RoguePundit

A Big Boost in Salary

The Petaluma Fire Department protects about about 70,000 people over 160 square miles in southern Sonoma County.  Yes, wine country is very expensive.  Still...

An Oregon firefighter with nearly 30 years of experience was named Petaluma's new fire chief Thursday.

Larry Anderson, deputy chief in Medford, will take over July 14 for Fire Chief Chris Albertson, who is retiring.

Anderson will be paid a salary, not including benefits, of $153,000, City Manager John C. Brown said. Anderson will oversee a department of 46 employees. 

$153K plus benefits?  That's about what the fire chief in Dallas TX makes.  Seattle--$174K.  Meanwhile in Silicon Valley...

San Jose's highest-paid employee last year wasn't the city's top manager, lawyer or doctor. The mayor and city council? Not even close.

The highest-paid worker was a fire battalion chief. Ivan Lee earned a total of $270,367, including $125,195 in base pay, an eye-popping $108,116 in overtime and $37,055 in other cash compensation, such as back pay from a labor contract settlement.

Three other battalion chiefs were among the city's 10 highest-paid workers in 2007, with total cash compensation - excluding benefits - of up to $244,847.

The latest figures, requested by the Mercury News, come amid a heated City Hall debate over employee pay and benefits. Personnel costs account for two-thirds of the city's operating budget, which has been plagued by multimillion-dollar deficits.

And salaries have grown 38 percent since 2000, almost twice the cost of living increase reflected in the consumer price index. Mayor Chuck Reed has called for smaller raises, angering city unions.

...

In Oakland and San Francisco, overtime helped high-ranking firefighters earn about as much as Lee and put them at or near the top of the pay lists for those cities. Even smaller local cities like Mountain View have firefighters making $200,000 or more thanks to overtime. 

Vallejo, a city of 117,000 in the Bay Area, recently filed for bankruptcy protection.  From this link...

Vallejo's main financial difficulty is high spending on public safety employees, whose costs eat up three-quarters of the city's general fund.

Although the city reached a deal with employees in February for pay cuts and other short-term measures to keep paying bills, the city council said earlier this month that filing for bankruptcy might give it more leverage in talks with workers on wages and benefits.

All the weak economy did was hasten the demise. 

Vallejo is broke, and other cities and counties may be close behind, because their personnel costs--salary and benefits for current employees and retirees--are higher than they can afford.

While decisions at the state level are partly to blame, ultimate responsibility for the mismatch of revenue and expenses rests with local elected officials. Meeting in secret, they have managed to avoid public discussion of the true cost and fiscal impact of the pay deals they have approved.

If no one is watching, it's easy for public officials to give generous pay and benefit increases without having a clue how to pay for them. That's not so easy to do in a public session, where voters demand to know how much taxes will have to be raised, and how much other expenses cut, in order to make good on the promised increases in compensation.

It's no secret that government unions are some of our most powerful special interest groups.  You don't hear many politicians offering to stand up to them.

Beverage Container Recycling Negotiations

On Tuesday, the Chairman of the Bottle Bill Task Force published his preliminary recommendations (here) for how the state's recycling laws should be modified.  His starting point for the negotiations is that if the legislature passes the necessary laws in the 2009 session, the state should transition to 90 centralized redemption centers (previous blog here) by July of 2012.  But, the retailers can't eliminate their recycling capability. 

• Unlimited return to redemption centers
• Capped return (50) at large dealers
• Capped return (144) at large dealers in counties without redemption centers
• Capped return (12) at small dealers
• Liquor and wine containers to redemption centers only

Public paid money when returning containers to a redemption center

Public gets in-store credit when returning containers to a dealer (exempting counties without redemption centers)

Liquor and wine containers?  Starting in 2013,

• Add sports drinks, coffees, teas, juices, wines, liquors; no milk
• Do not include boxes or pouches

The memo mentioned that the centers need to prevent the redemption of out-of-state containers and that state law needs to clearly outlaw the redemption of such containers.

When the list of recyclables is expanded, the deposits will be as follows:

• Keep at 5 cents for containers less than 24 ounces
• 10 cents for containers 24 ounces or greater
• 25 cents for all wine and liquor containers

And to address concerns that the industry would not be motivated to ensure high recycling rates...

80% beverage container return rate for calendar year 2015

...

If 80% goal is not met for calendar year 2015, all container deposits double beginning January 1, 2018

Note, the Chairman recommends that if the centers aren't ready as scheduled, the OLCC and DEQ must submit a plan to the 2013 legislature for a state-run system of centralized redemption centers.

It's not a bad proposal overall.  I've been mulling scenarios where certain players might be motivated to get the system up and running, then allow it to fail...the checks and balances seem to hold up pretty well.  No doubt the beverage manufacturers will fight this hard.  Maybe that's why the Task Force didn't recommend that the deposit on smaller containers be raised to a dime.   

Levies on the Way

Two of our two-point-something county commissioners have approved the two-tier public safety levies to be on the ballot this fall.  The amount being requested is less than last time, whether within or outside of Grants Pass.

District 1, which includes the entire county, including Grants Pass, would cost property owners an additional 99 cents per $1,000 of assessed value on their taxes and would pay for operations at the county jail, among other expenses. District 2, which excludes the city of Grants Pass, would cost property owners an additional $1.09 per $1,000 of assessed value and would mainly fund rural patrols.

Rural residents would have to pay an extra $2.08 per $1,000 of assessed value if both districts are approved.

...

District 1 would support countywide Sheriff's Office duties such as jail operations, Search & Rescue, courts, records, dispatch and civil actions. District 2 would pay for patrols in rural areas, 911 response, drug enforcement, analysis-forecasting, traffic control and criminal investigations.

As I've said before, the two tier system is the idea that makes the most sense.  I'm sure the details of what that money will pay for will change multiple times before the election. 

The annual tax for property owners in homes with an assessed value of $140,000 in the combined districts would be about $294, according to Sheriff's Office reports. Taxpayers in District 1 would pay about $138 annually, if residing in a home of similar value. Assessed values are generally about one-half of market values, because of voter-approved property tax limits.

The Daily Courier reflexively adds that last sentence nearly every time it writes about a levy.  Just keep on impotently grinding that axe... 

Toler said as growth continues countywide annul tax revenue would also increase. This would allow the Sheriff's Office to meet local demands for service instead of continually falling short.

Gilbertson said if Congress approves an extension of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, which provided money to counties based on average historic timber revenues, it would only "prolong the agonizing death of this county."

Still, Toler said if federal aid materializes, the potential property taxes would be offset "dollar-for-dollar" by that amount.

That part about offsetting the property taxes had better be clearly spelled out in the levies.  Too many people here don't trust our county leadership in general and Toler and Ellis in particular...same goes for lame-duck Raffenburg.

And speaking of Ellis, the following--if accurately reported last week--simply amazes me.

As results came in, Ellis commiserated with supporters at the Josephine County Republican Central Committee in the Guild Building on Williams Highway.

He was surprised that he didn't earn more than 50 percent of the vote and eliminate the need for a November runoff.

How could Ellis be so clueless about his popularity here?  He only got 32 percent of the vote against a really weak field.  Now we're faced with voting for Auto Doc Brown, Chairman of the Constitution Party of Oregon, if we want to put Ellis to pasture.  Hey, Toler was such a strong candidate two years ago that he only got 57 percent of the vote against write-ins, mostly for Jim Rafferty of the Constitution Party.

Heavy sigh. 

Surviving the Biodiesel Bust

Earlier this year, I blogged about the boom and bust in the fledgling biodiesel industry and how it was adversely impacting Imperium Renewables up in Washington.  The economics of biodiesel haven't improved, so the owners are diversifying.

Ten months after the nation’s largest biodiesel plant opened in Grays Harbor County, its owners are facing the same financial pressures that have brought a once high-flying industry down to earth.

Imperium Renewables Inc. has delayed a $345 million initial public offering, put on hold its plans for four additional plants and trimmed its corporate staff. Its chief executive officer resigned without explanation.

...

But ever the entrepreneur, Plaza isn't about to give up. His latest venture, with the help of Boeing, is to develop and manufacture “green” aviation fuel.

A Virgin Atlantic 747 that flew from London to Amsterdam in February was partially powered by a biofuel produced by Imperium. It was the first such flight by a commercial airline.

One of the plane’s engines was powered by a mixture of kerosene, babassu oil and coconut oil. Babassu oil comes from the seeds of the babassu palm, which grows in the Amazon region of South America. It and coconut oil are often used in cosmetics.

... 

He said the new aviation fuel could be cheaper than the Jet A fuel now used and could reduce carbon dioxide emissions from jet engines by 80 percent. Airplanes could start flying regularly on biofuel within three to five years, and the Grays Harbor plant could be modified to produce it, Plaza said.

Here's what Sir Richard Branson had say (from this link).

"This pioneering flight will enable those of us who are serious about reducing our carbon emissions to go on developing the fuels of the future," he said.

But he said fully commercial biofuel flights were likely to use feedstocks such as algae rather than the mix used on the passenger-less flight.

Returning to the original article...

Burning 1 pound of jet fuel now releases 3.1 pounds of carbon dioxide, (Boeing spokesman) Scott said. According to an Environmental Protection Agency report, aircraft account for about 3 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. Some scientists estimate that unless changes are made, carbon emissions from aircraft will triple globally by 2050.

Both Airbus, Boeing’s main competitor, and the U.S. Air Force are working on developing biofuels. Possible sources include switch grass, algae and jatropha, a scrub bush that grows on marginal farmlands.

"It won’t be a simple, cheap process," Plaza said of developing aviation biofuel.

Meanwhile, hope the Europeans are enjoying the biodiesel we're sending their direction. 

Imperium’s financial problems are not unique in the biodiesel industry. Because its plant is located on the coast, it has one advantage – it’s easier to ship its products to Europe than if it were located in a landlocked state.

...

Currently, there is a $1-per-gallon federal tax break on biodiesel. That has made the American product competitive in Europe, where demand for biodiesel is high. In 2007, U.S. producers shipped almost 300 million gallons of biodiesel to Europe, a tenfold increase over 2006. Some say U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing cheap diesel prices in Europe.

Some say??  There's no doubt about it (previous blog here).

Both Plaza and Thurlo Pearson (of the National Biodiesel Board) expect U.S. demand to grow with the passage of an energy bill last year that requires 1 billion gallons of biodiesel be produced and used in the United States by 2012.

So why didn't Congress plug the splash-and-dash loophole in that energy bill? 

Random Nature #168

A Different Type of Feedlot:  There are over 500 horses living at this venerable facility for part of the year, making it a "concentrated animal feeding facility."  It's been allowing waste to discharge into a nearby creek and wetlands.

The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Suffolk Downs to reduce the amount of pollutants the horse racing track discharges into a Boston Harbor tributary after finding the track in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.

The agency issued the order after finding horse manure, urine, bedding material, and stable wash water from the East Boston track entering Sales Creek through storm water runoff, the EPA announced in a statement.

...

EPA inspections of the track's facilities found that horse and stable wash water were discharged repeatedly into the facility's storm drain during dry weather, and inspectors saw storm water contaminated with manure, as well as "highly turbid, brown runoff" being discharged into Sales Creek, according to the statement. Samples showed bacterial and solid waste being discharged into Sales Creek during both dry and wet weather.

With racehorses, there could be some extra ingredients in their "flop" and thus the nearby waterways. 

Rewards and Risks:  With the Eight Bells having to be put down just after the Kentucky Derby, folks are paying more attention to what these horses endure.  Drugs are often part of the equation.  From a recent Popular Science article entitled "Why Race Horses Are Dying."

The more intriguing and divisive issue surrounds medication. The entire sports landscape is engulfed in the performance-enhancing debacle and horse racing is no exception. From anti-inflammatory drugs, to pain relievers, to steroids, drugs are administered—often legally—to just about every racehorse in America. While increased performance raises competitive balance issues, the ability of the drugs to mask pain that puts injured horses on the track gives legitimacy to PETA’s cries of animal cruelty.

There are 38 racing jurisdictions in America and no standardized drug testing or legality. In 2002, the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium was created to address the issue. Six years later, they merely have blueprints and no consensus. Even if the Consortium creates a standard, it will likely allow specific steroids and provide little regulation for pain medication and anti-inflammatory drugs.

For a more detailed look at the steroids and hormones used, this link is an interesting read.  There are also bronchodilators, vasodilators, on and on.   

Caught Enhancing:  But it's not just racehorses that are medicated in ways that many find questionable.  Last year in New Jersey, which can test horses at both the tracks and their farms...

Harness racing driver Eric Ledford pleaded guilty to drug possession in a plea bargain Wednesday which might allow the former Hambletonian winner to return to work in a couple of months, his attorney said.

Ledford, who won trotting's most prestigious race in 2002 with Chip Chip Hooray, pleaded guilty to third-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance, Equipoise, before state Superior Court Judge Bette E. Uhrmacher in Monmouth County.

Ledford's 60-year-old father, Seldon, a nationally known trainer from Illinois, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess Equipoise, an anabolic steroid.

...

State police found the blood enhancer erythropoietin (EPO) as well as syringes and other banned drugs during a search at the East Windsor home of Ryan Dailey and Ardena Dailey, grooms employed by the Ledfords.

The scandal surrounding the 1998 Tour de France was mostly over the illegal use of EPO, something elite cycling had already been dealing with for a decade.  From that link...

EPO (short for erythropoietin) is a hormone secreted by the kidney that stimulates the bone marrow to increase red blood cell production. The primary benefit of altitude training is an increase in the natural production of EPO which increases the hemoglobin content of the blood. Oxygen is transported in the blood attached to hemoglobin. An increase in EPO, therefore, leads to an increase in the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. More oxygen in the blood means more oxygen reaches the muscles for aerobic energy production, which enhances performance for long distance runners, cyclists, and other endurance athletes.

Some of the drugs used on trotters can be rather exotic.  From last year...

Patrick Biancone, one of the world's most successful thoroughbred trainers, is being investigated by the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority for possible drug violations, including snake venom reportedly found in his barn.

...

The current investigation began on June 22 when KHRA investigators searched Biancone's barns at Keeneland. According to a report in the Daily Racing Form based on an anonymous source, the search was sparked by one of Biancone's horses testing positive for derivatives of caffeine and an inhalant. The source said that during the search, cobra venom in crystalline form - a neurotoxin that can be injected to deaden pain in a horse's feet and legs - was found in a refrigerator in a tack room.

...

Snake venom is prohibited to use on racehorses, classified by the Racing Commissioners International as a Class 1 drug that has no therapeutic value but can affect racing performance. Two trainers at the Saratoga harness track recently pleaded guilty to felony race-fixing charges for injecting a horse with cobra venom last October.

In 1999, Biancone was suspended for prohibited medications in Hong Kong...which has more stringent rules regarding horses, drugs, and testing than we do.  The equestrian events for this year's Olympics will be held in Hong Kong, a distant 1,200 miles from Beijing.

Relaxed Athleticism:  After the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, 

Four horses, including two gold-medal winners – Cian O'Connor's Waterford Crystal who won the individual show jumping for Ireland, and Ludger Beerbaum's Gold-fever, a member of Germany's winning team – produced positive dope tests at the Athens Olympic Games.

Waterford Crystal tested positive for zuclopenthixol (an antipsychotic which also acts as an antihistimine), fluphenazine (another antipsychotic), guanabenz (an anti-hypertension drug), and reserpine (an antipsychotic which also controls high blood pressure).  That cocktail could certainly calm a horse.  O'Connor was disqualified and lost his medal--the only one that Ireland received at that Olympics.  More on Beerbaum in a moment.

Later in '04...

The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) is currently processing "six or seven" positive tests for a sedative drug that is used as a human medication and has no known equine therapeutic effect.

"It is not a legitimate treatment. It can only be in the horse's system as a performance enhancer," said Frits Sluyter, head of the FEI veterinary department. "It is very dangerous to the horse and very damaging to the sport.

What's the purpose of giving the horses sedatives for certain competitions? 

"Ten years ago we weren't doing any 'flying changes' - where you have to change legs in canter without going into trot. It's a movement that demands complete harmony between horse and rider and if you've got a horse that is slightly tense it could get very upset by it. Now we have four of those movements. And it won't be long before we're doing even more. We're moving from a sport of true bravery and courage. Now you have to be a technician."

...

"Dressage is the first event in three-day eventing and if you're not in the first 10 you really haven't got a chance. Look at the statistics. A good dressage result is crucial. There's your temptation.

"People are competitive and want to win. I believe the problem is getting worse and worse and it's very sad. Sometimes you look at a horse and it's as though a magic wand has been waved. All of a sudden it gets very well behaved. You can't always blame the rider. I wonder how many riders go to trainers and don't even know what the horse is being given. They don't ask questions. Their faith in their trainer is total."

The FEI has since expanded its list of banned substances to help address this issue.  Switching links once more...

Debate has long raged in the equestrian community over whether the FEI should ease its zero tolerance policy, with riders, including those in Athens, often denying cheating and blaming innocuous-seeming medication used to treat horses.

Beerbaum said he had applied a skin ointment to his mount which might have been approved had he first approached the FEI's veterinary commission to obtain an exemption.

Beerbaum lost his appeal.  The drug in this case was the corticosteroid betamethasone, which is sometimes found in anti-itching creams because it's anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive.  It can also be injected into joints to combat inflammation.

Zero tolerance sounds stringent, but the drug testers are always playing catch-up to the chemists.

Spreading the Infrastructure Protection Activities Money

When I lived in Colorado Springs, I visited historic Cripple Creek a couple of times.  It's an old gold mining town (on the other side of Pike's Peak) whose economy is now dependent upon tourism.  The town added limited stakes gambling to its repertoire in the early '90s...some of the casinos are in historic buildings.

I didn't take the bus to Cripple Creek, and never figured I'd be in danger if I did.  Maybe things have changed post-9/11.

Colorado Springs-based Ramblin Express, which shuttles gamblers to mountain-town casinos, including Cripple Creek, has received $382,000 in anti-terrorism grants.

The most recent grant, for $184,415, was announced this month as part of the Department of Homeland Security's $844 million Infrastructure Protection Activities program.

Ramblin Express' grant is among the $11.2 million allocated to the Intercity Bus Security Grant Program, which is intended to assess risks and prevent attacks on that part of the nation's transportation system.

It's not clear what threats Ramblin Express is addressing or what the grant money has gone for because the company's owner, Todd Holland, couldn't be reached for comment.

A Federal Emergency Management Agency official said in written responses to questions the Ramblin Express' money is for vehicle security and GPS systems. FEMA also said spending is monitored.

The Ramblin Express is the only Colorado bus company that applied for the money.  One of its buses did suffer an armed robbery in 2006.

This pdf contains listings of the grants approved for the Transit Security, Port security, Intercity Bus Security, Trucking Security, and Buffer Zone Protection Programs.  Most of the $844 million went to ports and transit systems.  Here's what Oregon got:

- Transit Security:  Portland--$1 million combined for the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District and Clark County Public Transportation Benefit Area.

- Port Security:  Columbia-Willamette River System--$3.3 million for the Merchants Exchange of Portland.

- Buffer Zone Protection:  $995,000.  FYI, this program...

...provides grant funding to build security and risk-management capabilities at the state and local level to secure pre-designated Tier I and Tier II critical infrastructure sites, including chemical facilities, financial institutions, nuclear and electric power plants, dams, stadiums, and other high-risk/high-consequence facilities.

- Plus, Oregon may see a bit of the money for trucking security, "an anti-terrorism and security awareness program for highway professionals in support of the "National Preparedness Guidelines."  Switching links...

A lucrative anti-terrorism program run by the American Trucking Associations has been awarded to another contractor by the Department of Homeland Security, officials announced today (May 16).

Since 2004, the department’s trucking security initiative had been run by the trucking industry trade group on a no-bid contract, worth $63 million over four years.

Dubbed Highway Watch, the program came under scrutiny from Congress after concerns were raised that it was ineffective and wasteful.

A new $15.5 million grant was awarded to HMS Company, an Alexandria, Va., firm. According to congressional sources, the firm will be administering the security contract in cooperation with independent truckers, school bus drivers and teamsters.

I didn't see any line-items specific to the North State.

Hunting Threatened Polar Bears

Qikiqtarjuaq is a small town near Baffin Island, across the Davis Strait from Greenland (map here).  This remote, impoverished Inuit community in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is not happy with us.

It's easy to romanticize the majestic polar bear when you don't have to worry about the enormous animals marauding down the streets of your community in August and September, as Lootie Toomasie from Qikiqtarjuaq often does.

For Toomasie, bears are no symbol of climate change. They're a threat to his family. He and other hunters chase the bears off, using ATVs and boats. Still, "there's too many bears for us," he says. "We're no longer safe."

One benefit the bears bring is business, in the form of wealthy U.S. hunters who are willing to pay as much as $30,000 to bag one of the beasts.

But that business may now be crippled, many worry, following the U.S. decision May 14 to list polar bears as "threatened" under its Endangered Species Act.

Most sport hunters who visit Nunavut hail from the United States. But now U.S. hunters aren't allowed to bring their polar bear trophies home, as one consequence of the "threatened" designation.

This won't stop the sustainable harvest of polar bears there; Nunavut will allow about 400 to be taken this year.  A small percentage of those go to sport hunters from places like the U.S. and Europe.   

...the decision has succeeded enormously in infuriating Inuit. The business of outfitting American hunters brought good money into otherwise poor communities, such as Qikiqtarjuaq, where there are few jobs.

And Inuit see the decision as part of a yet another reason to distrust studies put together by wildlife researchers, which often clash with their own views.

The Kivalliq Inuit Association said in a press release they believe the U.S. decision is no different from past instances where scientists warned that animals were in decline, only to be later proven wrong by Inuit who said otherwise.

So it went with the Qamanirjuaq caribou herd 30 years ago, and with bowhead whales as of March this year, when the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans acknowledged they had dramatically undercounted the whale population.

When rural folks don't say what the city folks want them to...

Some bears are faring better than others. Of the world's 19 subpopulations of polar bears, four are believed to be in decline. One of the four is Baffin Bay, an area that includes Qikiqtarjuaq, where scientists say the bear population has plunged from about 2,100 in 1997 to an estimated 1,500 bears today.

But hunters like Toomasie say they've never seen so many bears before.

Scientists counter that more bear sightings doesn't equal more bears. They say in recent years the floe edge has moved several kilometres closer to shore on the northeastern edge of Baffin Island, bringing bears and hunters closer together.

Polar bears populations do tend to be higher at the edge of the floe because that's where the best hunting is (previous blog here).

But...the flow edge has moved southward?  From this study...

We find a significant increasing trend in sea ice for the 49-year period (1953-2001) for the study regions that extend into Davis Strait and Baffin Bay.

That could be contributing to polar bear numbers dropping in that subpopulation.  Constant ice conditions aren't a very productive environment for them.

Free Trade Aid

Japan has long set high trade barriers to protect its rice production.  From this link...

The United States led an international effort by rice-exporting nations in the 1980s and early 1990s to insist that Japan begin allowing rice imports. Japan finally agreed to buy nearly 700,000 tons a year, as part of the 1993 global pact that created the World Trade Organization.

But Japan has put much of the imported rice in warehouses at an annual cost to the government of $144 million, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Well, at least it's not going to go to waste. 

Japan is preparing to send at least 220,000 tons of rice to the Philippines, and possibly Africa. The Japanese government says the plan is meant to ease the suffering of poor nations punished by rising rice prices.

But critics, including some in Washington, worry that it could set a precedent for Japan to dump foreign rice it was obligated to import but had never wanted. They say that the Japanese plan risks setting off a trade dispute with the United States — and may barely dent the price of rice.

Yet opposing the Japanese plan could put the United States in a delicate diplomatic position. The price of rice, the most important staple food of the world's poor, has risen faster than any other cereal, nearly tripling this year alone, according to rice traders. The high prices have caused protests in many countries and, according to World Bank officials, pushed 100 million people back into poverty.

It's to be determined how much of the rice will be donated versus sold.  Japan does donate small amounts of rice to other nations each year.  FYI, 220,000 tons is less that one percent of the total amount of rice traded globally each year.

Separately, experts in international development warn that shipments of free or subsidized food hurt farmers in developing countries, robbing them of their customer base and making the country dependent on foreign food.

...

Only a small amount of the imported rice has been sold to Japanese consumers, allowing rice prices in Japan to remain four times higher than the world average. "We look forward to having discussions with the Japanese on Friday to discuss this issue further and learn exactly what they plan on doing with the rice," said Gretchen Hamel, a spokeswoman for the United States Trade Representative's office, adding that the Americans would be supportive of any "food price crisis efforts."

Blocking the shipment through diplomatic appeals to the Japanese government or through litigation at the WTO could make the United States appear indifferent to hunger and poverty.

Protesting that the shipments will hurt local farmers could be difficult because the United States is already one of the world's largest donors of free food to poor countries. President George W. Bush is trying to shift part of these donations to cash instead for the purchase of food from local farmers, but American farm and shipping lobbyists have urged Congress to prevent such a shift.

We need to help our economy at the expense of farmers in nations we're trying to help?  Of course, when it comes to foreign aid reaching the people it's designed to help, cash donations are even more likely to be diverted than food aid. 

Lawyers at the WTO's headquarters have been arguing strenuously this week over whether Japan can re-export rice, and have not come to a consensus. The WTO declined to comment on the Japanese plan.

Treaties so often say different things to different people. 

Forced to Waste Fuel

The federal and a few state governments have long histories of investing badly in vehicles that use alternative fuels.  In theory, it's supposed to stimulate demand, helping new fuels and technologies get off the ground.  But most of the time, it ends up being a waste of tax dollars.  Here's another example.

The U.S. Postal Service purchased more than 30,000 ethanol-capable trucks and minivans from 1999 to 2005, making it the biggest American buyer of alternative-fuel vehicles. Gasoline consumption jumped by more than 1.5 million gallons as a result.

The trucks, derived from Ford Motor Co.'s Explorer sport-utility vehicle, had bigger engines than Jeeps from the former Chrysler Corp. they replaced. A Postal Service study found the new vehicles got as much as 29 percent fewer miles to the gallon. Mail carriers used the corn-based fuel in just 1,000 of them because there weren't enough places to buy it.

"You're getting fewer miles per gallon, and it's costing us more,"' Walt O'Tormey, the Postal Service's Washington-based vice president of engineering, said in an interview. The agency may buy electric vehicles instead, he said.

...

The Postal Service bought the ethanol vehicles to meet alternative-fuel requirements. The vehicles' size and ethanol's lower energy content lowered mileage, the agency said. It takes 1.33 gallons of E85 (85 percent ethanol) and 1.03 gallons of E10 (10 percent ethanol) to travel the same distance as with one gallon of pure gasoline, the Department of Energy says.

This type of program ought to sound familiar to Californians...Governor Schwarzenegger pushed the state to purchase a fleet of flex-fuel vehicles before E85 was readily available (previous blog here).  The state is now up to ten stations with E85, though three of them are on federal installations not open to the public.  Meanwhile, when those flex-fuel vehicles burn unleaded, they produce more smog than vehicles with standard engines.   

The Energy Independence and Security Act, passed in December, called for ethanol production to more than double to 15 billion gallons in 2015 from 6.5 billion last year. The U.S. pays oil refiners like Exxon Mobil Corp. 51 cents in tax refunds for each gallon of ethanol they blend into regular gasoline. Automakers get extra credit toward federal fuel-efficiency standards for models that can run on ethanol.

And of course, the producers of corn and ethanol also benefit from subsidies.

No federal law requires that oil companies make the fuel widely available or that vehicles actually burn it.

About 1,560 of 180,000 U.S. gas stations, or fewer than one in 100, sell E85, according to Ford and the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition in Jefferson City, Missouri. E85 accounted for 1 percent of ethanol sold in 2006. The rest was blended into regular gasoline at lower concentrations, the Energy Information Administration says.

Most of the stations with E85 are in the Midwest (map here), where most of the corn is grown.

A limited number of stations selling ethanol and the scarcity of vehicles burning it diminish the fuel's appeal, according to a June 2007 report by the Government Accountability Office, the research arm of Congress. Three of the 26 ethanol-capable vehicles offered in 2007 were compact or mid-size cars, and the rest were large autos, pickups, SUVs or vans.

The big vehicles help automakers meet fuel-economy standards. General Motors Corp.'s "dual-fuel" 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe SUV was rated at 33.8 miles per gallon for city-highway driving, while a gasoline-burning model was at 20.5 mpg. A study by three government agencies in March 2002 found that the U.S. would consume 17 million gallons of additional gasoline through 2008 if the flex-fuel vehicles ran on E85 1 percent of the time.

... 

Federal credits over time will spur more stations to sell ethanol, said Greg Martin, a spokesman for Detroit-based GM. The three largest U.S. carmakers pledged to make half their vehicles capable of using alternative fuels by 2012.

"There is a caveat: providing that the infrastructure and the proper incentives are in place,'' said Jennifer Moore, a for Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford.

As for the Postal Service, the agency delayed a $4 billion investment in as many as 150,000 delivery vehicles until around 2015, O'Tormey said. Until then, it will experiment with Ford Escape hybrid-electric SUVs, an Azure Dynamics Corp. electric vehicle and a GM hydrogen fuel-cell model, to be introduced in Los Angeles in July, he said.

Experiment...why?  The Postal Service should wait until these technologies are proven and cost-effective.  There are plenty of affluent folks, businesses that want to appear green, etc. who are willing to experiment with these types of vehicles.

Downsizing the Proposed Bottled Water Plant

Nestle has been working to site and build the nation's largest water bottling plant near McCloud CA (close to Mt. Shasta).  The plant would provide jobs to a rural area that's suffered with the decline of the timber industry.  However, there are a range of concerns about the possible impacts on the watershed, environment, local roads, etc. 

The McCloud Community Services District board (the town is unincorporated) agreed to sell spring water to Nestle in 2003.  Yet here we are and still no plant.  So, Nestle has decided to scale back its plans.

Monday's press release from Nestle states that the company wants to reduce both the physical size of the plant and the amount of water it would use each year by 60 percent.

The previously planned 1 million square-foot facility is being reduced to 350,000 square feet, and the 1,600 acre-foot per year cap on the maximum amount of water usage would be reduced to 600 acre-feet.

However, Nestle is tied by a contractual agreement with the McCloud Community Services District to build the originally agreed upon plant specifics.

David Palais, Nestle's natural resource manager and project manager for the McCloud plant, said in a telephone interview Tuesday morning that Monday's press release is actually a proposal to the MCSD for the stated changes.

Lots of renegotiations to follow.

The contract, signed in 2003, is for 50 years with a possible 50 year renewal, according to Palais. He said that if Nestle hasn't broken ground on the project by the agreed upon date in 2010, the company will be required to pay the district for extensions.

...

Under the contract, Nestle agreed to pay a negotiated set price for the amount of water used, not to exceed 1,600 acre-feet per year.

Borrowing a paragraph from the first link:

McCloud would receive about $305,000 the first year, based on residential water tariffs, which equals $191 per acre foot, or 15.5 cents per cubic meter. By comparison, Nestle is paying $2,183 per acre foot to Pure Mountain Spring in Maine for its water, according to an economic study conducted by ECONorthwest, a consulting firm.

Here's a link to the ECONorthwest study.  That price per acre-foot of water in Maine is definitely not the most expensive example in the survey (see page 32).  FYI, one of the examples is from just a few miles south of McCloud...the Dunsmuir Bottling Company pays $1,629 - $3,258 per acre-foot to the city. 

Back to the original article...

Palais said because of rising fuel and transportation costs, along with another bottling plant Nestle has built in Denver, a plant of the size first proposed in McCloud no longer makes economic sense to the company.

"Our need for the bottling capacity in this location has changed since the inception of this project five years ago," he said.

Palais said that if the proposed changes to the contract are accepted, the agreed cost of the water would have to be discussed or renegotiated. He also said that construction of the new plant would be a minimum of three years away.

He said Nestle has agreed to two years of environmental studies on Squaw Creek in order to assess the impacts the plant might have.

Nestle has 23 water bottling plants in the U.S.  Several of them are west of Denver...six in California (the furthest north being in Calistoga--Napa Valley) and one in Phoenix.  Yet, the plant in Denver is the reason for scaling back the McCloud proposal?  Sure.  Nestle is retreating, hoping to get something rather than nothing.