Category Archives: News

Environmentalism, North Korea Style

from StrategyPage, a partial explanation of why North Korea’s pollution problem is so out of control:

… When you burn wood or coal in a low oxygen environment you produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas that can be sent directly to a diesel or gasoline engine and produce enough horsepower to move a truck, boat, or any other engine.  This is not as efficient as diesel or gasoline/petrol type fuel.  A liter (quart) of gasoline produces as much engine energy as 2.75 kg (six pounds) of wood.  That means you need three times as much fuel (by weight) when using wood and coal.  The process (which usually takes place in a container the size of a 55 gallon barrel) produces a lot of air pollution and requires more regular attention than a diesel or gasoline engine.  But it works, and during World War II, when many nations were cut off from regular supplies of petroleum based fuels, wood gas was the solution for running vehicle, boat, and factory engines.  Germany, for example, had over half a million vehicles running on wood gas by the end of World War II.

Full article is HERE.

Obama Gotta Have His Renewable Energy

MillPondPost_LogoBreitbart’s Robert Wilde is reporting today on the intent of the Obama administartion to weaken the regulations protecting our national symbol, bald eagles, particularly from deaths due to wind turbine farms.  This hazard was responsible for the recent $1M fine that Duke Energy had to pay for deaths resulting from birds flying into the deadly turbine blades at their wind farms.

The proposed new rules —

… will give wind farms thirty year permits for the “non purposeful take of eagles-that is where the take is associated with but not the purpose of, the activity.’’ The take of eagles is also a euphemism for the slaughter of them.

The wind farms fulfill Obama’s ambitious pursuit of developing renewable energy sources. Unfortunately, some bird species being destroyed by the turbines are not renewable. As a result, Obama finds himself wedged between the ire of opposing green groups. In July, wildlife groups met with administration officials and lobbied against the granting of 30 year permits for energy companies that own the wind farms.

Wildlife groups are advocating shorter leases and insist that a 30-year free pass for eagle “taking” is too long. They argue that before we are stuck with three decades of the rule, there are still some unanswered questions about how to prevent the destroying of the birds.

The text of the rule is on the OMB site, HERE, and from The Hill Blog, the full story is HERE.

Continued Interest In The Proposed Torch Energy "Mill Pond" Wind Turbine Farm

MillPondPost_LogoNo one has been more vigilant than John Droz about informing the Crystal Coast citizenry of the implications associated with the wind turbine farm being proposed for the area around Mill Pond, just north of Morehead City and just east of Newport.  This morning, before a small invitation-only crowd assembled in an Atlantic Beach hotel, John went once more into the breach, presenting a store of information to the attendees on wind energy in general and on the Mill Pond project in particular.  In attendance were some notable elected officials, including state representative Pat McElraft, Carteret commissioners Robin Comer, Jonathan Robinson, and Jimmy Farrington.  Commissioners Elaine Crittenton and Bill Smith had attended one of John’s previous presentations.

Representative McElraft confirmed that Torch Energy has yet to file an application for the project, but that we should persist in our efforts to strengthen the Carteret County and Newport ordinances governing the permitting for tall structures, as any provisions enacted after an application has been filed may not apply to the applicant.

Uh-Oh, Boehner has a new Immigration Policy Director

Something wicked this way comes?

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is taking on a new and formidable immigration policy director, a sign that he could be more serious about passing immigration legislation than his critics suggest.

Rebecca Tallent, who currently serves as director of immigration policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, will join Boehner’s staff on Wednesday.  Before joining the BPC, Tallent held several senior staff positions with Senator John McCain, including chief of staff.

During her time with McCain, she helped the Arizona Republican draft a handful of immigration overhaul measures, including the last big push McCain made with the late Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) in 2007.  In 2008, she was a policy adviser on McCain’s presidential campaign.  Before working for McCain, she worked for former Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), a longtime advocate of overhauling the immigration system, and who was involved in immigration efforts before he retired in 2006.

Martin Bashir Out at MSNBC – Only 1 Limey Left?

Bashir_OutJust over two weeks ago, MSNBC host Martin Bashir delivered a harsh piece of commentary that culminated in the suggestion that someone should “s-h-i-t” in former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin‘s (R-AK) mouth.  Bashir offered an abject apology on his next broadcast, but a chorus of critics continued to demand action against the host.  After a reported “vacation” for the host earlier this week, Bashir announced, Wednesday afternoon, that MSNBC and Martin Bashir are parting ways.  (via Drudge Reports)

NC Gen-Assy Meeting on Common Core

Lynn Childs of the Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association (CCTA) wants to call attention to the PUBLIC meeting (on Tuesday, December 17th) of the state legislature’s Common Core Study Committee.  The meeting is to begin at 1:00pm in Room 643 of the Legislative Office Building (LOB) in Raleigh.  Lynn believes that it is most important that as many people as possible show up to demonstrate to the legislators our commitment to stopping further implementation of Common Core in North Carolina.  Those planning to attend should wear red and plan to get there early, as the proponents of Common Core will be there in force.

To contact Lynn for more details, her e-mail address is Lynn.CCTA@gmail.com.   [ NOT A LINK ]

For more on CCTA’s perspective regarding Common Core and other matters, check out their BLOG HERE.

More News On The Exalted UNC/Duke Faculty

By way of the InsideHigherEd blog, the Raleigh N-&-O reports that Julius Nyang’oro, the former chair and former professor of African studies at UNC-CH, was indicted Monday on a felony charge of accepting $12,000 for a course he did not teach.  The phantom course was conceived as a way of improving the grade point average of UNC athletes, particularly football players.  An Orange County grand jury indicted Nyang’oro on a felony charge of obtaining property by false pretenses.  Although not identified, a second person is also under investigation and could be indicted next month, said Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall.  Other probes have identified Nyang’oro’s longtime department manager, Deborah Crowder, as being involved in the bogus classes.  Ms. Crowder retired in 2009.

The Ugly End To The Duke Lacrosse Team Story

Many readers will know that Crystal Gail Mangum, the accuser of the Duke Lacrosse Team players, was convicted of murder in late November and sentenced to prison.  A week or so afterwards, Brent Bozell posted this comprehensive wrap-up at NewsBusters:

On November 22, with the national media focused on the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s death, few noticed the story of a jury in North Carolina convicting Crystal Mangum of murder in the 2011 kitchen stabbing death of her boyfriend Reginald Daye.  Why should that fact fixate the national media?

On its own, it shouldn’t.  But in 2006 and 2007, Mangum’s false charges of rape against three lacrosse players at Duke University caused a national tsunami of media sensation, an angry wave of prejudiced coverage that presumed the guilt of rich white college boys when accused by an African-American stripper.  

More than any other media outlet, the New York Times trumpeted Mangum’s rape accusations, even after they fell apart.  As other liberal media outlets were backing away, the Times published a notorious, error-riddled 5,700-word lead story by Duff Wilson on August 25, 2006, arguing there was enough evidence against the players for Michael Nifong, the atrocious local  prosecutor (who would be jailed and disbarred) to bring the case to trial.

Within the Times, perhaps the most aggressive accuser was then-sports columnist Selena Roberts, who made a habit of comparing the accused Duke lacrosse players to drug dealers and gang members.

Roberts continued to lob charges of white privilege in her last column on the subject in 2007: “Don’t mess with Duke, though. To shine a light on its integrity has been treated by the irrational mighty as a threat to white privilege. Feel free to excoriate the African-American basketball stars and football behemoths for the misdeeds of all athletes, but lay off the lacrosse pipeline to Wall Street, excuse the khaki-pants crowd of SAT wonder kids.”  She lamented “some news media jackknifed as they moved from victim’s advocate to angel-tinting the lacrosse team.”

To Roberts, the false accuser never stopped being the victim. Roberts never wrote a retraction for the columns that relentlessly championed a false narrative.  She is the Al Sharpton of sports columnists.

See the FULL STORY HERE.

I guess this means that Ms. Mangum will not be taking advantage of that free college education that Jesse Jackson promised her back when he was so certain of her verisimilitude.  [ NOTE:  Bill O’Reilly also did a short piece on this story on The Factor yesterday evening. ]

And the ObamaCare hits just keep a-coming …

In the latest of what seems to be an unending stream of outrages from the Obama administration in their attempts to keep the ObamaCare boat from being swamped by reality, the White House is floating several proposals to “help offset the loss in premium revenue and profit” that it said might occur if insurers went along with President Obama’s request to reinstate canceled policies.  The proposals will offer more money to insurance companies as an incentive for them to let people keep insurance policies that were to have been canceled next year.

And what congressional spending authority does the NYT article cite as underpinning for these proposals.  Don’t ask …

FBI Obstructing Justice?

Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, has been doggedly pursuing information related to two of the big Obama administration scandals.  Benghazi is one of them, the IRS targeting of conservative groups the other.  He is now calling attention to the intransigence of the FBI in not cooperating with his committee in their IRS investigations.

Issa says that the FBI is refusing to turn over any documents related to its own investigation into the IRS, which began in the days after an auditor’s report revealed the tax agency had improperly targeted tea party groups for special scrutiny.  Moreover, Issa revealed that, six months after it began, the FBI’s investigation has resulted in no release of information.  The congressmen said the FBI even rescinded an offer for an in-person briefing with the assistant director in charge of the investigation. To Rep. Issa, the reversal, after the FBI consulted with the Justice Department, suggests political meddling.  He has given the FBI until December 16 to answer his questions rather than to have FBI Director James Comey appear by compulsion as the result of a subpoena from his committee.

The full Washington Times article is HERE.

The Ice Man Cometh

ArcticIceCapGrows

The online version of the British newspaper Daily Mail has up an ARTICLE on the spectacular 29% expansion this summer of the arctic ice cap, further confounding the predictions in the UN’s IPCC climate change report and other AGW alarmists.  Now, just before the annual re-freeze that begins each fall around this time, an unbroken ice sheet more than half the size of Europe already stretches from the Canadian islands to Russia’s northern shores.

Help Out In Opposing The Newport "Mill Pond"

John Droz notes that, if we are to adequately protect the interests of our coastal citizenry in the “Mill Pond” wind farm fight, we need to stay focused on that campaign until it is over.

After the meeting this past Tuesday at Fort Benjamin Park in Newport, many concerned and considerate people asked what they could do to help.  John’s answer is that we need to get better organized to prevail against our more-experienced, politically-connected, and well-financed opposition.

Toward that end, the help of several committed and capable volunteers is urgently needed.  If you think you can help, contact John by e-mail (aaprjohn@northnet.org) to let him know what relevant skills you have, and how much time per week you can dedicate to this cause.

He needs volunteers who have any of the following skills:

  1. are good organizers
  2. like to contact people by phone and/or email
  3. would like to be a formal interface with our representatives
  4. have good connections with various local organizations
  5. have an interest in health matters
  6. have an interest in the tourism business
  7. have an interest in environmental issues
  8. are retired military
  9. like to publicly speak
  10. have public relation skills
  11. have superior writing ability
  12. have a technical background and can help in that area
  13. enjoy doing research
  14. are good at investigative work
  15. like doing fund raising
  16. anything else you think would assist in this effort

If you can respond to this important need, be sure to include your phone number, and remember to tell John how many hours per week you can commit to help.

The New York Times Swallows A Bitter Pill

This very good article from NYT reporters Sheryl Stolberg and Michael Shear sets the stage early on:

HealthCare.gov, the $630 million online insurance marketplace, was a disaster after it went live on Oct. 1, with a roster of engineering repairs that would eventually swell to more than 600 items. The private contractors who built it were pointing fingers at one another. And inside the White House, after initially saying too much traffic was to blame, Mr. Obama’s closest confidants had few good answers.

It is a fairly long article, but informative, and the full article is HERE.

Making Fuel From Food — Dumbest Idea Ever?

As a former farm boy and a guy who still owns an itty-bitty amount of tillable acreage in eastern NC, I have always thought that the ethanol fuel mandate was the height of idiocy.  It drives up the cost or corn, thus driving up the cost of beef and pork and lots of other food items, it causes farmers to favor corn over other crops in the competition for the available crop land, and it pushes up the true cost of motor vehicle fuel by diluting the miles driven per gallon of gasohol versus gasoline.

This and lots of other ramifications are exposed in this comprehensive ARTICLE, written by Dina Cappiello of the AP, encouraging me to believe that at least some members of the MSM are coming around to my view.

George Will: How A Presidency Unravels

In his recent piece at the Washington Post, columnist George Will reveals, among other things, the shear awesomeness of President Barack Obama, at least in the opinion of his el-primo minion, Valarie Jarrett:

“He knows exactly how smart he is …  I think that he has never really been challenged intellectually …  He’s been bored to death his whole life.  He’s just too talented to do what ordinary people do.”

 Gag me with a spoon, then read the whole thing, HERE.

Newport Meeting On The "Mill Pond" Wind Farm (UPDATED) (UPDATE #2)

At the meeting held on Tuesday night (11/26/2013) in Newport to discuss the Mill Pond wind farm project, presenter John Droz spoke to a packed house at the large meeting room in the Fort Benjamin Park building.  The meeting was attended by about one hundred people, the vast majority of whom seemed to be very skeptical about the merits of the project as proposed by Torch Renewable Energy.  Droz did a thorough job, given his time limits, of highlighting the most important issues related to the proposal, particularly as they might relate to or inform any laws or regulations promulgated by Carteret County and the town of Newport.  For more information from Droz on this project, go here.

Although they were grossly outnumbered, opinion-wise, Penny Hooper and husband Mark were two brave soles who spoke in support of the Torch Energy project.  The Hoopers engaged the group as a couple who are concerned about our coastal environment, and who embrace the Climate Change (nee Anthropogenic Global Warming) dogma.  For more on the views and perspective of the Hoopers, Penny Hooper may be reached at pjhooper@ec.rr.com.

Several local dignitaries were also in attendance, including County Commissioners Bill Smith and Elaine Crittenton, State Senator Norman Sanderson, and Pine Knoll Shores mayor Ken Jones.  During the discussion period after the formal presentation, many citizens rose to either ask questions of John Droz or to convey their thoughts and opinions.  Among those joining in the discussion were Commissioner Crittenton and Senator Sanderson.

To view the presentation in its entirety, John Droz has made it available at THIS LINK.

New Meeting Scheduled Regarding Newport Wind

Another meeting has been scheduled to inform the public about the issues attending the Torch Renewable Energy wind farm (now termed the Mill Pond project) proposed for a large area east of Newport and north of Morehead City in Carteret County. The meeting will feature a presentation (entitled “Mill Pond = Mill Stone”) by Morehead City physicist and independent energy expert John Droz, Jr., who will outline some technical, economic, and environmental concerns relating to the proposed project, after which there will be a Q-&-A session.  The meeting is free and open to the public, and is to be held this coming Tuesday evening, November 26th beginning at 6:30pm.  The venue is the main building at Fort Benjamin Park, located at 100 McQueen Avenue in Newport.

This will be of interest to any citizen who is concerned about regional issues to include the Crystal Coast tourism business, the continued operation of Cherry Point MCAS, the coastal environmental consequences of industrial wind energy, the health of Mill Creek residents, the cost of electricity in eastern NC, and numerous others.

In order to get the most out of the presentation and the discussion, potential attendees are urged to familiarize themselves with the fundamentals before the meeting by reading the materials available on this new webpage.

ObamaCare Delaying Yet Another Component? Yep!!

Fox News is reporting that the Obama administration “plans to delay the start of next year’s ObamaCare enrollment period, a move pitched as a way to give consumers and insurance companies more time to study their options — but which also conveniently pushes the second round of enrollment past the 2014 midterm elections.”  The article also says that the decision will not affect those trying to enroll this year, despite the myriad problems with the launch of the law and the HealthCare.gov website.  Rather, it affects those who will sign up late next year for 2015 coverage.

The full article is here …

New York Times Flip-Flops On The Nuclear Option

At the Volokh Conspiracy blog, Jonathan Adler posts about the Senate adoption of the “Nuclear” option.  The link for the full article is here …

Adler also notes The New York Times’ flip-flop on the issue:

In May 2005, the NYT editorial board insisted that the filibuster of judicial nominations was “part of the Senate’s time-honored deliberative role and of its protection of minority rights.” Invocation of the “nuclear option,” the Times insisted, would “desecrate” this tradition. “The damage would be incalculable,” the Times warned.

Fast forward eight years and, as Patterico notes, the NYT‘s is singing a different tune. Yesterday’s NYT editorial on Senate Democrats’ invocation of the “nuclear option” insisted there was “ample precedent for this kind of change” and cheered the move for heralding “a return to the democratic process of giving nominees an up-or-down vote, allowing them to be either confirmed or rejected by a simple majority.”

Update #3 on the Newport Wind Project

Friends of Newport:

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Please read this article  from the Saturday edition of the Carteret County News-Times about the Carteret County Planning Board meeting scheduled for Monday, 11/18/2013.  This is to be a Public Hearing on their wind energy law (Tall Structure Ordinance). Citizens should take this opportunity to express their views — just as was done so well at the Newport Town meeting.  For a point of reference here are my suggestions where the County ordinance could use improvements.

I apologize for the delay in getting this to you, but I have been out of town for the last three days.  Due to that I was unable to attend the Newport Town Council meeting on Thursday night — but prior to the meeting I had sent the town representatives a written summary of what were advisable measures to approve in their proposed Tall Structures Ordinance.

I’ve spoken to several people who were there, and this writeup is a compilation of their comments (which have somewhat of a different slant than the local paper’s story did).  The attendees I spoke to all praised the Town Council for allowing citizens to speak freely at this well-attended meeting, and not having time constraints.

There appeared to be at least two representatives of the developer at the meeting.  Rocky Ray (the developer’s vice president) made a very typical sales pitch as to why he thought this project would benefit the community — e.g. that there would be some jobs.

A lot of the meeting revolved around citizen responses to his marketing claims.  For example, he was asked how many permanent jobs would there be? [he said 4]; were they guaranteed? [no]; was this the net number of jobs? [no]; and so on.

Some people spoke about the potential impact on Cherry Point jobs, and the likely reduction of tourist-related employment to the Crystal Coast [he did not factor these into his job projections].

Others supported a Property Value Guarantee (which was in the proposed ordinance) [he made no comment — maybe because he hadn’t seen the details].

Still more attendees asked for specifics about the environmental tests that would be done [no specifics were provided].

One person asked who would be doing such environmental tests, and Mr. Ray said they would hire someone.  The citizen replied that the community wouldn’t expect to get comprehensive and objective environmental testing done by an employee of the developer.

Some civilian employees of Cherry Point noted that these 500± foot tall structures (almost directly in a flight path) could have serious impact on airplane navigation — particularly under adverse weather conditions, or when an aircraft has mechanical problems.

Mr. Ray told the Council that the Ordinance’s half-mile setbacks were unreasonable, and that this would likely force the developer to locate almost all of their turbines in the County’s part of the property.  Naturally, he wanted them to be less.

{Note: this is very standard fare, as in every community in the world that wind developers are trying to access, they always object to every worthwhile protective measure proposed, claiming that it is unreasonable.  Of course this exaggerated “unreasonableness” is only from the developer’s perspective, never from citizens’.  The standard tactic is that wind developers then use these fabricated “harms” as a ploy to get other concessions in subsequent negotiations.}

After the public had their say, the Town Council voted unanimously to pass their Tall Structure Ordinance.  They acknowledged that since this was a very technical matter, that all the advisable protections did not get incorporated into this version.  A meeting on December 12th was set up for a public hearing about further improvements to this bill.

My personal conclusions:

1 – It was very good that this Ordinance was passed unanimously. Hopefully the new Council members will have this citizen perspective.
2 – It was disappointing that the Ordinance did not include all of the protections that had been well-documented as being advisable.
3 – It was good that the Council set up a public hearing on December 12th to discuss the upgrades needed.
4 – It was excellent that quite a few citizens objected to sales puffery, and presented well-founded concerns.
5 – One Carteret Commissioner was in attendance, and I’m hoping that he will see that the County learns from this experience.

The last time I looked this Ordinance was not posted on the Town’s website.  When it is I will go through it and send out a specific commentary on what improvements are suggested.

THANK YOU to the citizens who are taking time out of their busy lives to keep up and this matter, and are speaking up about it.  Let me know if there are any questions.

Regards,

John Droz, Jr.

"Stay On Target" Fundraiser for Sen. Norm Sanderson

Those who attended the Second Amendment Celebration and fundraiser today (Sunday, November 17, 2013) for state Senator Norm Sanderson did so during a beautiful day at the gun store and shooting range run by Sure-Shot Gunsports off Adams Creek Road near Harlowe.  The range, run by Rusty and June Bryan, offered visitors a family-oriented experience and facilities to include piston and rifle ranges from 25 to 500 yards (many with covered shooting positions), and a five-stand sporting clay range.

Another wind farm proposed. This time next door to Cherry Point

mill_pond_windfarm
shadow
November 11, 2013  —  Some, including us, have long felt that Downeast is the “red headed stepchild at the family reunion,” so to speak, in North Carolina politics. Raleigh has for decades catered to the timber companies that have stymied development while shipping our resources, and the profits therefrom, out of state and now in recent years, out of the country. In recent months we have seen the departments of Defense and Agriculture trying to tie up thousands of acres of land in Eastern North Carolina to prevent development to its highest and best uses. Now Downeast is being hit with another “anti-development” scam called “green energy.”

We say “scam” because the fundamental essence of green energy is that it cannot stand on its own economic legs and relies on taxpayer subsidies and then the result of the energy produced by wind mills and solar farms cost the rate payers more than conventional generated energy, thus adding to the cost of doing business and thereby handicapping economic growth and development.

While the proposed Pantego Wind Farm flies under the public’s radar another huge project is now being proposed in Carteret County near Cherry Point Marine Air Station. It’s being called the Mill Pond facility by its developer, Torch Renewable Energy, LLC. That link will take you to a document related to a November 5, 2013 meeting held in Wilmington (yes, in Wilmington but we don’t know why it was scheduled so far away) but it was covered by the Carteret News-Times.

You will note in the presentation materials that Torch says they have satisfied the concerns of the Marine Corps about the windmills being in the flight paths of planes from Cherry Point Air Station. Reliable sources tell us there is a simple reason Torch can claim it has satisfied the military’s concerns…local Marine commanders have been order to “sit down and shut up” about the proposal. And we suspect the top brass in the Pentagon have also been told by the White House to stand down on anything “green” related.

But you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see the problem. Page 12 of the report shows the project to be within the FAA’s designated air space of Cherry Point. But the real issue can be seen on Page 18 where part of the project is within the flight space where structures as tall as these windmills would be constructed. Now in fairness to Torch, they say they have “moved about 10 structures” out of the red area of the map on Page 18, but that still leaves the project immediately adjacent to the approach path of jets landing at Cherry Point. Blue area on the map. Gives a new meaning to the cliché “close enough for government work.”

One retired Marine/Navy aviator tells us: “this is the stupidest idea I’ve seen in many years. To put wind turbines right next to a glide path to one of the most critical installations on the east coast defies common sense. On a clear day if everything is working correctly there probably will not typically be a major problem. But let a low ceiling move in and a pilot be hit with equipment malfunction and we could have a disaster on our hands. I once had to make a hard landing that if I had been using this runway at Cherry Point with a low thrust engine problem I would have hit one of these things because I did not have the power to follow the normal approach. Why would we subject our aviators to these risks?”

Indeed. Why would we even be considering such a thing?

Wind and solar generated electricity depend on being on government welfare. They can’t make it work on their own with government subsidies..

John Droz, Jr., a well-known and highly respected expert on wind energy, says that the project does not make sense from many other perspectives. He writes that North Carolina’s public policy related to “renewable energy” is in critical need of review and revision. He points to the Wise Energy website for a wealth of documentation, with specific proposals for addressing the issues related to such projects. You can keep abreast of what is happening with Mill Pond and other energy related issues by signing up for the AWED newsletter at aaprjohn@northnet.org.

Our military expert also says that retired military personnel need to step forward and advocate for the aviators’ interests because political correctness from Washington has stifled the local active duty leadership from saying what they actually believe about this project. But he assures us that his contacts at Cherry Point are extremely concerned about the proposal.

Update 2: Newport Wind Project with Map

Please read this new excellent article about the Newport industrial wind project.
Torch_MillPond_Map_Small
For the first time we can see specific map as to where this will be. See attached. Turbines will be clearly visible from Highway 70, well into Morehead City.
Independent studies elsewhere have concluded that such industrialization decreases tourism (some samples are here, and here, and here, and here, and here). The Crystal Coast is heavily dependent on tourism dollars, so who is taking this cost into account?
—————
I like the fact that the article focused on the military impact.
What most civilians do not know, is that military personnel (including base commanders) have been specifically ordered not to speak out publicly against any wind energy projects. So, when the Cherry Point base commander says little (if anything) about the military issues resulting from the Newport project, it does NOT mean that there are no problems!
The fact is that local military personnel are preparing an internal report that identifies about a half dozen areas of concern — but this document will remain confidential, and not be available to the public.
In my opinion, the best way we can protect our military bases is to have Town, County and state regulations that provide comprehensive protections to citizens and the environment, near any wind project. I have passed on effective words to Newport and Carteret officials.
The second best way is to have retired military personnel do the candid talking that active military have been prohibited from doing. Anyone who is interested in helping with that, please contact me.
————
This article also provided a link to the slide presentation made by the developer, last week in Wilmington. There is a wealth of misinformation in that marketing material.
To give you an idea how to translate this self-serving material, I’ve written up comments based on a quickie review — see attached pdf.
As always, let me know any questions.
john droz, jr.
PS — If there are others who you think would benefit from being on this list, please let me know the specifics. If at any time you’d like to be taken off, please let me know that too.

 

 

Update 1: Newport Wind Project

You may have heard about the proposed wind energy project for Newport, NC (Carteret County). [Note: these are 450± foot structures in Mill Creek, where the trees are about 75± feet tall.]
A mailing list has been put together for citizens who’d like to keep up on this important local (and statewide) matter. To be included, please email Morehead City physicist John Droz. You can get off at any time.
There have been several mailings already, as quite a bit is happening quickly. Below is John’s synopsis of where things are now…
You may want to find out where your elected officials stand on this issue. Start with Representative Pat McElraft, email – Pat.McElraft@ncleg.net; Senator Norman Sanderson, email – Norman.Sanderson@ncleg.net; Carteret County Commissioner, Chairman Greg Lewis, email – greg.lewis@carteretcountygov.org. Contact information for other County Commissioners here.
—————-
 
This is a complex technical matter. If you’d like it digested down to a soundbite, here it is:
Industrial wind energy is a net economics and net environmental loser, that has no scientifically proven net benefits.
To get a more in-depth understanding of how we got here, please peruse (as a minimum) the following:
1 – Senate Bill 3: a 2007 NC law that mandates a certain % of renewables. The real-world consequences of this are:
a) Most of this requirement will be met by wind energy (for a variety of reasons), and
b) ALL of that wind energy will be on the coast (onshore or offshore), due to the Ridge Act which protects NC mountains. (There is no comparable law that protects the NC coast.)
c) For the realities about wind energy see WiseEnergy.org and (in particular) EnergyPresentation.info

 

2 – Senate Bill 3 is a poor idea for many reasons. Here I explain some of the economic and environmentalproblems.
 
3 – “Affordable & Reliable Energy Act” (H298): was a good 2013 proposal to fix Senate Bill 3. It got pulled for political reasons.
 
4 – “Wind Permitting Bill” (H484): a 2013 NC law which was intended to protect NC military, but it really doesn’t.
 
5 – The current version of the document I sent to legislators about the deficiencies with H484 — which are legion.
6 – Per H484, DENR is the lead agency overseeing the state level wind permitting process. In our view their focus should be to protect: nearby citizens, the nearby environment, and affected NC military bases. To date these do not seem to be their priority. [If you’re interested I can send you a copy of an email I sent to the DENR Secretary, detailing some concerns so far.]
 
7 – The proposed project is roughly half in the town of Newport (Mill Creek), and half in unincorporated parts of Carteret County.
 
8 – Carteret County has Tall Structure ordinance, that addresses some aspects of wind development. Since this was written in 2008, we have learned a lot more about industrial wind energy, so this needs major updating. I’ve marked up suggestions to improve that law.
 
9 – Newport has no wind ordinance. They are currently working on writing and approving such a law. At their invitation I met with them to give them suggestions on how to do this well. They were appreciative and the meeting was constructive.
 
10-My recommendations were that they focus their efforts on four technical areas, and require an Escrow Account. The details of these suggestions are spelled out here. [There will be a town meeting about this on Thursday, November 14th.]
Until H484 is fixed, the burden will be on towns and counties to write detailed and effective wind laws.
Let me know any questions.
regards,
john droz, jr.
physicist & environmental advocate
Morehead City, NC

Veteran’s Day Parade

Saturday, November 9th turned out to be a beautiful day for Morehead City’s annual Veteran’s Day Parade, and the Crystal Coast Tea Party Patriots enthusiastically joined in the celebration and the tribute to our nation’s military veterans.

The photo below shows the CCTPP float in the staging area, with some of the members who either sat on or walked beside the float during the parade.  Our members gave out many copies of the Pocket Constitutions that we purchase from the Heritage Foundation, as well as miniature American flags (great for waving!) and several buckets of candy to the kids along the route.

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Letter to the Editor by Portage County, OH TEA Party

Portage County TEA Party

4682 State Route 43 • Kent, Ohio • 44240 • 330-474-3878 • 330-673-4672 (Fax)

 

November 7, 2013

 

Ravenna Record Courier

126 North Chestnut Street

Ravenna, OH  44266

 

Dear Editor,

 

I would like to make your readers aware of a change in our national media narrative. The lies, and the liars, are now being exposed, and the public is learning that the TEA Party speaks the truth.

 

With this letter, I am submitting to this newspaper a letter from State Auditor Dave Yost to the Field School Board. It shows dozens of cases of accounting mistakes and policy violations. While they kept insisting for years that we must pass a new levy, our members asked Treasurer Vokac and the Board honest, pointed, financial questions. We were called liars and worse and our personal integrity was attacked – many times in letters to this newspaper. Now we know the truth, the TEA Party was right to question their financial projections, and Mr. Vokac and the Board members who hired him are gone.

 

Two years ago, as President of the the Ohio Liberty Coalition, I publicly told the IRS that we would not comply with their outrageous demands and their attempts to restrict our first amendment rights.  We were dismissed as conspiracy theorists. The media narrative was that the TEA Party was just a bunch of bigots, racists, homophobes, islamophobes, and Nazi’s, who could not be believed.  That was the lie that was intended to discredit their critics and hide the truth. But we did prove that the Obama administration, by its own admission, used the IRS and other government agencies for political targeting.  Our efforts helped disclose to Americans that their government was reading our emails, tracking our webpage visits, listening to our phone calls and sharing our private information with political groups. The TEA Party took incredible abuse for years, simply because we told the truth, that you did not want to hear. 

 

Finally, over the past six weeks, the President, Senator Reid, and Speaker Pelosi defined the media narrative that the “TEA Party Republicans” and the TEA Party were a bunch of “terrorists”, holding the government “hostage”, “holding a gun to the head of the President”, and we were “extortionist.” They said that we were crazy to shut the government down in an effort to stop Obamcare, when in truth the President and his staff had orchestrated the shutdown months ahead of time for purely political purposes. We were trying to stop this disaster. They repeated the President’s lies about Obamacare, that you could keep your doctor, and your plan, and that your costs would go down. We said that Obamacare would raise the cost and reduce the quality of healthcare, that it was not ready, that it should be defunded or at least delayed. Now we all know that Obamacare is a disaster, and all of our concerns are true.

 

It is clear that the media, and many of your readers, have been wrong about the TEA Party from the start. They demonize us because many do not want to face the truth about themselves or our nation.  The truth is that government is not the answer, it is the problem. The truth is that capitalism works and socialism doesn’t. The truth is that good paying jobs are what people want, not handouts. The truth is that individual freedom and liberty, and the opportunity to work hard and get ahead, is what made America great. America is finally beginning to see the Truth and it’s name is the TEA Party – join us.

 

Tom Zawistowski

Executive Director

Portage County TEA Party

Local News – Newport Wind Project

A Texas company is proposing to develop a Wind Farm Enery Project in Newport, NC. This wind farm may consist of 50 windmills each which will be 450 feet tall. The NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources  (DENR) is reported to be bending over backwards for this wind developer in supporting the project. Even to the extent of having the first meeting that DENR refused to classify as a planning or scoping meeting (so what was it) in Wilmington, NC (not in Newport where most people affected are). It is also not clear where our local NC House member, Representative Pat McElraft, stands on the Newport Wind Project. Some have expressed concern that because of her close relationship to House Speaker Thom Tillis who killed a key bill (H298) in the last session, Representative McElraft may be turning a blind-eye to the Newport Wind Project and the residents of Carteret County. We hope that is bunk!

Some Newport Town officials are reported to have attended the Wilmington meeting held by DENR. Someone reported they were dismayed at DENR’s support of the wind development company to the detriment to the Town of Newport and citizens of Carteret County. The Town of Newport plans to hold a meeting soon to discuss the project. As details emerge, we will keep you advised. The Town of Newport is also developing a local ordinance for projects such as this wind farm project that will need your review and input. Some have suggested that the Carteret County Commissioners via the County Planning Board need to develop strict standards for the county for these projects.

Below are some emails that have been circulated if you want to dig into the details of the project and the history a bit more. Continue reading →

Letter to Constituent from Kay Hagan on Gay Marriage (now renamed by Liberals)

     October 22, 2013

Dear Friend,

Thank you for contacting me about marriage equality. I appreciate your reaching out to me on this important issue.

Marriage equality is a complex issue with strong feelings on both sides, and I have a great deal of respect for varying opinions on the issue. After much thought and prayer, I have come to my own personal conclusion that we shouldn’t tell people who they can love or who they can marry.

This was not a decision I came to overnight. The fabric of North Carolina and what makes our state so special is our families and our common desire for a brighter future for our children. No matter what your family looks like, we all want the same thing for our families – happiness, health, prosperity, a bright future for our children and grandchildren.

Religious institutions should have religious freedom on this issue. No church or minister should ever have to conduct a marriage that is inconsistent with their religious beliefs. But I think as a civil institution, this issue’s time has come and we need to move forward. Jobs and the economy are the number one issue for me and for North Carolinians right now, and I’m not going to take my eye off that ball at a time when so many are still struggling.

Again, thank you for contacting my office. It is truly an honor to represent North Carolina in the United States Senate, and I hope you will not hesitate to contact me in the future should you have any further questions or concerns. If you would like to stay informed on my work in the Senate, you can sign up for my e-newsletter, follow me on Twitter at @SenatorHagan, or visit my Facebook page.

Sincerely,

Signature

Letter to the Editor – Sun Journal

To sjletters@newbernsj.com
Oct 21 at 11:38 AM

Today there was an article in the  Sun Journal by an individual who accuses all those who refuse to lockstep with the President and the Senate of the United States as traitors to their country.  This letter fundamentally displays why this country has reached an all time high of division and disagreement.  I don’t know where the individual attended school, but he was ill served as the letter showed a poor understanding of the English language, and a complete failure to grasp the fundamental ideas of the Constitution and the role of government.  He would, however,  have been a perfect citizen of Hitler’s Germany.

Unfortunately, the writer is not alone in his thinking.  Thanks to an education system which has ignored teaching our founding documents and history, we have a citizenry that is ill-equipped to make rational judgments.  A corrupt, biased media further aids the cause of the left by either under-reporting, selective reporting, or spinning the news to fit their agenda.  Add an apathetic public who prefers cake and circuses over engaging in the workings of government, and you have a recipe for complete disaster.  And that doesn’t even count those who depend on the government for the basic necessities of life.

I would remind the writer of the aforementioned letter, that the government was responsible for numerous ills of our Nation’s history, including but not limited to slavery, eugenics, interment of the Japanese, the Fugitive Slave Act, and Jim Crow laws.  It was the courage of individual citizens who forced government to change their policies, not the other way around.  So when he attacks those who disagree with the government,  he is putting Martin Luther King in that same esteemed company.

Because of my allegiance to the First Amendment, I may disagree with every word the writer espouses, but I will defend to the death his right to say it.  I doubt, however, that he would allow me the same freedom.

Nancy Murdoch

Havelock, NC