says TURN spokesman Mark Toney. "What that means, is they have a vested interest making sure that the SmartMeters are exonerated."


TURN says the findings of billing errors in Texas are yet another reason why the California PUC should impose a moratorium on SmartMeter installations until an investigation is completed.


______________________________________________

For those in Baltimore dealing with the faulty speed cameras you saw how the city ignored the problem and defended the camera and corporation behind them until it was so pervasive and public they could not do it anymore.  It took media declaring a problem and national non-profits coming in to declare a problem to get the city to stop ----because the city is the corporation behind the profits made from this revenue collection.  That will happen with these meters.

Baltimore today has estimated water bills that are hundreds and thousands of dollars too high and a citizen has to quit their job and devote all their time to fighting City Hall to get those illegally declared water bills money back.  Why do you pay them if they are wrong?  BECAUSE THE CITY SENDS YOU A NOTICE THAT THEY ARE GOING TO SEIZE YOUR HOUSE IF YOU DO NOT PAY THE BAD WATER BILL! 

It will be worse with a private corporation behind these errors and with no way to get satisfaction from a public agency!


Commission to investigate PG&E 'smart meters'
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 Tags:PG&E, 7 on your side, michael finney

  SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- An independent investigation will be launched soon into whether new so-called "smart meters" being installed by PG&E are leading to inaccurate higher readings and inflated bills.

By 2012, PG&E expects to have installed smart meters for every one of its 10 million customers. The new meters are just beginning to be put in here in the Bay Area and already complaints are starting to come in

Gary Damiano of Belmont knows one thing. His PG&E bills have been higher since his smart meter was installed in July.


"There was no change in any of our usage at home. We didn't add any major appliances. We didn't have anybody additionally living at home," he explains. "So, the only change that we could see was the installation of the smart meter." Smart meters allow utilities to get an hour-by-hour reading of a customer's energy usage. Under the old meters, PG&E would get one reading for the entire month. The utility says the new smart meters allow them to offer customers both money and energy saving options.

"Consumers can stay on the rates they enjoy now or they can opt for rate programs that encourage them to save energy during peak periods by giving them a reward for their usage during off peak periods," says PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno.

However, at least 450 PG&E customers have filed formal complaints with the State Public Utilities Commission since July. They argue that smart meters have lead to higher bills.

Mark Toney is Executive Director of the Utility Reform Network in San Francisco. He says, "PG&E ought to be ordered to have a moratorium on installing these meters until we get down to figuring out the root of the problem."

The utility has investigated all the complaints and insists the smart meters are accurate. They say there are other reasons for the higher bills.


"There's no link between the smart meter performance and higher bills. What customers have experienced is the rate increases that occurred since they received their smart meter," Moreno says.

A 7 on Your Side analysis found that Damiano's energy usage went up 30 percent since his smart meter was installed in late July. PG&E points out Damiano's energy usage also went up significantly during the same months the year before his smart meter was installed. The utility found in 100 percent of cases it investigated, its smart meters were accurate.

"My goodness. 100 percent? 100 percent?" Toney asks. "People are, customers are 100 percent wrong and PG&E is 100 percent correct?"

Both Toney and Damiano support a third-party investigation of smart meters, and that is what is going to happen. The California Public Utilities Commission will soon announce the hiring of an independent investigator to review the matter.

"We need to make sure that what the utilities are using to base their bills on are accurate," says CPUC Chief of Staff Carol Brown.

The investigator will look at everything from the smart meter to the module that enables PG&E to read the meters remotely. The communication module is made by Silver Spring Networks, a company based in Redwood City that specializes in energy efficiency. The module shoots the information from smart meters to access points throughout PG&E's service area, and then back to PG&E. Silver Spring says the system is 100 percent accurate.

"We've checked in every way that we know how, with every device being monitored constantly over the network, to make sure it's working accurately," says Silver Spring Vice President Eric Dresselhuys.

Damiano continues to search for ways to reduce his energy costs. He agreed to an energy audit from PG&E. They looked at everything from his entertainment center, to heating and air conditioning, to his kitchen appliances.

"It will help him reduce his energy consumption, but what it will also do is identify where the energy that is consumed is going," says Jeff Smith with PG&E.

The information gathered by walking around the house is used to fill out an on line form. The audit identified areas where Damiano could save energy including reducing his thermostat to 55 degrees when asleep, replacing his old refrigerator, and controlling air leakage.

Damiano is glad he did it.

"It still doesn't explain why our energy bill spiked in September. At least we have a better way of dealing with it right now," he says.

ABC7 will continue to follow the investigation into the smart meters.


__________________________________________



Think your city is the only one that dismissed most of public works employees and then just haphazardly used estimated figures for billing? It happened all over as they prepared for privatization. They think we will be thankful just to have a correct bill. WE WERE HAPPY WHEN WE HAD METER-READERS FULLY STAFFED AND PAID A DECENT WAGE WITH BENEFITS. We do not need this automation and it will lead to rationing as rates climb and subsidies disappear!


Smart Meters Mean an End to Estimated Bills British Gas customers can now look forward to more accurate bills as energy consumption is measured in real time with smart meters

Press Release: British Gas – Mon, Jun 18, 2012 4:00 AM EDT

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire -06/18/12)-

The provision of energy through smart meters will put customers in control of their energy consumption, and allow them to monitor their usage throughout the day. The smart meter accurately records consumption in real time, and sends this information to the company for billing, meaning that customers will only ever pay for the energy they have actually used. Customers will no longer have to submit a reading or arrange for the meter to be read by a company representative, and there will no longer be such a thing as an estimated bill.

A British Gas smart meter can also help customers to reduce their utility bills by showing them how much energy they are using on a daily basis. As patterns of usage are identified, and it becomes clear which appliances or habits are responsible for the highest levels of energy consumption, customers will be able to make the adjustments necessary to reduce their usage.

For example, an energy smart meter will clearly show how much energy consumption is reduced by taking a shower, rather than a bath, or by turning down the thermostat on the central heating by a couple of degrees. Making the switch to energy efficient lighting will also have a big impact on bills and consumption, and this is something that will be very obvious once a smart meter has been installed.

The introduction of smart meters by British Gas is part of the company's drive to promote smarter living, and help customers understand how even the smallest changes can add up to a big difference in their energy usage. It's estimated that once a smart meter has been installed, customers could save around 10% on their bills over the course of a year.



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October 07th, 2013

10/7/2013

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MARYLAND HAS THE WORST OF MEDIA-BUILDING HEADLINES FOR ITS POLITICIANS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH FACT.  THIS IS THE SAME THING THAT GAVE US OBAMA AS A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER AND PROGRESSIVE WHILE HE, LIKE O'MALLEY ARE RAGING GLOBAL CORPORATISTS!


From Fracking gases to incincerator emissions......from coal-fired power plants that keep on ticking to Indy races complete with the gas-mask car emissions......HOW DOES O'MALLEY GET A NOD AS GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS REDUCTION? 

The same way Obama gets a Nobel Peace Prize and then uses drones to kill civilians all over the world.  O'Malley says he will do it......and then doesn't.  YET HE HAS THE HEADLINES TO USE IN HIS NATIONAL CAMPAIGN!  What will happen is that O'Malley, before he leaves office will make sure there is data that showsome kind of improvement only to find a decade later that all this data was bogus.....as with all of his other data.

Why do we not hear from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network lots of shouting out about all the policies moving forward since this award was given?  Maryland is home to the private non-profits as 'progressive' policy headlines that never happen
.

What we know today.....October 2013, is that O'Malley spent last year as head of the Governor's Association and worked to establish markets for US natural gas with the intent to export and he is behind the export terminal in MD.  We know he is proposing incineration sites across the state, calling incineration 'green', and he allowed the sale of BGE/Constellation with the coal-fired power plants rather than closing them, so we have 3 of them still operating in MD.  As a minor aside......he gets behind the Baltimore Indy race no one wants-----except BDC as a marketing tool and pushes high-emission race cars be allowed in a city whose citizens are sickest from air pollution ailments.  IT IS BIZARRE HOW A POLITICIAN WHO COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT GETS AWARDS FOR CURBING GREENHOUSE EMISSIONS.

What O'Malley did was fulfill an Obama campaign donor requirement to build Wind Farms off the coast of MD.  While wind energy is good, these wind farms will provide such little alternative energy to the grid as to not be worth the taxpayer subsidy.  This is the greenhouse gas legislation O'Malley actually did!


WATCH HIS CAMPAIGN IN 2016 IF HE DOES RUN FOR PRESIDENT-----ALL THOSE MARYLAND HEADLINES ON POLICY THAT DID NOTHING WILL MAKE HIM LOOK THE ENVIRONMENT KING.


CLIMATE CHANGE MARYLAND Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act Plan

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act Plan
The 2012 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act (GGRA) Plan fulfills the mandate to, by the end of 2012, propose a plan that achieves a 25 percent statewide reduction in GHG emissions by 2020, while also spurring job creation and helping improve the economy. The GGRA also requires a report in 2015 that, amongst other things, requires MDE to provide a recommendation on what the State's longer term reduction target should be. In 2008, the Maryland Commission on Climate Change, appointed by Governor O’Malley, recommended that Maryland consider a 2050 goal as high as a 90 percent reduction from 2006 levels. This plan spurs reductions in GHGs through incentives that increase energy efficiency using existing technologies, and identifies ways to transition to new energy sources and stimulate further technology development.  Published: July 25, 2013



BALTIMORE, MD (November 4, 2009) – On behalf of its 80,000 supporters across the region, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network today named Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley as recipient of its highest annual prize. The “Maryland Climate Leadership Award” is presented to the Governor for his critical leadership in helping to pass the historic Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act in Maryland earlier this year.


Exelon completes sale of 3 coal-fired power plants to Raven Power

December 3, 2012 By PennEnergy Editorial Staff
Source: Exelon Corp.


Exelon (NYSE: EXC) announced that it has completed the sale of its three Maryland coal-fired power plants to Raven Power Holdings, a new portfolio company of Riverstone Holdings. The sale fulfills Exelon’s commitment to divest the plants as part of its merger with Constellation. Under the agreement announced Aug. 9, 2012, Raven Power will maintain jobs with comparable pay and benefits for employees at the plants.

The three plants, known collectively as Maryland Clean Coal, include:

• Brandon Shores, Pasadena, Md.: 1,273 MW of installed capacity, two units (coal)
• C.P. Crane, Middle River, Md.: 399 MW installed capacity, three units (coal and oil)
• H.A. Wagner, Pasadena, Md.: 976 MW installed capacity, five units (coal, natural gas and oil)

The sale was required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Department of Justice and the Maryland Public Service Commission as part of Exelon’s merger agreement.


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  • Petitioning The Governor of MD
Governor O'Malley: Don't Trash our Community! Go green and stop the incinerator!

    1. Petition by

      Free Your Voice

For the health of our community and our children we are calling on Governor Martin O’Malley to stop the proposed trash burning incinerator from being built in Curtis Bay. If built the Energy Answers Incinerator would be the largest of its kind in the nation, producing more pollutants per hour of energy produced than the largest coal plants in Maryland. Worse still, the project is set to be built less than a mile from Benjamin Franklin High School and Curtis Bay Elementary School, in violation of Maryland state regulations. It is this kind of recklessness that has led Baltimore to be ranked number one in air pollution related deaths per capita.

Energy Answers was required to begin construction in August. While the Maryland Department of Environment investigates if they failed to do so, we are calling on Governor O’Malley to intervene and protect our children’s health and the health of our community.

Please sign our petition asking Governor O’Malley to stop the incinerator!  Let him know that our community is not a dumping ground. Call the Governor now at 410.974.3901 / 1.800.811.8336. 

Thank you for your support

To:
The Governor of MD
Gov. Martin O'Malley, Maryland
Anthony Brown, Lt. Governor
Don't trash our community. Go green. Stop the incinerator!

Building the nations' largest trash burning incinerator less than a mile from our schools, recreation center, businesses, and homes is wrong. Sincerely,
[Your name]


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Waste-to-Energy Dirtier Than Coal-Fired Power Plants, Report Claims Chesapeake Bay Beat & Environment Health 13 October 2011 By Greg Masters
Capital News Service

1ANNAPOLIS — A report released Thursday argues that waste-to-energy incinerators are not truly renewable, despite Maryland’s waste-to-energy sector being placed in the same renewable energy class as solar and wind power.

The nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project issued the report, which claims that the state’s two major waste-to-energy incinerators produce more pollution than some coal-fired power plants.

“This report really shows that waste-to-energy incineration is not clean, and it’s not renewable, and it’s not the best option for the economy,” said EIP research analyst and report author Robbie Orvis.

The Montgomery County Resource Recovery Facility and the Wheelabrator Baltimore Incinerator both produce more mercury, lead and greenhouse gases per hour of energy than each of the state’s four largest coal-fired power plants, Orvis concluded based on an analysis of publicly available emissions reports submitted to the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Maryland’s waste-to-energy plants also generate a significant amount of dioxins and incinerator ash, which can contain toxic materials, the report states.

In addition to the two major incinerators Maryland has already, there are plans to build or expand existing plants in Baltimore, Harford County and Frederick County.

In May, Gov. Martin O’Malley signed into law a bill making waste-to-energy incineration a Tier 1 renewable resource, including it in the Clean Energy Production Tax Credit program and Renewable Portfolio Standard.

“By reclassifying trash incineration energy as Tier 1, Maryland decreases incentives to invest in much cleaner forms of energy that are truly renewable, such as wind and solar,” said EIP attorney Leah Kelly.

O’Malley’s office had no comment on the report, but spokeswoman Raquel Guillory said the governor will look at it.

Lori Scozzafava, deputy executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America, had not seen the report but said waste-to-energy facilities meet federal air quality standards “and are considered a renewable energy source.”

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Meanwhile, O'Malley as head of the Governor's Association worked hard in moving forward natural gas exportation and MD as a site for just that!


By Kate Amara
Fracking opponents renew efforts as natural gas export site is approved MIT study also shows Md. leads nation in air pollution early deaths

Published  8:46 AM EDT Sep 13, 2013 WBAL




Monday, Aug 26, 2013 11:39 AM EDT

Fracking’s real health risk may be from air pollution The preliminary results of a study found some evidence for drilling-related symptoms

By Lindsay Abrams  SALON

A distribution center for natural gas shipping and delivery (Credit: Eric Krouse/Shutterstock) The preliminary results of a study on the health effects of fracking are mixed, the Associated Press reports: They “challenge the industry position that no one suffers but also suggest that the problems may not be as widepread as some critics claim.”

One of the first attempts to study the long-term health effects of natural gas drilling, the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project released its early findings after 18 months spent studying one county south of Pittsburgh:

The project found 27 cases where people in Washington County believe they were hurt by nearby drilling — seven cases of skin rashes, four of eye irritation, 13 of breathing problems and three of headaches and dizziness. The skin exposures were from water and the other cases were from air. The numbers don’t represent a full survey of the area, just cases with plausible exposures.

The EHP group is trying to help people who have been exposed to drilling-related air or water pollution, toxicologist David Brown told the Associated Press, adding that they’re finding “an array of symptoms” in some people who live close to wells or processing stations.

While tainted water is the image that immediately comes to mind, helped along by news footage of people setting their taps on fire, the study found that air pollution might pose a greater health risk. In two homes that rest 1,000 feet away from gas processing stations, air pollution levels were as much as four times higher than the local average. The industrial stations, which clean raw natural gas and send it out through national pipelines, seem to be more of a concern than the drilling sites themselves, of which Washington County has 700.

The researchers are being cautious, though, and the small scale of their study means they’re not yet ready to claim any definitive links between fracking and the health problems they’ve observed.



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HOW CAN RACE CARS CIRCLING FOR HOURS AND DAYS BE GOOD FOR AIR QUALITY AND THE BAY?  IT CANNOT BUT HERE IS O'MALLEY READY TO BACK ANYTHING REGARDLESS OF ENVIRONMENT!



Earlier, the Baltimore City Council and the Maryland Stadium Authority formally threw their support behind BRD's efforts to bring a race to the city. Those efforts began in 2008.

Among those joining Davidson for the announcement were Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Indy Racing League commercial division president Terry Angstadt, IZOD IndyCar Series driver Graham Rahal and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr., according to a BRD statement.


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O'MALLEY GIVEN AN AWARD ON GLOBAL WARMING AND AIR QUALITY?  OH REALLY?



Maryland has highest death rate from air pollution

6:47 PM, Sep 27, 2013   Scott Broom @scottbroom   WUSA 9


BALTIMORE, Md. (WUSA9) -- The alarming surprise for us here is that Maryland has the highest death rate from air pollution than any other, state according to a new study from MIT.

If you, or someone you know has Asthma -- or COPD -- you know what a struggle it can be to breathe when air pollution gets bad, and for some, that pollution is deadly.

On line videos of potentially lethal asthma attacks -- the most acute -- immediate and scary effects that can be triggered by air pollution, which can be particularly severe in our region during the summer.

Now researches at MIT have crunched the numbers, matching population data against maps of particularly severe pollution outbreaks and finding that Maryland has the highest death rate due to air pollution of any State. A Contributing factor in the premature deaths of 113 of every 100,000 people.
    
Part of Maryland's problem, a small, densely populated state , breathing other people's pollution along with its own. A pollution map shows the effects of being downwind of auto emissions from D.C. and northern Virginia on just one bad day in July
 
The MIT study accounts for illnesses of all types, not just asthma or COPD. The MIT study relies on data going back to 2005 and state environmental officials point out strict new emissions regulations have gone into effect since then. 

But air pollution doesn't recognize state boundaries and it appears Maryland is paying the price more than others.







0 Comments

August 22nd, 2013

8/22/2013

0 Comments

 
Global corporations are now deciding how much you will access goods and services as everything is made a market....think your electricity is a given?  Think mega-health institutions driven by profit are going to care for you?

VOTE YOUR NEO-LIBERAL OUT OF OFFICE AND RUN AND VOTE FOR LABOR AND JUSTICE!!!

 ALL MARYLAND DEMOCRATS ARE NEO-LIBERALS

Regarding Health Care Reform:

The Baltimore Board of Estimates is always a shining beacon to fraud and corruption and as I described last blog....it was the Firefighters taking the blow of lost health care coverage costs hidden under the faux mantra of COMPROMISE.  You know.....where Obama goes so far right with his proposals....right of the republicans just so compromise leaves us still right of center.....that kind of compromise. 

THAT'S NEO-LIBERALS FOR YOU....THEY ARE REPUBLICANS WHO SIMPLY PRETEND TO SUPPORT A FEW SOCIAL ISSUES!  WEALTH AND PROFIT THEY SAY!

I wanted to stay on health care one more day to highlight the civic debate that never happened....THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED!  I'm sitting waiting for the board meeting to start and there are a few Firefighter union reps there to say it was a WIN-WIN as the mayor calls it.....only they don't say anything...they just appear as told.  In walks the NAACP representative who yells at the Firefighters for getting such a high rate of increase on salaries.  I point out that the wage increase will not even cover the costs of health care that was thrown onto Firefighters last year......they will lose income while working longer hours; not a win-win after all.  I make the Firefighter uneasy by telling him to shout out that the problem with health care costs is massive health fraud and profiteering....not employees having health plans and give him the information for the United Workers/National Physicians  Health Care for All movement that all unions should be joining as these pols will continue to limit access to health care for public employees.

I shouted all this so the media could hear
at Mayor Rawlings-Blake who used her bully pulpit to make it sound as if this deal was a compromise and win-win specifically and walked up to the media....all the Baltimore news agencies....and said 'THE STORY HERE IS THAT A PUBLIC SECTOR UNION WAS MADE TO GIVE UP THEIR HEALTH CARE PACKAGES WITH GREAT ADDED COST AND ADD MORE HOURS IN ORDER TO EARN LESS'.  They are doing it as are over 70% of Americans because massive health fraud and profiteering has emptied government coffers and made health prices market-based and tied to profit.  Maryland loses billions of dollars each year to health fraud and they are forcing the public into refugee-style clinic care to maximize profits.  The reporter tells me these plans are going to be thrown into the private health systems anyway.  I tell the media that is the story today....great loses in health coverage and wages to protect massive losses from health fraud and profiteering.  The reporters' eyes became huge and they ran away with me shouting 'WE NEVER HEAR THAT IN THE MEDIA'.  THE BALTIMORE BOARD OF ESTIMATES MEETINGS ARE ALWAYS A CIRCUS.  One can imagine Afghanistan's parliament working the same way as they mirror themselves after US private contractors.

KEEP IN MIND THAT IN BALTIMORE AND MARYLAND...JOHNS HOPKINS DRIVES THIS POLICY!  THEY ARE NOW A GLOBAL HEALTH CORPORATION BUILD ON THE BACKS OF TAXPAYERS COURTESY OF MARYLAND'S LONG-TERM NEO-LIBERAL INCUMBENTS.

Yes, the plan is to throw all public sector health plans and Medicare and Medicaid into these health systems effectively ending public health programs......the opposite of Universal Care/Health Care for All.  The tiered system of health plans assures that most people will not access the level of health we have always had and most developed countries have now.  It will have people unable to handle co-pays and deductibles and the monthly premiums and IT IS ABSOLUTELY CRIMINAL!  THESE PEOPLE PUSHING THIS ARE ANIMALS!

Meanwhile we hear from Hoplins' Maryland Health Care for All.....the organization Hopkins formed in order to capture the issue of Universal Care and make it all about the market-based global corporation-building Affordable Care Act.  Remember.....those of us in academia who study these issues all knew this was the goal as did all these players in the process.....no one is shocked or policy hasn't been hijacked.  Maryland Health Care for All is shouting against a group that has young people fighting the mandated buying of health care.

UNIVERSAL CARE HAS NOBODY PAYING ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE TAXES WE ALREADY PAY AS INCOME AND PAYROLL TAXES AND EVERYONE GETS THE SAME LEVEL OF CARE......ergo.....health care for all. 

So arguing that young people need to pay for insurance even as most people are losing access to insurance in tiered systems is bizarre!  IT IS BIZARRE PEOPLE!  Neo-liberals have the very people who should be fighting for Universal Care fighting for policy that will kill access to care.  That is how perverse the political system has become now that the democratic party is captured by corporate neo-liberals creating groups like Maryland Health Care for All and NAACP shouting against public sector employees making a middle-class living.  All this while the reporters are telling me they know the goals are to throw all these health plans into the tiered system but no public discussion is happening.

WHERE IS THE PUBLIC DISCUSSION?  COLLEGE CAMPUSES AND PUBLIC MEDIA ALL FOSTER THIS PUBLIC, DEMOCRATIC DEBATE.....ONLY NOT IN MARYLAND.



The Affordable Care Act is funding the expansion of community health centers to increase access to primary care, but this approach will not ensure effective access to subspecialty services.


As everyone knows Primary Care doctors only direct you to specialist who administer all care above the office checkup.  The poor have had the ability to use clinics for this level care so why are billions of dollars being thrown at primary care?  BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE NOW INSURED WITH PLANS ALLOWING ACCESS TO SPECIALTY CARE WILL NO LONGER HAVE THAT.....INCLUDING MEDICAID AND MEDICARE. 

Below you see what will happen as a hospital becomes the insurer and is driven by the costs of hospital stays.  They pretend keeping people out of hospitals is good but we are already seeing patients denied access to hospitals and those in hospitals being treated in ways that look at the profit margin and not the patient well-being.  WE KNOW THAT IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN AS PEOPLE ARE PUSHED OUT OF HOSPITAL AND TREATMENT ACCESS.


As you see MedStar and Maryland is leading in this consolidation.  I was told just days ago.....'my doctor will not even talk to me outside of the office visit and I can't get hospital access when I need it'.  That was with University of Maryland Medical System.


Hospitals Look To Become Insurers, As Well As Providers Of Care

By Roni Caryn Rabin  Kaiser Health News

Aug 26, 2012

This story was produced in collaboration with 

Michael Dowling, a burly Ireland native running one of New York’s largest hospital networks, is preparing to turn his business model on its head: He wants to keep his hospital beds empty, rather than full.

That’s because the North Shore-LIJ Health System, with 16 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient centers in Long Island and New York City, is laying the groundwork to be an insurer, as well as a provider of health care.

Like other hospital chains across the country, it’s under intense pressure from public and private insurers, as well as employers, to accept flat-rate payments for care, rather than reimbursements for every service. And that puts pressure on hospitals not just to manage costs, but to keep people well – in short, to act more like insurers.

“This is a huge, dramatic cultural shift,” said Dowling, president and CEO of North Shore-LIJ, who expects it will take several years to market coverage to the general public.

Once the system becomes an insurer, picking up the tab for a hospitalization rather than generating revenue from it, more resources will be devoted to preventive care, Dowling said.


“The last place I’ll want you to be is in the hospital,” he said. “I’ll be doing everything to get you to take care of yourself.”

Hospitals from Colorado to Virginia are exploring similar strategies spurred by rising costs and incentives in the health law. An estimated 20 percent of networks market an insurance product, including MedStar Health, serving the Washington-Baltimore region with Georgetown University Hospital and eight other facilities. 

Another 20 percent are exploring doing so, according to a survey last year of 100 hospital leaders by The Advisory Board Company, a research firm.

“This trend is definitely picking up steam across the country,” said Chas Roades, the firm’s chief research officer.

Impact on consumers

Proponents say consumers would benefit from streamlined care and possible lower costs, but some also worry they could find themselves with fewer choices and limited access to outside experts and cutting-edge treatments.

“The idea of managing care for patients in a holistic fashion sounds great,” said Carmen Balber, who directs the Washington office of Consumer Watchdog. “The question is how it plays out. Are doctors given the freedom to make recommendations outside of cost calculations?”

Driving the change is the transition from fee-for-service payment schemes – which pay for each doctor’s visit, appendectomy or CT scan separately – to one that pays providers a global, or lump sum per-person-per -year. This will shift more of the financial risk of medical care from insurers to providers. 

Once hospital systems are paid this way, “they’re sort of halfway toward being an insurance company,” Roades said. “The more hospitals take on risk and manage the care, the more they look like insurance companies. And ultimately you have to ask: Why do we even need an insurance company sitting between a health system and an employer?”

Of course, Americans rebelled against an earlier iteration of this model, known as managed care, when insurers ran the show.

“The big wild card is: how will patients view it?” he said. “Is it just going to be viewed as managed care 2.0 and engender the same kind of backlash, or will people engage with it because it can help them live healthier lives?

“I don’t think it’s a slam dunk one way or another.”

Managed care redux?

One change, experts say, is technology. Electronic medical records and a wealth of health databases that did not exist during the first wave of managed care can now guide appropriate medical treatment.

In the ’90s, “we were flying blind,” said Paul Keckley, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. “Now we’ve got a whole wave of clinical algorithms to know what’s an appropriate referral.”

Several large hospital networks -- like The Ford Health System in Detroit and UPMC in Pittsburgh -- have entities that sell insurance policies.  But that can complicate relations with insurance companies, and health systems like North Shore-LIJ, which depend heavily on contracts with commercial plans, would not want to jeopardize those relationships.  Dowling said he might partner with an insurer to market a North Shore-LIJ insurance product; he envisions a hybrid system that would continue to contract with numerous plans in the future.

It can get tricky, though. UPMC, for instance, has been embroiled in a nasty legal dispute with Highmark, a large insurer, over its acquisition of a rival hospital network in Pittsburgh, though the parties reached an agreement in May. Texas Health, which experimented with health plans in the 1990s, found the business a distraction from their primary mission and have sold them off.

“Hospitals think this is a way to cut out the middle person, tailor care more closely and save a lot of extra money, but there’s a history to this and it generally doesn’t work,” said Howard Berliner, a visiting professor of health policy at NYU. “It sounds easy, but it winds up being incredibly complicated.”

Several DC-area health systems already market plans or self-insure their employees.  Besides MedStar, Sentara Health Care, a Norfolk, Va.-based health system that owns Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center in Woodbridge, Va., markets Optima Health, a health plan with 433,000 members.  And Inova Health System, a hospital network based in Falls Church, Va., recently announced it would partner with Aetna to establish a jointly-owned health plan that will start selling insurance products in northern Virginia next January.

The transition is complex and fraught with risk for hospitals, experts say. Insurance is a different business from health care, and requires a different mind-set and skills; Hospitals will have to change the way they are run and radically alter the way they take care of patients, possibly taking on powerful interests – like doctors.

To become licensed as an insurer, a health system also needs to have millions of dollars in capital reserves, and must run a regulatory gauntlet to prove it has an adequate provider network and can deliver required benefits.  And a hospital system cannot dip into the health plan’s reserves to fund new services.


“Many hospitals sold their insurance plans even though they were profitable because the hospital had better use for the money – the money sitting in insurance reserves could be better devoted to building the tower,” said Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change.















We finally had American Public Media Marketplace admit that Smart meters is all about rationed energy access.  Now that national energy corporations have monopolies they will now raise prices to what the market will bear and public subsidies for low-income will end....so, people will only get the electricity or gas for which they can pay.  If you can only pay for 3 hours....that is all you get courtesy these Smart Meters.  Maryland was handed to Exelon by Gov O'Malley and we are now threatened with big penalties if we do not have the Smart Meters installed.  O'Malley placed an Energy executive on our Maryland Public Service Commission....he says 'to help families'.  SEE WHY HE IS TAPPED TO RUN AS A NEO-LIBERAL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.


I would suggest that a tax just as described below is on its way to Maryland.  We are already taxed for the building of wind farms and subsidize those costs.  We are taxes and doubled rates to pay for Exelon's cost of business and now Smart Meters will decide how much energy we can receive.


Below you see this information in a news journal back in 2011


The Oakland Press
Letter To The Editor: Smart meters will lead to energy rationing, government control Published: Monday, November 28, 2011

  DTE Energy has advised its customers that they will soon be installing so-called smart meters in a program they call SmartCurrents. What we have here is the first step in government controlled distribution of energy.

These meters will be controlled remotely, and information can be accessed on the Internet. If your home is too warm in the winter, your power will be reduced until your temperature is where they want it. Ditto in the summer for your cooling. Remember the promise of the President to have a “SmartGrid”?

Are we looking at a scenario that if your area has voted against the party in power, that area will experience either rolling blackouts, or will a reduction in the power supply to meters in that area sufficiently penalize the residents and businesses in the out-of-favor area?

We were told this was coming. The announced purpose was of destroying the coal industry, that supplies 60 percent of electric power (“new coal fired plants will be bankrupted”), and the refusal to issue permits for drilling either for oil or natural gas completes the plan. Rationing of power — as with the delivery of medical services — is our future.

Thomas Reid

Rochester Hills



"An important element of a smart grid is a ‘smart meter’ which will allow display of energy usage data in real time and remote or automated control of energy usage by suppliers and consumers [our emphasis].
"Meters will allow supply to be controlled remotely," the report stresses, as if we missed the point.



The march of the electricity smart meter
August 1st, 2013
Author: Jeff Taylor
  The Economic Voice

It is inevitable. The way things are going we will all have smart meters fitted to our homes in an attempt to regulate our energy usage.

We see this agenda being given another nudge in the UK with British Gas looking to offer ‘free electricity’ to consumers on a Saturday. Of course the only way you could benefit from this is if you have a smart meter fitted.



The argument being made is that we need to ‘smooth’ demand across the week. This is because unlike gas, which can be stored ready for use, there is no method of storing AC electricity that is readily available. The national grid has therefore got to have enough power generation capacity to meet peak demand plus a bit. This means that the number of electricity power generating units have to exist in order to satisfy a demand that may be only there for a few hours a week. And conversely there will be many hours in the week when the capacity to generate is many times more than the demand. If these peaks and troughs could be smoothed out by shifting demand about then there would be less need for power stations so reducing emissions as well as the infrastructure needed to support them. Smart meters would automatically pass meter readings to the power companies in real time as well as being quick to spot outages.

But as stopsmartmeters.org points out, there are many unanswered questions with regard to the physical and health risks associated with smart meters (see video below).

There is also the privacy issue in that smart meters gather a lot of data about your energy usage; when you are in or out, when you watch the TV etc. Especially as white goods would need to wirelessly communicate with the meters.

Power Lines by Benkid77 via Wikimedia Commons

Smart meters also have the capability of rationing electricity to your home should the need arise. Such as shutting off power to your freezer for a while if the local hospital has more of a need for it. Or maybe they just think you are using too much.

This system would also give the power providers the ability to produce energy tariffs that change on an hour by hour or even minute by minute basis. It was oft touted that there was an energy spike just as the adverts started during Coronation Street when everyone put the kettle on for a cuppa. I don’t know how true that is, but can you imagine a system that upped the cost of your cup of tea for a few minutes as you took a break from watching your favourite soap? Made even worse if it was also affecting your health and melting against your wall.

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Sacramento Democrats Help Crony Capitalists Utility Companies by Adding $10 per Month to Bill if Customer Uses Solar Energy

by Stephen Frank on 08/11/2013 Steve Franks California

Imagine if the buggy whip industry could have added $10 per month to the cost of a car?  And the money go to them.

That is what PG&E and its representatives in the Legislature are trying to do.  If Assembly Democrat Perea has his way, you buy solar panels for your home or business and the State will force you to pay your utility $10a month for the “privilege”.  Democrats are not about saving the Earth, they are about taxes and protecting their donors.  PG&E, along with SoCal Edison have given millions over the years to the Democrat Party and Democrat candidates (in 2012 PG&E gave Perea $3900—Edison gave him $3500)


Why should a utility company have government forced ratepayers to pay a fee for buying another service?  Maybe they should promote their own version of solar and charge for that.  This is a way to use government to harm their competitors—commonly called crony capitalism.

“The state Legislature is maneuvering to add fixed costs to electric bills, watering down the incentive for homeowners to go (small) solar. A bill by Assemblyman Henry T. Perea, D-Fresno, would add $10 per month in fixed charges, costing customers of investor-owned utilities $120 a month extra. Standing to benefit would be Pacific Gas & Electric and Rosemead-based Southern California Edison.

The Sierra Club is fighting the bill, saying it will discourage as many as 40 percent of new customers to go solar if their electric bills are higher no matter how much energy they use.”

Steve Scauzillo: Assembly bill threatens to fry solar movement A proposed flat charge could take away homeowner incentives to go green
Steve Scauzillo, San Gabriel Valley Tribune,  8/11/13

What do Linda Hecht of Redlands, Laureen Pittman of Riverside and Joy Brown Meredith of Palm Springs have in common?

Nothing, really. Except that they are the first three people to invest in PBS food show host Cliff Young’s latest project, a solar-powered ice cream truck called SoCal Scoops.

Launched on the crowd funding website RocketHub.com, SoCal Scoops is looking for $17,500 to kick start this green venture. While it may be only 1 percent funded, the idea is representative of the growing trend of small solar projects sweeping across the Sun Belt.

Some call it green going small.

You may have heard of those large solar panel installations being built in the California desert? If not, I’ll list a few: There’s Copper Mountain (150 megawatts) in Nevada; the Ivanpah solar plant (392 MW) under construction near Las Vegas; the Mojave Solar Project (280 MW) under construction near Barstow.

These are large projects spread across acres of land in the sun-drenched desert. Solar projects are even popping up on military bases. Case in point is the Nellis Solar Power Plant built on the Nellis Air Force Base outside Las Vegas (14 MW).

The state Legislature is maneuvering to add fixed costs to electric bills, watering down the incentive for homeowners to go (small) solar. A bill by Assemblyman Henry T. Perea, D-Fresno, would add $10 per month in fixed charges, costing customers of investor-owned utilities $120 a month extra. Standing to benefit would be Pacific Gas & Electric and Rosemead-based Southern California Edison.


The Sierra Club is fighting the bill, saying it will discourage as many as 40 percent of new customers to go solar if their electric bills are higher no matter how much energy they use.

“If the utilities change the rules of the game, what is to stop them from doing it again down the road? It might discourage many (homeowners) from a 20-year lease (on rooftop solar),” said Evan Gillespie, Sierra Club spokesman in Los Angeles.

The environmental group started by John Muir says everyone should have the right to go small and produce their own electricity from the sun. Whether that is on the rooftop of a home, a church, a synagogue or an ice-cream truck, owners should be free to harness the freely provided energy of the sun.

The going-small solar movement incorporates many goals, from reducing carbon emissions that contribute to global warming, to saving money on electric bills, to providing jobs.

“Every Californian family that installs solar panels on their roof is creating jobs for their community,” said Allen Hernandez, Inland Empire Community Organizer with the Sierra Club. “Community by community, neighbor by neighbor, Californians are going solar and are making California’s economy stronger.”

Solar installations reached record numbers in California in 2012, and 2013 shows no signs of slowing down, Gillespie said.

Last year, Temple Sinai in Glendale added a 125-panel solar array to the roof of its synagogue. The installation is saving the congregation $250 a month and that will grow to $1,000 a month in seven years. The temple estimated it will save $900,000 in electricity costs in 25 years.

My colleague, Opinion Editor Mariel Garza, says a $99 solar-powered charger from Voltaic allows her to re-charge her cellphone and iPod without plugging into a wall socket. It’s on my list of things to purchase.

There’s no end to the creativity of American entrepreneurs. That is, as long as the Legislature and investor-owned utilities don’t stand in their way.


When Young saw a solar-powered ice cream truck on the East Coast on one of his shoots, he said: “L.A. would eat that up!” So he bought a used ice-cream truck and got his friends at Hot Purple Energy in Palm Springs to pimp his ride. They’ll also retrofit the diesel engine to run on old french fry oil. Young also wants to employ at-risk young adults from a Hollywood shelter called My Friend’s Place.

“I want to use the sun to cool down my ice cream,” Young said.




____________________________________________

The problem with this is that you do not mention massive corporate fraud of tens of trillions of dollars stolen from government coffers and individual pockets as the issue that makes safety nets especially needed while we rebuild our Rule of Law and democratic institutions.  When you have a conversation about working hard and preparing for hard times as a reason not to need a safety net.....and completely ignore the fact that hard working people had their pensions, homes, and savings stolen from them by corporate fraud....you sound more like Glen Beck than journalists!



The best safety net? One man says, the smaller the better


by Krissy Clark Marketplace for 8/5/13
  • Story
The safety net you didn't know existed The social safety net and whether we as a country spend too much or too little on it are subjects of perennial, often flaring, debates.  And those debates can devolve quickly in to shouting matches. 

But people's passions are usually rooted in quieter moments-- personal experiences of needing help or giving it, that can shape a lifetime perspective. 

So here’s a modest proposal: maybe if we shared more of those back stories, they could lead to more thoughtful conversations among those who disagree.  With that in mind, we've been asking you, our listeners and readers, to share your safety net tales.  It's a series we call Show Me Your Safety Net.  Here’s one from Paul Daniels, a Marketplace listener in Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. 

To understand Paul Daniels feelings about safety nets, especially ones funded by the government, you need to know a few things about him.  Daniels is a 55 year old building engineer-- that's the fancy name for a guy who takes care of an office building's heating and air conditioning and plumbing systems.  But-- here's the important part--being a building engineer is not what Paul Daniels wanted to be when he grew up.  He keeps a little homage to his true ambition in a room in his house.

“This is my dream of being a journalist, right here,” Daniels says, pointing to a type writer and a bottle of Crown Royal.  Then he pokes at a few sticky keys on the type writer.  “It actually doesn’t work,” he laughs.  “It’s broke.” 

Part of why Daniels did not become a writer has to do with a piece of advice he got as a kid, growing up in a working class family in a suburb of Detroit. 

“I always used to say to him be a something,” says Lucille Daniels, his 87 year-old mother.  She lives with her son, now that she's too frail to live alone.

“Take up a trade--carpenter or electrician or whatever.” his mother remembers telling him.  “Would’ve been nice if he'd been a doctor or a lawyer. But how many people do that?” 

‘Work Hard and Be Ready for Tough Times’

Paul Daniels remembers his mother’s advice as a sort of warning.  “I say that I was a depression child by proxy.  My parents-- especially my mother-- were absolutely destitute during the depression,” Daniels says.  “Her father lost his job.  They had a child die.  They lost their home.  My mother drummed in to our heads that you better work hard and be ready for tougher times.” 

For a while at least, that message competed with other messages Daniels was hearing. 

Some came from people at school.  “I couldn't spell to save my life, and yet when I would write something, the teachers always just raved about it,” Daniels says.

Others came from newspaper editors who published a handful of articles he wrote, which he keeps in a stack in his house.  “The Troy Sommerset Gazette!” he smiles, filing through the clippings.  “Those were the first people to encourage me to pursue my writing.” 

And of course there were the invocations Daniels heard “at every commencement I've ever been to, follow your dreams.”  And as tempting as that suggestion was, Daniels was, in the end, skeptical.  “I think, ‘Well fine, follow your dreams.  But if they don't work out, don't blame anybody else for them because that was a choice you made.” 

The choice Daniels made was to walk away from his original dream.  He says it involved a painful calculation. 

“I might've become a well known writer,” he says.  “But I think the chances of that were very slim.  To take that risk…..”

He pauses. 

“I just didn't want to end up becoming broke in my old age. So I worked--worked some jobs for companies that I hated, to support myself.  And so someday, I will be able to retire.”

 The trade-off still haunts him.  But it's a trade-off he thinks not enough people make.

“I've been killing myself  my entire life to take care of myself, and I see other people collecting.  I'm paying, and their collecting.”

Which brings us back to the social safety net. The "collecting" Daniels is talking about is collecting money from government assistance programs. 

“I’m not saying that I’ve never received unemployment in my life,” he says.  “But I know a lot of people that collect unemployment, and it’s not like they need to.  It’s more like a lifestyle.”

And this is where things get tricky.  Yes, Daniels admits he’s used a few government safety net programs himself-- a couple months on unemployment insurance years ago, a federal student loan in college, a home mortgage interest deduction that reduces his housing costs.

But—he feels like mostly he’s made his safety net himself, through sacrifice.  And he doesn’t have much sympathy for those who, as he sees it, have not.

And that’s the thing about safety nets:  their usefulness can be in the eye of the beholder.  You know why you need one when you need it.  But when you see someone else need one, it’s a judgment call.

Following His Dreams, After All

There is a post script to this story.

Eventually, Daniels did actually do the whole following-your-dreams thing.  After he worked as a building engineer at Kmart for fifteen years—a job he detested, he quit.  He’d saved enough money to travel through Africa for a year.  Then he started taking jobs that could finance his appetite for adventure.  He has worked as a building engineer for the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, and at the US research station in Antarctica. 

A few years ago, he made a documentary about his time working in the South Pole.



0 Comments

August 12th, 2013

8/12/2013

0 Comments

 
Regarding Harbor Point TIFs for Exelon:


There is no doubt Jack Young will make these TIFs happen no matter what the citizens of Baltimore want.  That is why he was elected President of the City Council.....his willingness to do whatever he is told to do by Baltimore Development/Johns Hopkins.  The important thing to remember is that an ever larger group of citizens are turning out to protest and are seeing that this development isn't about what is good for the city but about enriching the rich.  Whether it is Curren's voters outraged over the Royal Farms in their neighborhood....whether it is the stacked Baltimore City School Board filled with business people trying to take public education private....whether labor unions pressed to poverty wages and stolen pensions....or seniors having health care handed over to hedge funds and  massive entitlement fraud used as reasons to cut benefits....EVERYONE IS GETTING ANGRY.  Those 17,000 citizens in Baltimore's last election will grow to 600,000 to get rid of all these incumbent bent on pay to play and serving the rich.  Make no mistake, regardless the vote on these TIFS, we will be going to court and demanding a Federal investigation for RACKETEERING.

What Jack Young and your neoliberal pol is telling you and me is that these corporations will have all of our tax revenue as profit while they 'donate' to private non-profits through Associated Grants (ABAG) and Maryland Non-profit to create public policy that sends that money right back to benefit their own investments all while writing that 'donation' off their taxes.  They do not pay taxes....they move the taxes we pay into investments and services they own for their profit.  Add to that widespread Visigoth raiding of government coffers through fraud and you have a third world economy that enriches and empowers the few.  That is who Jack Young and all Baltimore City Council work.  Harbor Point wants new parks around its office buildings?  No problem.....we will give them hundreds of millions in tax breaks and then allow them to 'donate' to Parks and People to fund their parks for a tax write-off.

What is happening is not sustainable.  These developers and pols know it.  As I said before Governor O'Malley and the Maryland Assembly with Rawlings-Blake and City Hall are loading the state with municipal debt that we all know we cannot sustain especially given that the economy will crash next year.  THIS IS NOT IF BUT WHEN!  Greece and the southern European countries are in the crisis they are today because of this same practice.  Wall Street and Germany's DeutscheBank deliberately loaded these southern nations with credit debt just as is being done now across America.....they did it with fraud in using financial instruments to hide debt so more and more could be taken.  Credit Municipal bonds are being used to mortgage the future of public entitles just as credit debt is impoverishing citizens.  Is it the people's fault for taking on this debt?  NO, NO, NO ,NO ,NO!  It is the fact that Visigoth's are stealing public wealth and being allowed to impoverish people with wage and benefit losses so as to force people into debt just to maintain a first world quality of life.  Many are now living third world lives as children are forced to beg, steal, and prostitute themselves to survive in Baltimore.  YOUR NEO-LIBERAL IS DOING THIS!  From O'Malley to Rawlings-Blake, to Cardin, Sarbanes, and Cummings.....they had a super-majority of democrats in 2009 and could do nothing other than protect the wealth of those committing the crimes.  We all know America would have been fine if these banks and global corporations took the losses they needed to take!

So, yet another hotel with the same restaurants and retail will be voted forward by these crooked pols at City Hall offering the city no value and giving incentive for all other businesses to threaten to leave if they are charged taxes.  Taxpayers are paying millions of dollars each year to support a Hilton so that chain would not take losses for bad investments.  Building a hotel as Wall Street traders called the economy 'A HOUSE OF CARDS'?  is like building schools on credit bonds and financial instruments when Warren Buffet is telling everyone to stay away from an imploding bond market.  IT IS MALFEASANCE THAT THESE POLS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR WHEN RULE OF LAW IS REINSTATED!

Remember, when a government suspends Rule of Law it suspends Statutes of Limitation!

VOTE ALL NEO-LIBERALS OUT OF OFFICE AND RETAKE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY BY RUNNING LABOR AND JUSTICE!

THE MARYLAND DEMOCRATIC RACES HAVE NO DEMOCRATS RUNNING AS OF YET....THEY ARE ALL NEO-LIBERALS.  WHERE ARE YOUR LABOR AND JUSTICE CANDIDATES?


Just think what is happening in Baltimore regarding housing.For those middle-class who have for decades paid high property taxes to support O'Malley's downtown subsidy of developers we now see all kinds of taxes that have the miiddle/working class paying more for all infrastructure development as corporations and the rich are pocketing taxes as profit.  IT IS NOT ONLY THE POOR AND WORKING CLASS IN BALTIMORE GETTING SOAKED.....IT IS THE MIDDLE-CLASS.  Think about Manhattan and how the middle-class manage to live in that city.  This is where these Hopkins developers are going with Bloomberg and Wall Street leading the way. If you do not have a voice now.....you will not be here a few decades from now!

I went to the Harbor Point TIF finance committee meeting that had people like the ministers from churches in surrounding areas decrying the injustice of development.  One minister said rightly 'Why should our taxes go to building places where we are not welcome'!  She said none of these TIF required affordable housing because City Hall passed laws that voided the requirement for fair housing with these government gifts.  Indeed Carl Stokes laughed at the suggestion of injustice with this law.  INDEED, THESE LAWS ARE ILLEGAL.  CITY HALL CANNOT PASS LAWS THAT ALLOW FEDERAL AND STATE MONEY BE GIVEN IN DISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS WITH WHAT IS HAPPENING IN ENTERPRISE ZONES AND WITH CHARTER SCHOOLS.


GIVING VOUCHERS TO MOVE THE POOR AND WORKING CLASS OUT OF BLIGHTED NEIGHBORHOODS INTO MORE AFFLUENT ONES WHEN THE PLAN IS TO TURN THAT BLIGHTED NEIGHBORHOOD AFFLUENT IS NOT WHAT THIS LAW IS MEANT TO DO!!! 

They cannot force the poor and working class out using the very money designed to keep and maintain underserved/working class communities.  So, Carl may laugh but he may not be the last to laugh!  Below we see the Housing Secretary HUD making a statement about just that.  This is how you know Donovan is full of bull.  As he states that money needs to flow to build poor city neighborhoods he is not shouting out about the failure of Eric Holder and Justice Department to enforce the laws Donovan is pretending to serve.  HUD knows that all kinds of government funding is fueling development all across the country that is filled with discrimination and fraud so he would not call for more of it before securing government coffers from the VISIGOTHS. 


DO YOU HEAR DONOVAN AND HUD SHOUTING LOUDLY  THAT THERE IS SYSTEMIC FRAUD IN THE US HOUSING AGENCIES?



LUXURY development is not good for middle class either!!!

HUD's New 'Fair Housing' Rule Establishes Diversity Data for Every Neighborhood in U.S.

July 22, 2013 - 10:54 AM By Susan Jones

(CNSNews.com) - To ensure that "every American is able to choose to live in a community they feel proud of," HUD has published a new fair-housing regulation intended to give people access to better neighborhoods than the ones they currently live in.

The goal is to help communities understand "fair housing barriers" and "establish clear goals" for "improving integrated living patterns and overcoming historic patterns of segregation."

“This proposed rule represents a 21st century approach to fair housing, a step forward to ensuring that every American is able to choose to live in a community they feel proud of – where they have a fair shot at reaching their full potential in life,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.

“For the first time ever," Donovan added, "HUD will provide data for every neighborhood in the country, detailing the access African American, Latino, Asian, and other communities have to local assets, including schools, jobs, transportation, and other important neighborhood resources that can play a role in helping people move into the middle class."

Social engineering

According to HUD, long-term solutions include "helping people gain access to different neighborhoods and channeling investments into under-served areas." The mapping tool may guide development and zoning decisions, for example.


In a July 16 speech to the NAACP, Donovan said the American Dream still isn't within equal reach of all communities. He lamented the lack of diversity in America's boardrooms, schools, and the nation's "strongest neighborhoods."

"We have got to shape a future where ladders of opportunity are available for all Americans," Donovan said. "For African Americans, this is critically important.  Historically, for this community, the rungs on these ladders have been too far apart -– making it harder to reach the middle class."

Donovan said HUD's new neighborhood mapping tool, which uses Census data, will "expand access to high opportunity neighborhoods and draw attention to investment possibilities in under-served communities."

"Make no mistake, this is a big deal," Donovan said. "With the HUD budget alone, we are talking about billions of dollars. And as you know, decades ago, these funds were used to support discrimination. Now, they will be used to expand opportunity and bring communities closer to the American Dream."

Under the Fair Housing Act, HUD requires grantees, such as cities, that receive federal housing funds to "affirmatively further fair housing."

Under the proposed rule, the neighborhood data provided by HUD will be used to evaluate patterns of integration and segregation, racial and ethnic concentrations of poverty, and access to "valuable community assets." HUD wants to know if existing laws and policies -- such as zoning, financing, infrastructure planning and transportation -- create, perpetuate or alleviate segregation.

The proposed rule explicitly incorporates fair-housing decision-making into existing planning processes and "other decision-making that influences how communities and regions grow and develop."


_______________________________________________


This is a good overview of what is happening in urban development and why it involves a complete takeover of all development from the people and to the rich.....neo-liberalism. These policies were advanced to Reagan but put into overdrive when Clinton took the protection of the people's party and handed it to corporate interests. Feudalism is what comes when this policy is allowed to play out!

BELIEVE ME MIDDLE-CLASS WHO THINK GETTING RID OF THE POOR AND WORKING CLASS IS GOOD.....IT WILL BE THE END OF THE MIDDLE CLASS AS WELL!!!

Introduction: Contradictions of Neoliberal Urban Planning
  • Tuna Taşan-Kok
Download Book (3,237 KB) Download Chapter (421 KB) Abstract Neoliberalisation manifests itself as a ‘prevailing pattern of market-oriented, market-disciplinary regulatory restructuring’ (Peck, Theodore, & Brenner, 2009, p. 51). The neoliberalisation of social, economic and political processes pervades urban development, planning and governance discourses and practices, and pushes them in a market-oriented direction; however the terms ‘neoliberalisation’ and ‘planning’ are seldom heard together in the same phrase. The concept of neoliberal planning may actually seem to be a contradiction in terms to some planners; while to others it may be a signal to ‘give up’. The neoliberal city actually exists, as does neoliberal urban planning; but as urban planning becomes increasingly neoliberal and entrepreneurial, serious contradictions arise in the governance of cities.
__________________________________________________
One would wonder why a city like Baltimore with the level of injustice in development and revenue distribution can get away with the failure to enforce law.  Well, it starts with the Baltimore/Maryland HUD office who chooses to turn its head to injustice and who assigns these department heads? 


The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO)

is an agency within the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. FHEO is responsible for administering and enforcing federal fair housing laws and establishing policies that make sure all Americans have equal access to the housing of their choice.


Fair Housing Hotline


One of the main functions of FHEO is to provide an administrative complaint process that is available free of charge to any person who believes they have faced housing discrimination because of their race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability to voice their concerns. FHEO conducts intake of all housing-related discrimination complaints and conducts investigation. Any person who thinks they have experienced housing discrimination is encouraged to call the toll free Housing Discrimination Hotline.

Work FHEO consists of one headquarters office in Department of Housing and Urban Development building in Washington, DC and has ten regional offices across the country. The regional offices enforce fair housing laws; conduct training, outreach, and compliance monitoring; and work with state and local agencies to administer fair housing programs.

The headquarters office is responsible for proposing fair housing legislation; working with other government agencies on fair housing issues; reviewing and making comments on proposed rules, handbooks, legislation, draft reports, and notices of funding availability from other departments within HUD; interpret policy, process complaints, perform compliance reviews, and offer technical assistance to local housing authorities and community development agencies regarding Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act on 1968; conduct oversight of the Government Sponsored Enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to ensure consistency with the Fair Housing Act and the fair housing provisions of the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act; and work with private industry and community advocates on the promotion of voluntary fair housing compliance. In addition, FHEO manages the Fair Housing Assistance Program and the Fair Housing Initiatives Program.

For those who know Graziano, he is the face of Baltimore's unjust development controlled by Baltimore Development corporation.  He has been in place throughout O'Malley and now Rawlings-Blake.  Below we see the HUD offices are being moved to New York. It may help with local crime and corruption never before seen in modern history.....but we know New York is the home of Wall Street....no big win. 

We would want a HUD office locally if we could elect politicians who were not criminal and corrupt!


It may be good to get HUD out of a very corrupt environment in Baltimore, but sending it to a Wall Street New York does not bode well either! We hear HUD Secretary Donovan calling for adherence to equal opportunity housing.....let's see him enforce these laws with the Federal grants being sent to cities across the nation for just that ......and these requirements just ignored!

City to lose federal housing workers


Move is part of HUD reorganization nationwideMay 15, 2013|By John Fritze, The Baltimore Sun

Nearly three dozen workers at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development office in Baltimore — roughly a third of the agency's workforce in Maryland — are being forced to transfer out of state or take a buyout.

The choice, which will affect 32 employees at the agency's South Howard Street field office, comes as part of a national reorganization aimed at saving about $45 million a year.

The department is consolidating workers in 50 offices nationwide who facilitate the construction and rehabilitation of multifamily housing into 10 offices, HUD spokesman Jerry Brown said Wednesday.

"It helps us with workload-balancing and to get a more efficient operation," Brown said.

The Baltimore office is among those losing workers; their function is to be performed from out of state.

Baltimore Housing Commissioner Paul T. Graziano said he understands the federal budget constraints, but expressed concerns about the impact the departures could have on the city.

He said the local field office was instrumental in dismantling blighted properties in Northwest Baltimore, for instance.

"This firsthand knowledge of community concerns will likely be difficult to replicate in a field office far removed from Baltimore City," Graziano said in a statement. "It is imperative that HUD work with us to address these concerns."

Agency officials have stressed that the reorganization is not related to the $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration, but rather long-standing budget issues. The Baltimore field office will remain open for other functions.

HUD has about 100 workers in Maryland, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

None of the employees affected by the reorganization will be laid off, officials said, but some might be offered buyouts, early retirement or transfers.

Union leaders said some employees are financially unable to move to New York, which they said is the most likely transfer point, and have raised concerns about the plan.

"There's a lot that we don't know," said Debra Walker of the American Federation of Government Employees. "Some of these employees cannot afford to live" in New York, she said.

"How are you going to manage Baltimore from New York?" she asked.

The other consolidated offices will be in Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Fort Worth, Texas. Satellite offices are planned for Boston, Denver, Detroit, Jacksonville and Kansas City.

The restructuring is scheduled to begin in the fall and is expected to take more than two years to complete, officials said. Parts of the plan must be negotiated with unions representing the employees.

It is unclear when employees in Baltimore would be affected.

HUD announced the reorganization in late April along with the closing of several field offices located in smaller cities, including Syracuse, N.Y., and Fresno, Calif.






We need to be clear.....these people do not have this wealth......since much of this wealth was stolen from government coffers it needs to come back to the people by simply reinstating Rule of Law and recovering tens of trillions in corporate fraud.  If your pol or political action group is not shouting out to reverse this wealth inequity with Rule of Law, they are not working for you and me.


American Billionaires And Their Private Company Fortunes



Andrea Murphy, Forbes Staff

I write about America's largest private companies.

Follow (52) Lists | 3/12/2012 @ 2:07PM


There are 63 individuals with a combined net worth of  on the world’s billionaires list with fortunes that come directly from businesses on our annual ranking of the largest private companies in the US. Taken as a group, these people have a net worth of $305.1 billion.

The two biggest private companies, Cargill (#1) and Koch Industries (#2), helped put nine people on the 2012 world’s billionaires list. Seven of them are heirs to Cargill, the agricultural giant. (My colleague Brian Solomon wrote an excellent breakdown the family and its wealth here.) The other two are Charles and David Koch, a pair who have received more attention lately for their politics than for their company.

10 images Photos: Biggest Billionaire Gainers The top 20 private companies produce a total of 23 billionaires, but you can find billionaires throughout the list of private companies. Last year, a total of 212 companies qualified for the list with revenues of $2 billion or more. John Catsimatidis’s Red Apple Group was ranked #98 last year. Conair, #209 on the 2011 list is the company behind billionaire Leandro Rizzuto.

There are some familiar names, but most private companies aren’t well-known. For every Mars or Hearst Corporation there is a Flex-N-Gate or Rich Products. This is largely because private companies don’t get the same coverage as their public counterparts. The list below is a good example of the familiar and the less well-known in terms of both  private companies and their related billionaire.

The Top 10 Private Company Billionaires

1. Charles Koch

Net Worth: $25 billion

Private Company:  Koch Industries

1. David Koch

Net Worth: $25 billion

Private Company:  Koch Industries

3. Michael Bloomberg

Net Worth: $22 billion

Private Company: Bloomberg LP

4. Forrest Mars Jr

Net Worth: $13.8 billion

Private Company: Mars

4. Jacqueline Mars

Net Worth: $13.8 billion

Private Company: Mars

4. John Mars

Net Worth: $13.8 billion

Private Company: Mars

7. Anne Cox Chambers

Net Worth: $12.5 billion

Private Company: Cox Enterprises

8. Jack Taylor & family

Net worth: $10.4 billion

Private Company: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

9. Abigail Johnson

Net worth: $10.3 billion

Private Company: Fidelity Investments

10. James Goodnight

Net worth: $7.3 billion

Private Company: SAS Institute

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August 07th, 2013

8/7/2013

0 Comments

 
THEY ARE TRYING TO PRIVATIZE ALL THAT IS PUBLIC SERVICE AND THE RESULT WILL BE CONSUMERS SOAKED IN CHARGES!!!



Think smart meters are just about efficient tracking of energy consumption?  REALLY?  Peak times are as clear as day so we already know when most people use energy the most.  So why does Exelon/BGE and O'Malley want to know how you use your energy?  Now that BGE has merged with a national energy corporation with ever-growing monopoly hold on energy distribution it is time to maximize profits and that means rates that go as high as the market bears and then some.  That is why utilities should be public after all!  Do you know that the subsidy for people who are too poor to pay can and will go away at any time and the number of people in the US impoverished is at a historical high?  What happens when that government subsidy is defunded?  That's right...rationed energy just as in third world countries.  So, if you can only pay for 3 hours of energy that is all you will get.  These smart meters will monitor that.


Utilities propose charges to opt out of smart meter Estimates don't pass the 'straight-face test,' opponent says

By Jamie Smith Hopkins, The Baltimore Sun 6:28 p.m. EDT, August 5, 2013

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and other utilities in Maryland will make the case to state regulators Tuesday that customers who don't want smart meters should pay an upfront charge and a monthly fee — anywhere from $15 to $87 — to opt out.

Smart-meter opponents are ready to argue that those proposed charges are unreasonably high, considering the costs utilities have borne so far from customers deferring meter installations.

"It doesn't pass the straight-face test," said Jonathan D. Libber, president of Maryland Smart Meter Awareness, which opposes the technology.

It's the latest skirmish in the continuing battle over smart meters, which send energy-use data to utilities wirelessly.

Utilities say the meters save money because they don't have to be read in person, like old-style analog meters, and also allow employees to pinpoint outages faster. Opponents, here and across the country, have health, privacy and other concerns about meters, and they say they shouldn't have a product forced on them.

Customers are allowed to temporarily defer the meters without cost while Maryland's Public Service Commission decides whether to permit a permanent opt out. Commissioners said in January that an alternative — either old-style meters or the option of a smart meter with no or lower levels of radio frequency emissions — would come with charges.

"Whichever option we ultimately choose, we will require those ratepayers that exercise the option to bear appropriate costs," the commissioners wrote.

Smart meters give off radio frequency emissions, a type of radiation also emitted by cellphones. Utilities argue that the meters' emissions are safe, and the commission said it found no "convincing evidence" to the contrary. Smart-meter opponents, pointing to the emissions' classification as possibly carcinogenic, contend they're dangerous.

Both the utilities and the opponents seem to agree on one point: Going with smart meters configured to emit no or lower levels of radio frequency — for instance, by installing a phone jack so the meter doesn't need to communicate its data wirelessly — isn't the right alternative.

Maryland Smart Meter Awareness says customers would have to continually monitor such meters to ensure they weren't emitting radiation. And utilities say the costs are prohibitive.

That would leave existing analog and digital meters as the alternative. BGE is asking to charge an initial fee of $100 — largely to recover administrative and IT system costs — and a monthly fee of $15.

As BGE officials are quick to point out, that charge is the lowest proposed among utilities installing or planning to install smart meters in Maryland.

Pepco and Delmarva Power & Light Co., which have the same parent, proposed a $100 upfront fee and a monthly charge between $50 and $87, depending on the total number of customers opting out. Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative also offered a range of charges depending on participation — about $71 to $105 upfront, and roughly $30 to $35 a month.

Costs range widely in states with the option to forgo a smart meter. Some utilities charge a monthly fee of $10 or less — in California and Nevada, for example — while Portland General Electric in Oregon charges $51. Vermont consumers can opt out for free.

Libber, with Maryland Smart Meter Awareness, said it's simply too early for regulators to determine a fair charge because utilities' "very large" proposed fees are based on cost estimates. The hard numbers from BGE, tracking installation expenses through March, show "virtually no extra costs for accommodating the opt out ratepayers," Libber said in a filing to regulators.

He said he's concerned utilities want to press people into accepting smart meters by making it too costly to do otherwise.

"They obviously know the higher the expense for the opt out, the fewer people will opt out," Libber said.

Mark D. Case, vice president of strategy and regulatory affairs at BGE, said the company took a "fairly conservative approach" to estimating additional costs. The reason the utility hasn't incurred substantial expenses yet is that more costly work such as modifying the billing system is either just now underway or hasn't begun, officials said.

Maryland regulators told utilities that they may not seek to recover smart-meter installation costs until the work is done and they can show the benefits to customers make it worthwhile. Libber said those who opt out should likewise not be charged extra until utilities make that case — if they can make it, he added.

BGE officials say they believe more customers will see the value of smart meters as more of that network goes in. The utility has installed about 550,000 meters and is on track to finish by the end of next year.

__________________________________________________


THIS IS HAPPENING ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY....ENERGY/UTILITIES ARE BEING CENTRALIZED AND RATES ARE MAXIMIZING CORPORATE PROFITS!

BGE's is the first such request in Maryland since a new law took effect in June allowing for gas surcharges. Critics worry that allowing surcharges will make it easier for utilities to prevail in such cases. BGE's net income in the three months ending in June was $22 million — nearly 70 percent more than it was a year earlier. Parent Exelon Corp. said the increase was "primarily due to higher electric and gas distribution rates."

"That's remarkable," AARP's Greenberg said. "And they can thank their customers for that."




BGE asks for monthly gas-bill surcharge Fee requested for gas pipe replacement would start at 32 cents a month for residential customers, $1.87 a month for businesses

By Jamie Smith Hopkins, The Baltimore Sun 8:16 p.m. EDT, August 2, 2013

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. asked Friday for a monthly surcharge on gas customers to cover part of the cost of replacing old pipes, a request that comes in addition to the rate increase and electric surcharge it is seeking.

BGE said it asked state regulators for permission to charge residential gas customers 32 cents a month and business customers $1.87 a month, starting in February.

The utility intends to ask for higher monthly surcharges in each of the following four years — effectively topping out at $2 for residents and $11.55 for businesses, though some of that amount ultimately could be pushed into base rates. Those amounts are the maximum that utilities can request.

BGE's is the first such request in Maryland since a new law took effect in June allowing for gas surcharges. Critics worry that allowing surcharges will make it easier for utilities to prevail in such cases.

BGE officials said they need a surcharge to pay for part of about $400 million they plan to spend in the next five years to replace old and leaky pipes — including cast-iron ones installed as far back as the early 1900s.

"We feel very confident that we operate a safe and reliable gas system today but that we need to increase the level of investment," said Rob Biagiotti, BGE's vice president of gas distribution.

BGE officials argue that they can more easily and cost-effectively accelerate infrastructure work if they get some money flowing in from the start, rather than waiting for state regulators to allow reimbursement afterward.

But opponents of surcharges contend the fees increase the chances that consumers will overpay. Utilities aren't subject to the same level of profit and expense scrutiny in a surcharge case as in a rate case, when all financials are on the table.

"I understand why it's cost-effective for the utility because they basically get a separate income stream," said Hank Greenberg, director of AARP Maryland, which advocates for the interests of older residents. "It is not cost effective for the consumer."

He and other advocates, including the state Office of People's Counsel, worry that surcharges — sometimes called trackers — are poised to multiply.

State legislators sent a supportive signal about gas surcharges when they approved the utility-backed legislation this year, aimed at accelerating pipeline replacement. Gov. Martin O'Malley's grid reliability task force, convened last year after high-outage storms, recommended surcharges to pay for a faster pace of electrical upgrades.

And last month, Maryland's Public Service Commission approved the first-ever infrastructure surcharge, a portion of what Pepco requested for electrical grid work in Montgomery and Prince George's counties. The majority of commissioners said a "properly defined" surcharge can be appropriate to improve customer reliability, but one commissioner warned of the precedent.

"Today we are letting the tracker genie out of the bottle, and I fear it will continue granting the wishes of Maryland utilities for many years and we may never get it back in the bottle," said Commissioner Harold D. Williams, a former BGE official, in his dissenting opinion.

The fight is playing out against a backdrop of aging infrastructure. Maryland is behind only four states and the District of Columbia for the percentage of gas main miles made of cast and wrought iron. Utilities used those materials in the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th, switching later to steel and plastic.

BGE said it was cost-effective for years to repair the older pipes when needed, but that's no longer true. Twenty percent of the utility's gas infrastructure accounts for more than 70 percent of leak repairs, Biagiotti said.

BGE plans to spend about $400 million in the next five years, double what it spent in the previous five, to replace pipes made of cast iron, copper, uncoated steel and even plastic in some cases. The utility wants to get $90 million of that amount through surcharges. BGE said it would request reimbursement for the rest of the work in a later rate case.

What customers pay in rates is based on the amount of electricity or gas they use. The gas surcharge would be a flat fee, with small businesses paying the same as big customers.

Ned Atwater, owner of the Atwater's restaurants in Baltimore and Baltimore County, said he'd prefer a charge that takes usage into account, but he thinks infrastructure replacement is worth paying for. He also thinks BGE should be willing to eat into profits to cover some of the needed work, in addition to asking customers to pay.

"We would be happy to chip in," he said. "We would be a lot happier about it if we would [also] see that from the other side."

BGE's request comes on the heels of its May request to increase monthly distribution rates — by $4.41 on the typical residential electric bill and $2.50 on the typical residential gas bill. BGE also asked for a five-year surcharge to accelerate work on electrical infrastructure. The typical residential charge would begin at about 34 cents a month.

The utility last received a rate increase in February, and it's feeling a boost as a result.

BGE's net income in the three months ending in June was $22 million — nearly 70 percent more than it was a year earlier. Parent Exelon Corp. said the increase was "primarily due to higher electric and gas distribution rates."

"That's remarkable," AARP's Greenberg said. "And they can thank their customers for that."

________________________________________________


The Affordable Care Act was written to consolidate the health industry as bank deregulation created the big banks....just making global health systems for maximum profit.  This is a market-based republican policy.  The larger health insurance corporations like AETNA are already to go global and so will attach themselves to global corporations...private insurance plans that will be offered mostly to higher management...not everyday workers.  Most people will indeed be pushed into these exchanges as will Medicare and Medicaid.  The types of insurance offered on these exchanges will be preventative for the most part as that is all that individuals will be able to pay.  The lower cost plans have high deductibles and co-pays that will severely limit access keeping the most in need of care from accessing but still calling them 'insured'.

This is not a democrat/republican issue.  Republicans like this plan....they wrote it after all!  They just don't want the safety net that is preventative care.  Either way, only 10% of people will be able to access the level of care we all have experienced and health business profits will soar!  The answer is indeed Universal Care as we need markets out of this vital public service!

Aetna pulls health plans from state insurance exchange Insurer says Md.-approved rates weren't feasible as it scrutinizes its offerings across the country


By Scott Dance, The Baltimore Sun 8:29 p.m. EDT, August 2, 2013

Aetna Inc. said Friday it canceled plans to sell insurance on Maryland's new health insurance exchange, set to open Oct. 1 as part of the federal health care reform law, after regulators cut the rates it could charge consumers for its plans.

Aetna was one of several carriers poised to sell on the state's exchange, along with Coventry Health Care, which Aetna acquired this spring. But Aetna told Maryland Insurance Commissioner Therese M. Goldsmith in a letter this week that cuts regulators made to the rates the companies had proposed "would not allow us to collect enough premiums to cover the cost of the plans."

The decision leaves the exchange with fewer choices for consumers who need to buy insurance, as required by the law, because they don't have it now or can't get it from their employer. But state officials said they don't expect the loss of Aetna and Coventry to significantly reduce consumers' options.

Officials hope the exchange will keep the cost of health insurance low for consumers with competition among the insurance carriers. And as more people enroll, costs are expected to decline.

"This is not a step that we take lightly," Aetna said in a statement. "We believe it is critical that our plans not only be competitive, but also financially viable, allowing Aetna and Coventry to meet the long-term needs of the Exchanges in which we choose to participate."

Aetna and Coventry combined insure 13,000 individual members in Maryland and 620,000 individuals nationwide. The decision does not affect coverage the insurers offer in the state through employers.

Aetna had filed a proposal with state insurance regulators to raise its rates 25.4 percent, the highest of any carrier. The rate the state approved July 26 was 29 percent lower than what Aetna sought, while other carriers saw their proposals cut back by as much as 33 percent.

State health officials estimate that 180,000 people will buy individual insurance policies from the exchange for 2014. They will largely come from the 146,078 Marylanders who currently buy in the individual market and from the estimated 740,000 uninsured people in the state.

Top state health insurance officials, including Goldsmith and Rebecca Pearce, executive director of the state exchange, Maryland Health Connection, said they were confident in the range of options that will be available on the exchange when it opens this fall. Coverage through the exchange becomes effective Jan. 1.

"Notwithstanding Aetna's business decision not to offer products in Maryland's individual insurance market, consumers will continue to have many choices among health insurance carriers and plan options when open enrollment begins in October," Goldsmith said in a statement.

Pearce added that the carriers' departure does not affect an analysis showing rates on Maryland's exchange to be competitive nationally.

"The rates are still the lowest in the country," Pearce said in an interview. "I believe the plans will be competitively priced and people will find something that's right for them."

Insurance officials do not expect any other carriers whose rates were approved to follow Aetna.

Aetna's decision came days after it pulled its and Coventry's plans from Georgia's exchange, and as its CEO expressed hesitation about participating in other exchanges around the country. The company pulled out of California's individual insurance market earlier this year.

In a quarterly earnings conference call, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini said the company was cautious about the rollout of the exchanges and was considering whether to cut back on its participation in them in 14 states. The company, meanwhile, plans to participate in private exchanges being run by benefits companies and is working on launching its own exchange for Aetna products.

"We are continuing to evaluate where Aetna and Coventry have submitted bids and are in the process of rationalizing our combined exchange participation," Bertolini said.

Also Friday, Coventry pulled a dental plan to be offered on Maryland's exchange. That plan's rates had been approved without modification.

One other insurer, a new cooperative model, said it remains committed to Maryland's exchange.

"We are very much devoted to staying on the exchange. That's the mission for our entire insurance company in the first place," said Dr. Peter Beilenson, president and CEO of Evergreen Health Cooperative Inc., which formed in November and plans to offer two types of plans on the exchange.

Other insurers, including CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States Inc., could not be reached for comment late Friday. Nine carriers in all had proposed plans for sale on the exchange, though they were represented by five owners.

Beilenson, the former health commissioner for Baltimore and more recently for Howard County, said it was unfortunate that Aetna decided to drop out. The point of the health care law is to increase competition so consumers have more choices and more affordable care, he said.

On the other hand, he noted, Aetna's action also means his new insurance company will have less competition.

Vincent DeMarco, president of the advocacy group Maryland Citizens Health Initiative, said Marylanders still will have plenty of choice within the exchange even without Aetna.

"There are seven carriers left providing a broad range of services, which we think are at reasonable rates, especially with the subsidy that the federal government is providing," he said. "Marylanders will be well-served."

DeMarco said he thought the commissioner did the right thing on setting rates.

"We wish as many as possible would have stayed," he said. "The point is the rates have to be fair for consumers. The commissioner came up with some fair rates."

Baltimore Sun reporter Eileen Ambrose and Reuters contributed to this article.

________________________________________________

First we need to acknowledge that this high-speed rail has already been embraced by O'Malley and indeed money for its construction is why we have this large tax increase on gas.  It will consume much of the Transportation Trust budget. Is high-speed rail an environmental issue or do the rich simply want elite transportation that most people will not be able to afford?  Well, China and Japan have it they say.  This is a neo-liberal policy that places appearance in the global community over what is best for the public.  Is it greener than commuter trains like MARC?  Of course not.  This is not a green issue!


Republicans want everyone travelling in BOLT-style commuter buses which is no good either for those needing to get places faster and cheaper than flying.  What we are seeing is all of transportation costs for the average person being made ever higher, limiting access and ability to travel.  Whether higher gas prices to pay for transportation for the wealthy counties who travel around in electric/hybrids not paying much gas tax or Federal and State money to build this super fast train when Maryland's commuter trains are crowded and have lots of safety issues....this is not something any progressive would want.  It will further privatize public transportation and give yet another public service over to market-based pricing!
High-speed rail would be better than a new Bay Bridge


12:00 p.m. EDT, August 6, 2013  Baltimore Sun

Having had the opportunity to attend the recent Maryland Climate Change Summit, it was both enlightening and reassuring that our governor, the legislature and our state agencies are taking proactive positions in planning for what cannot be stopped and a leadership role in reducing what is driving temperature increases so that future impacts may be constrained, primarily those of sea level rise and flooding.

With 3,200 miles of bay and ocean coastline, Maryland has already lost 13 islands, and as sea levels continue to rise, we will lose thousands more low lying acres over the next decade, including marshes, forests, farms and developed land.

That afternoon, traffic reports indicated that vehicles were already backed up at the Bay Bridge for the weekend run to the beach, and I was reminded of the May 26 article in The Sun, describing concerns of the current bridges' safety, costs and life expectancy. By 2025, increases of more than 40,00 Saturday, and 16,000 daily vehicles are expected. I couldn't help but envision all of those cars backed up at the tolls, spewing the very carbon dioxide responsible for most of the warming and resultant sea level rise that we are currently experiencing.

Many Eastern Shore residents are rightfully concerned about the developmental impact that would occur if a new bridge span were constructed, as some feel the need for.

It seems time to decouple ourselves from paradigms of the past. Decades ago, Walt Disney built a futuristic monorail as a demonstration of how people can be rapidly, comfortably and efficiently whisked to their destinations. Though the monorail has not been emulated in our cities, transit systems such as BART in San Francisco, the TriMet System in Portland, and totally computerized trains in places like Copenhagen are great examples of modern transit. The Baltimore light rail/metro system, is gradually moving toward regional continuity.

Might it not be time to establish a high speed transit link between the Western Shore and beach destinations that would eliminate excessive traffic, reduce gas consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, and save time, energy and frayed nerves? You could arrive at the shore refreshed, relaxed and ready to enjoy! Those who wish could still use the existing spans. It would be a win/win situation for both commuters and the businesses at the shore, increasing visits, both during the summer and through the rest of the year. The pressure would be off the road system, eliminating the need to pave more impervious surfaces and create more runoff. It is possible that in many places, existing rights-of-way could be used.

Visionary ideas drive innovation and can solve vexing problems. Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and founder of SpaceX, is purported to be planning an ultra high speed, hyperloop rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Perhaps we could lure him to Maryland to develop a short-range prototype between our Eastern and Western Shores. If that is not an optimum application for the technology, there are many other manufacturers that could step up to the challenge.

Stan Kollar, Harford County

The writer is a biology professor at Harford Community College, where he developed the Environmental Technology Program.







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    Cindy Walsh is a lifelong political activist and academic living in Baltimore, Maryland.

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