Neighbourhoud renewal and housing markets. Community engagement in US & UK
Not in my back yard. That’s the nexus of Russia’s outlook on the U.S. in Central Asia, and Kyrgyzstan is going right along with it. A report in today’s Irish Times, linked here, elaborates on how Russia is exploiting regional hydro-politics to undermine the United States’ position among Central Asian states. As this piece reports, following Kyrgyzstan’s decision to oust a key U.S. base in Manas to receive a multi-billion dollar Russian aid package, they’re also getting some help developing their hydro-energy resources, a vital need for Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan plays a dominant role in the supply of water and hydropower as it sits on the upside of the Syr Darya river that winds from the Eastern Kyrgyz Mountains down through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan again, and finally into Kazakhstan. Anyone downstream–farmers, tribal well-diggers, and would-be hydro-energy producers–are at Kyrgyzstan’s wims. Hence, the underlying dynamic for a complicated web of local, regional, and international conflicts over water. These beefs range from regional political squabbles over electricity shortages and localized tribal ground water conflicts to assassination attempts by competing national governments, a topic discussed in an IWPR piece that ran yesterday, linked here. In a broader regional context, the boys over at Registan.net (Much Respect) posted a well-developed look at water issues in the Aral Sea basin, here. Big water issues, little states. Enter Russia. We follow Russian subversion of U.S. influence in the region with keen interest, and can’t help but notice the role Russia wants to play in helping play these countries off one another through hydro-electric energy competition. (We’ve posted here, here, and here, about Russia’s attempts to subvert American influence in its perceived backyard.) When Kyrgyzstan lacks the financing, technical resources, and engineering expertise to develop its hydro-energy resources, Russia sees an exploitable weakness. On the heels of Russia’s multi-billion dollar aid package to persuade Kyrgyz officials to eject the U.S. base at Manas, lesser-known deals are following to help the country’s Hydro development. Ironically, Russia is learning from U.S. playbook on energy politics. The United States improved its position in Middle-Eastern affairs and global energy markets through Saudi Arabia’s need to develop vast crude oil resources and establish internal security in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Russia caught-on. They see an opportunity to dominate Heartland Politics through regional hydro-energy development and competing political factions among neighboring states who... By politicspeaksvalleys. Read the whole post
Last year, Mountain View Day Worker Center supporters purchased an abandoned cinderblock building next to railroad tracks on Escuela Avenue in Mountain View, California. Plans are in place for day workers to help renovate the building and make improvements to the neighborhood, but NIMBY ("not in my back yard") neighbors nevertheless called in a Washington D.C. based group, Judicial Watch, to advise them on protecting their neighborhood from "illegal" immigrants.
Judicial Watch is a right-wing organization that initiates legal battles against day laborer centers around the country. Through their "sanctuary busters" program, they make the claim that day laborer centers violate federal immigration law by hiring undocumented immigrants. In April, a representative of Judicial Watch addressed a meeting of Escuela Avenue residents, calling it a "public education effort."
Judicial Watch has filed lawsuits in Herndon, Virginia, and Laguna Beach, California. But Chris Newman, the legal director of a national group of day laborer centers, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, called Judicial Watch's lawsuits baseless, pointing out that they are meant to generate anti-immigrant sentiments and intimidate people.
The city council remains stalwart in the face of threats of a lawsuit by members of the neighborhood group. The council initially approved the Day Worker Center's permit on May 5. On May 12, with a unanimous vote, the council turned down the NIMBY group's appeal of the council's earlier decision.
By NDLON. Read more
The Nimby Factor
By Stephen F. Wilcox
Not In My Back Yard 2009 (NIMBY 09) is the first major Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) exercise,
conducted by the Connecticut Survivalist Alliance (CSA),
to include non-CSA members that will focus exclusively on a coordinated
effort to gather Communications Intelligence (COMINT),
and Signal Analysis of federal agencies.
NIMBY FOCUS
NIMBY 09 will focus on intelligence, communicationsinterception, analysis and
sharing between those in the Patriot (Sovereign-Citizen),
Militia and Survivalist communities with the technical expertise to undertake
such operation. NIMBY OBJECTIVES
Since groups and individuals capabilities vary, the main focus will be on:
• Signal detection and Interception
(Knowing their communication frequencies and being able
to monitor and disrupt these frequencies will be essential when the tine comes).
• Direction-finding of detected communications to locate VIP Evacuation and
Support Facilities
• Analyzing usage patterns between National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE 09)
participants.
Read more about this event
With members of Congress stuffing the economic stimulus with green energy projects, they may be overlooking one of the biggest obstacles to getting them in line: the NIMBY crowd.
A recent Zogby poll found that 85 percent of Americans favored government incentives to encourage the growth of renewable energy. But the “not in my backyard” folks — those who support clean energy but, for instance, don’t want any wind turbines within eyesight — could pose serious delays to wind farms and new renewable energy transmission lines included in the stimulus.
The argument isn’t new. Business interests and Republicans, among others, have long complained that the Holy Grail of environmental laws — the National Environmental Policy Act — has made it too easy for naysayers to tie up energy projects in years of environmental reviews and litigation. But lobbyists say lawmakers are overlooking how it could delay stimulus projects designed to wean Americans off foreign fossil fuels.
“Any environmental group that doesn’t think an environmental evaluation on that federal project was adequate can go to court over it,” said David Weinberg, environment and business lobbyist for Wiley Rein. “Everyone from a NIMBY to a person concerned about a particular species of animal can bring a suit. It is inevitable this is going to delay and stop some projects.”
But there’s a reason why even longtime opponents such as Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) aren’t publicly jumping on the bandwagon to revise NEPA.
It would be political suicide.
“It would be very dangerous,” said Charles Ebinger, energy security director at the Brookings Institution. “I’m sure a lot of the green community would raise hell.”
Environmentalists have already warned there will be a political firestorm if Congress tinkers with NEPA, which they have long relied on to stop or revise environmentally questionable federal projects.
“If we start hearing stuff about reexamining NEPA, this conversation is going to get a lot more lively,” said Sierra Club spokesman Dave Willett. We’re “always looking for a way to make it happen when it comes to solar and wind, but we’re also looking to minimize the environmental impact.”
In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is already stirring that pot.
While previous efforts to tweak NEPA had been largely quieted on Capitol Hill, the White House is closely watching Schwarzenegger’s efforts to roll back state environmental laws in order to quickly implement transportation projects funded by the stimulus — a move he’s asked President Barack Obama to approve and one that California Republicans are strongly backing.
If Schwarzenegger succeeds, the California League of Conservation Voters and other greens say California could pave the way for Congress to edit NEPA under the guise of shoring up the economy. But there’s no word yet on Obama’s take.
A large environmental coalition urged lawmakers last month not to take the bait, but the idea is beginning to grow in Washington.
A letter from the Congressional Budget Office to Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) last week named waiving environmental requirements as a key way lawmakers could speed the delivery of stimulus money into the economy.
“As California goes, so goes the rest of the nation,” said Elizabeth Moeller, Pillsbury Winthrop public policy group leader, who said clean tech companies have been voicing concerns about roadblocks for months.
The lobbyist said a friend who works for a major energy company recently asked her how a proposed energy transmission line in Virginia could be stopped — mostly because the friend predicted it would be an eyesore.
“If people in the energy business have a problem with transmission lines being in their backyard, we have a national problem in everyone’s backyard,” said Moeller, who says that clean technology companies are quietly voicing concerns.
“The realities of how the energy system works is completely lost on people,” she said. “Most people don’t understand what SmartGrid means.”
Schwarzenegger isn’t alone in noticing the NIMBY crowd. Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens’ proposal for the world’s largest wind farm proposes using eminent domain to build transmission lines to carry the wind power.
And faint whispers on Capitol Hill suggest lawmakers may be quietly preparing for a larger problem.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said in early December that it was essential to get money flowing to projects, even if it meant consolidating environmental reviews, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“They’re going to look at streamlining,” Boxer said. “Jobs, jobs, jobs is the name of the game.”
Calls to her office seeking additional comment were not returned.
And Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.) noted in a House Transportation and Infrastructure hearing last fall that key projects have been held up by inefficient bureaucratic processes.
“We should focus on eliminating red tape to move forward with projects critical to improving our deteriorating infrastructure and providing out-of-work Americans with jobs,” he said.
Officials from the nation’s largest proposed offshore wind farm say a streamlined NEPA review process could have helped avoid some of the 7½-year delay caused in part by homeowners stalling the project with environmental reviews and community meetings.
Cape Wind, a 130-turbine project off the coast of Cape Cod, just gained clearance in a 2,800-page federal environmental impact report after facing years of opposition from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and other well-heeled residents who didn’t want the windmills marring their oceanfront views.
Opponents are not giving up, and Kennedy said the decision has ensured the project will be tied up in litigation for years to come.
“There is little doubt that the opponents have lengthened the process, seeking delay at every corner,” said Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers. “There’s a lot of room for improvement in consolidating this review. Not short-circuiting it, just making it easier.”
But according to the Sierra Club, fewer than 500 environmental impact statements are prepared each year, despite the tens of thousands of federal actions that are reviewed. Greens say environmentally sound projects shouldn’t unnecessarily delay stimulus projects, many of which are shovel-ready and have already completed their environmental reviews.
Alternative options to rolling back NEPA might include increasing staff at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management and other agencies that oversee the review process, they say.
But much of the work rests with Obama. But it remains unclear early in his administration whether his leadership will change any minds....
By ERIKA LOVLEY
Politico.com
This is just an extract of this article. Click here to read the whole article
La Plataforma en Defensa de la Terra Alta, el Centre Picasso d'Orta i l'Ecomuseu dels Ports van presentar ahir les seues al·legacions davant dels serveis territorials d'Urbanisme a les Terres de l'Ebre contra el pla urbanístic especial del parc eòlic dels Pesells a Horta de Sant Joan, un pla aprovat en l'última comissió d'Urbanisme de les Terres de l'Ebre. Paral·lelament, la Plataforma va traslladar també a Urbanisme més de 200 al·legacions subscrites per veïns d'Horta, comerciants i empresaris que s'oposen també a aquest projecte eòlic, que ja va ser rebutjat pel poble en una consulta popular el 2008.
Concretament, les al·legacions de la Plataforma, el Centre Picasso i l'Ecomuseu posen èmfasi en l'oposició popular al projecte i en els valors ambientals i paisatgístics de la zona. També fan referència al fet que el pla especial és incompatible amb les normes subsidiàries del municipi i al fet que l'Ajuntament està tramitant una modificació urbanística per prohibir la instal·lació d'aerogeneradors al seu terme. També assenyalen que contravé al pla territorial de les Terres de l'Ebre, que considera la zona dels Pesells com un corredor biològic dels Ports, i destaquen com afectaria les espècies protegides, com per exemple l'àliga cuabarrada. Finalment, aquestes al·legacions detecten «greus mancances» en l'informe ambiental presentat per l'empresa promotora Orta Eòlica SL.
Horta de Sant Joan - R.ROYO - Read more
The social movements reader
By Jeff Goodwin, James M. Jasper
Ecological research to promote social change
Methodogical advances from Community Psychology
Tracey A. Revenson
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