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.

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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

A comprehensive report documenting the global impact of climate change on human society today.

The report was launched in London on 29 May 2009 by the Kofi Annan and Barbara Stocking, who was a member of the report's eminent Advisory Panel.

The Human Impact Report is the first consolidated volume specifically and exclusively focused on the adverse impacts of the climate change on human society across the world. The report is based on latest and best information on the human impact of climate change as well as inputs from world-leading scientists and climate, humanitarian and development experts.

In order to provide an idea of the order of magnitudes of the current impacts of climate change, the report also includes estimates on the numbers of deaths and casualties as a result of climate change, the economic costs of climate change, as well as making projections 20 years into the future.

The aim of the report is to fill a void in both a general public understanding of climate change as well as to senior policymakers.

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ICSU has launched an online consultation to gather questions that will help direct the future of Earth system research. ICSU invites the scientific community—natural and social scientists—as well as technology experts, decision-makers, and the general public, to contribute. The online consultation is open until 15 August.

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The International Social Science Council ( ISSC ) is an international non-profit-making scientific organisation with headquarters at UNESCO House in Paris . It is the primary international body representing the social and behavioural sciences at a global level.

The Council's role is to advance the practice and use of the social and behavioural sciences in all parts of the world, and to ensure their global representation. This involves:

• An overview of the quality and development of the constituent sciences;
• Action to stimulate their growth; and
• Work to ensure their utilisation and relevance to the problems of humankind; such promotion includes, wherever possible, the assistance of policy development at international and national levels, and the use of high quality social science research to further economic well-being and quality of life in all parts of our globe.

• International associations or unions of subjects across the social and behavioural sciences ( including the following subjects or aspects of them: anthropology, economics, education and pedagogy, environmental studies, geography, history, international and area studies, law, linguistics, management and business studies, political science, psychology and cognitive sciences, sociology, social policy, and social statistics)
• National academies of social science (or social science sections of national academies of science)
• National social science research councils (or divisions of national science councils responsible for the social sciences)
• Regional associations of social sciences representing the major continental regions of the globe
• Other national and international agencies and foundations with major interests in the social sciences

Not just another climate conference
WCC-3 will establish an international framework to guide the development of climate services which will link science-based climate predictions and information with climate-risk management and adaptation to climate variability and change throughout the world.

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