Medal of Honor recipient protests aircraft decision

From a news release that came out a few minutes ago:

Hershel "Woody" Williams, West Virginia's only living Medal of Honor recipient, has expressed his disappointment at the Defense Department's decision today to choose a European company instead of the Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) for a contract to build the next generation of air tankers.

... The Pentagon announced today that it has chosen a bid from Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, which is based in France, instead of the KC-767 Advanced Tanker from Boeing, which is based in Chicago. A contract with Boeing would have supported more than 44,000 U.S. jobs with 300 suppliers in more than 40 states.

The news release had a contact name and phone number, but no indication of who sent it out.

I knew there was something coming on this, because a p.r. firm had supplied me with a long op-ed piece urging the Defense Department to go with Boeing. I declined to run it on the editorial page because of the length and because at the time we had a backlog of other material of more local interest.

Here is an excerpt from a story today on this topic by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Los Angeles-based Northrop and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., the parent of Airbus, are offering an Airbus A330 jet that would be modified into a tanker at a factory to be built in Mobile, Ala. EADS recently announced that it would also assemble A330 commercial freighters in Mobile if it won the tanker competition. That would boost the company's U.S. footprint, help it with the Airbus bottom line and gain the European defense giant more powerful friends in Congress.

Although Boeing was considered the heavy favorite, Northrop and its supporters, especially politicians in Alabama, argued that the bigger Airbus plane would make a superior tanker to the 767 offered by Boeing.

I don't have enough knowledge of any of this to offer a comment one way or the other.

I do like the line about "gain the European defense giant more powerful friends in Congress." It makes you wonder what's really going on. Maybe we'll know more over the weekend as the people who are paid to watch out for these things figure it all out.

Odds and ends, 2/29/08

Happy Leap Day, everybody.

###

On the sports front in today's The Herald-Dispatch, there is a photo of a girl's basketball team. The team has 10 members. Four of them have the same first name, but it's spelled four different ways: Katelyn, Katelynn, Caitlin and Catelyn.

Back in my days, half the girls were named Debbie, and the question was always whether it was Debra or Deborah. And sometimes I wonder if the names Roger and Gary are headed to extinction, or if they will be revived by a future generation.

###

That's enough.

Huntington is WV's hottest city ...

... according to the Census Bureau's latest edition of the County and City Data Book.

According to the section on Government and Climate, Huntington's average daily temperature in July from 1971-2000 wqas 76.3 degrees, which was the highest among the five major cities: Charleston (73.9), Huntington, Morgantown (73.5), Parkersburg (75.4) and Wheeling (74.8). The city with the lowest average daily temperature in January during that time period was Wheeling at 29.6 degrees. The other cities were Charleston (33.4), Huntington (32.1), Morgantown (30.8) and Parkersburg (30.7).

And Charleston is the wettest city, with annual precipitation of 44.05 inches. Wheeling is the driest, at 40.34. Huntington is in the middle of the pack at 41.74.

What I find hard to believe is that Seattle's annual precipitation is only 38.25 inches. I spent a week there one spring, and every day but one it rained or was cloudy. Everyone I saw on the street had an umbrella in one hand and a coffee in the other.

AMP-Ohio followup

Cleveland City Council voted Monday to participate in the new AMP-Ohio power plant in Meigs County, Ohio.

For more, go here.

Odds and ends, 2/27/08

SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- More consumers and businesses in the eastern Nicholas County communities of Nettie and Fenwick now have access to Verizon High Speed Internet, allowing them to quickly download movies, share photos or video with friends and family, and create their own Internet content.

Verizon recently upgraded customer phone lines for high-speed Internet service, based on DSL technology, at two remotely located facilities in Nettie and Fenwick.

"More customers in Nicholas County can now make the high-speed connections that are important in their lives," said B. Keith Fulton, president of Verizon West Virginia. "Verizon's ongoing investment in this area means that many more rural communities have access to affordable and reliable high-speed Internet service, changing the way people shop, work and learn."

Hey, Verizon, there are a lot of people who live within a 10-minute drive of Huntington city limits who can't get high-speed Internet except for satellite service. We're not remote, but the cable company isn't interested in us; that's why every house out where I live has a DirecTV dish on the roof. Talk about blowing a good business opportunity. And now Verizon is catering to small communities elsewhere and turning its back on a potential customer base of who knows how many people.

Tell me again why a younger generation is ditching land lines in favor of cell phones?

###

This is information provided to us:

Hillary Clinton is scheduled to be at (an event in Lawrence County, Ohio) . The event ... is not open to the public, according to a press release from the Clinton campaign.

You gotta hand it to Hillary Clinton. When it comes to handling the media, she's probably the worst national politician since Spiro Agnew. She needs a warm and fuzzy picture of her holding, say, a baby or a puppy. Instead we get a photo of a closed door.

Tell me again why Barack Obama has cleaned her clock since Super Tuesday?

###

William F. Buckley has died. The Herald-Dispatch once carried his column, and one particularly copyeditor (not me) gloated the day he caught Buckley using one of those $20 words incorrectly. This was the same copyeditor who used to make an obscene gesture at the TV every time President Reagan came on.

###

Honda says it will end motorcycle production in Ohio. It's closing that plant and an older one in Japan to consolidate production at a new plant in Ohio. Workers in Ohio will still have jobs with Honda manufacturing in Ohio, more than likely at the auto production plant in Marysville, where the motorcycle plant was.

To Honda owners, I commiserate with you. I remember when Volkswagen built cars in Pennsylvania. I think my 1986 GTI was built there. It was an okay car. It did not feel as solid as my two German-built Scirocco models did, but it was still a well-built car, except for the electrical system. VWs in that era seemed to have electrical problems.

No matter.

###

Maybe I've missed it, because I'm not a political junkie who watches every presidential debate, and I don't tape the Sunday talk shows.

But why is every mistake that I make, such as taking out too many loans or eating too many french fries, something that requires the federal government to rescue me?

Why can't a president or a Congressman say the same thing my mother used to say: You made your bed; now lie in it.

Just asking.

More to come.

More Hollywood jerks

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Gov. Joe Manchin and a miners’ union took offense Tuesday to a planned scene from an upcoming film starring Julianne Moore that stereotypes West Virginians as inbreeds.

The horror thriller “Shelter” is recruiting extras with unusual physical features for a scene in a West Virginia “holler,” according to the statement from Donna Belajac Casting of Pittsburgh.

The casting call said the film is looking for extras who are extraordinarily tall or short, those with unusual body shapes and unusual facial features, especially eyes, and even people with physical abnormalities as long as they have normal mobility. ...

The casting call also advertises for a 9- to 12-year-old white girl with an “other-worldly look ... could be an albino or something along those lines — she’s someone who is visually different and therefore has a closer contact to the gods and to magic. ’Regular-looking’ children should not attend this open call.”

Shooting for those scenes is scheduled to start Sunday in the Pittsburgh area.Casting agency director Donna Belajac didn’t immediately return a telephone message Tuesday.
The casting call prompted a seething response from Cecil E. Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers union.

“Why must it be automatically assumed by the surgically enhanced ’beautiful people’ who populate Hollywood that those who live in the hills and hollows of places like West Virginia are all afflicted with physical abnormalities?” Roberts said.

I love how Roberts referred to the "surgically enhanced 'beautiful people.' " If you want to spend some time looking at how many Hollywood celebrities (Burt Reynolds, Halle Berry, Jessica Simpson, Julie Chen and others) have altered their appearances, check out www.awfulplasticsurgery.com. You can also check out www.goodplasticsurgery.com.

Candidates, energy, climate change

I'm trolling the Web today from time to time, looking for what the presidential candidates are saying in Ohio and Texas about greenhouse gases. Here is an excerpt from The Toledo Blade:

He said his energy policy would put caps on the emission of greenhouse gases, “generating billions of dollars from polluters who are releasing carbons,” and then investing that money in wind, solar, biodiesel, and other green energies.

Addressing climate change and capping greenhouse gases are going to lead to ‘‘a spike in electricity costs ... we’re actually going to have to provide some help to low-income and fixed-income individuals to cover higher electricity prices on the front end.’’

And here's one from Hillary Clinton:

We also do need to lead the world toward a sound energy policy that treats global warming as the crisis it is and not science fiction. I have said that I would meet with the countries that are the biggest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions until we hammered out an agreement, hopefully within a year that would China and India who have to be part of the solution.


I'll add more later today as I find it. Otherwise, it's back to work.

... On second thought, forget it. I'm probably the only person interested in these things right now.

My thoughts on the Beverly Hills - Enslow consolidation

There's been a lot of talk in some parts of Huntington's East End and Beverly Hills neighborhoods of late about the future of middle school education. Specifically, if the people of those neighborhoods are to get one or more new middle schools the way people in other parts of Cabell County are getting them, where should it or they be built?

The school board is leaning toward building a consolidated school next to the Career Technology Center on Norway Avenue. A lot of people oppose that idea. I myself have questions.

Disclaimer: My daughter spent three years at Beverly Hills. My older son is in 8th grade there. My second grader could end up at either Beverly Hills or the consolidated school at some point in his academic career unless we move or put him in private school or home school.

But I took a look at all the angles, and this is what I have come up with.

There are values in small schools. However, Enslow probably is about as small as a middle school can be and still offer students what they need academically.

When the doors open on the new middle schools in Huntington, Barboursville and Milton, people in the Beverly Hills and Enslow communities will wonder why they don’t have such nice buildings.

Beverly Hills once held more students than a combined Beverly Hills-Enslow school would have. From what I know of the school as it is now, it must have been a crowded place. Also, the school does not have central air conditioning. Classrooms use large window units.

Beverly Hills is twice the size of Enslow. Thus, its community deserves as much consideration in this as the Enslow community.

Really, the Enslow community we’re talking about here is Highlawn. While Guyandotte and Altizer elementaries may feed into Enslow Middle School, the school itself is in Highlawn. Whether the new school is in Highlawn or on Norway Avenue may not matter much to the other two neighborhoods. In fact, the Norway Avenue site is probably closer to Altizer than Enslow is.

Bus traffic on Norway Avenue probably wouldn’t be much different than bus traffic on Saltwell Road now. And most of the buses that travel to Beverly Hills already use Norway.

We’re not just talking the future of a middle school here. Superintendent William Smith is talking about the future of Peyton Elementary. He talked about plans to consolidate Geneva-Kent and Hite-Saunders (what a hyphenated name that would be). In the past, the board has talked about consolidating Peyton and Geneva-Kent at the existing Beverly Hills building once that building was replaced by a new middle school.

Enslow is old. It would need too much work to upgrade.

People have talked about taking the board office out of the former Huntington East building and putting the new middle school there. From what I have been told, the HEHS building was a dreary place. It was not that well laid out. It sits beside a busy avenue. It’s not a good place for a middle school.

A lot of people have suggested other sites for a new middle school, but few of them are truly workable for a combined, consolidated school.

I do not like the idea of a school as large as a consolidated Beverly Hills-Enslow. It would have to be designed to create small environments that would prevent the problems that usually arise when you put too many kids in one place.

However, right now I see no alternative. I have considered several, but the question is whether they would work. I would prefer a school on the Cammack model in the Highlawn neighborhood, but that leaves 500 kids at Beverly Hills out in the cold.

There was talk in the 1990s about how building Huntington High School on Hal Greer Boulevard would have improved that neighborhood. The way things have changed in that area, I’m glad the new Huntington High was built where it is. The location is remote, but it’s a great spot for a school. And Route 10 is busier than Norway Avenue is.

Transportation issues can be worked out.

Schools should not be about the needs of neighborhoods. They should be about the needs of children.

So, after weighing everything, I have to say I now prefer the combined Beverly Hills-Enslow school at the Career Technology Center.

I'm not enthusiastic about that decision, but it's what seems to me to be the best for the children, including my future middle schooler.

Odds and ends, 2/25/08

So Ralph Nader says he's going to run for president as a third-party candidate.

Like anyone cares.

###

A lot of Hollywood people got together last night after spending a lot of money on extravagant clothes and congratulated themslves for making movies

Like I care.

As Jeff Foxworthy said, if you have boycotted the Oscars since they snubbed "Smoky and the Bandit" for best picture. . .

###

The other day I was wondering whatever happened to Al Gore. He seems to have fallen off the face of the earth now that he has his Oscar, his Emmy and his Nobel Peace Prize.

Now I know why he's in hiding: This is the most brutal winter in the Northern Hemisphere since 1966.

###

The Huntington City Council is thinking about increasing the mayor's salary. The mayor is paid about $62,000 to $63,000 a year. The thinking according to some is to attract a higher-quality candidate rather than the types the job attracts now, that is, people who have fed at the public trough all their lives.

If the council is going down that road, it had better be prepared to answer this question: How much do you think it would cost a private company to hire someone to run a $35 million-a-year enterprise?

It's going to be more than $70,000, right?

In the end, the council will talk big and spend small. And people will wonder why the city cannot attract a better quality of candidate to run for mayor.

Who in private enterprise in an equivalent job would take the pay cut to be mayor of Huntington?

Coal ignored

An ignored topic in the horse race talk of politics these days is coal.

There is talk that the next president and the next Congress could impose large taxes on carbon dioxide emissions of power plants -- all in the name of fighting global warming, of course, not to be confused with imposing a tax because they want the money.

So what three states are the largest generators of electricity from coal?

1. Texas.
2. Ohio.
3. Pennsylvania.

They produce more than 20 percent of all coal-generated electricity in the United States.

Anyone notice that two of those three states have primary elections coming up next week, and Pennsylvania's follows soon after? But from the national media, you would not think how these states view the affordability of coal-generated electricity is important. I just checked the
AP wire, and there's nothing on there about it. There is information out there, but you have to go off the beaten track to find it. For one example, go here.

Oh, but we're concerned over whether the Obama campaign circulated misleading flyers in Ohio or who in the Clinton campaign released photos of Obama in Africa wearing Muslim garb.

Let's not let real issues get in the way of an election, shall we?

This is where local and regional newspapers have it all over the national media, which get distracted onto tangents much more easily.

No new taxes ... here or in DC

Voters in Lawrence County, Ohio, have one or two local tax levies on the ballot in the primary election. I predict they will fail.

My own sense is that people there, here and everywhere don't know what the next president and the next Congress are going to do to us tax-wise.

Not knowing how big a bite Barack Obama will take out of my paycheck on July 1, 2009, how can I agree to increasing local taxes?

And I think people are increasingly fed up with public employees demanding this and holding rallies for that when the private sector people are seeing their own economic security slowly eroding away. In the case of WV teachers, the boss offers you a 5.5 percent raise and you say that's not enough? There won't be any 5.5 percent across-the-board raises at The Herald-Dispatch this year. Yet teachers complain it's not enough.

So until we get a little more security in our own lives, I don't see people in the private sector opening their wallets to benefit those in the public sector.

How to spend $50 million

I have a fantasy that will never be fulfilled. But I'll share it anyway.

If Gov. Joe Manchin could find $50 million this year for research efforts at Marshall University and West Virginia University, could he look in next year's budget and find $25 million for Huntington and $25 million for Charleston to help them with some of their worst problems.

Specifically, could Huntington use $25 million to buy and demolish large areas of vacant and dilapidated buildings and replace them with housing people will actually buy?

Sort of an urban renewal for the 21st century.

You can come up with all sorts of reasons why this is not the greatest idea in the world, but Huntington needs something to attract people to this side of the Ohio River. Who do you think has been buying all those new McMansions in Rome Township?

The real reason this will never fly is because it would help a city, and the Legislature is in no mood to help a city.

21st Century Learning Initiative

I need some help. I've heard Cabell County school Superintendent William Smith talk a lot lately about 21st Century learning. Until a little while ago, I didn't realize that was a movement in education circles. I've just started looking it up, but I'm not sure I like it.

It could explain why my second grader comes home every day saying he's bored in school because they only teach stuff he already knows. It could be why I asked my eighth grader recently if he had learned the presidents in order, and he said no teacher had ever expected that of him.

As best as I can figure out from a half hour of looking on the Web, the 21st Century Learning Initiative combines knowledge of brain development with classroom technology with a need for children to be able to do do more than memorize.

I can understand that, but when I read stuff like this

There needs to be a global awareness; gone is the day when it was enough for students to be able to find China or Dubai on a map. Students need a greater degree of civic literacy than was usually imparted in the past in school. And students need a greater degree of financial, economic and business literacy than ever before.

it makes me wonder what's going on inside schools. Are we returning to the New Math (for those of you who remember the mid 1960s)?

I'll have to dig into this deeper. I appreciate any help anyone can give, or any help anyone can point me to.

East Lynn Mine

I was looking for some information on oil refineries on the U.S. Energy Information Administration Web site, and I wandered over to the coal databases. After doing some filtering and sorting, I found what coal mines in West Virginia had the most production in 2006.

The Rockspring Development mine at East Lynn in Wayne County was the highest-producing underground mine in the state that year. Some stats:

Production: 2, 735,790
Average employment: 263
Labor hours: 636,190

FWIW, the East Lynn mine was the eighth largest producer in the state last year. Ahead of it were six strip mines and one combo strip-augur mine.

And only two of the top 10 producing mines were UMWA mines.

Ahead of East Lynn on the list was a Frasure Creek mine of Milton. (?). I'll worry about that one some other day.

Radio journalism?

Two students from Marshall University placed high in a recent national competition for broadcast journalism. Both students won in radio categories.

Question 1: How many jobs open every year for radio broadcast news reporting?
Answer 1: Probably very few.

Question 2: If so, why is Marshall still teaching it?
Answer: Beats me. Maybe these kids get jobs in TV or in p.r.

There's an old joke that a lot of commercial radio stations have a 50-cent-a-day news budget. They buy the local newspaper and read it on the air.

Gambling in Ashland?

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear has named Ashland as an area that could get a casino under his proposed gambling legislation. As with almost governor in a state not named Ohio, Beshear sees gambling as a quick fix for a state budget that could use some new money.

Could we face a few facts that exist independently of whether a person favors casino gambling or opposes it?

The only reason for an area such as the Tri-State to have a casino is to capture money that goes to casinos in other areas. Any other income for a casino is money that otherwise would be spent in this area. It’s not like Ashland or the dog track at Cross Lanes, W.Va., would become major tourist destinations without a second draw, such as big-name entertainment.

Does anyone believe that the mini-casinos that dot West Virginia — the ones offering limited video lottery — really contribute to the local economy in any significant way? Is the West Virginia economy any better off because of them?

States in this part of the country are engaged in an arms race when it comes to gambling. It can’t go on forever. It has to stop sometime and somewhere.

Beshear’s proposal of a casino in the Ashland area has brought that time closer. If his idea makes it through the General Assembly and to the ballot, the people of northeastern Kentucky will make their voices here on where gambling stops or how much more it spreads.

Where's the love for Byrd?

I've been busy today working on a large database, so I haven't had much time to scan the wires for interesting stuff. But something happened a few minutes ago that caught my ear.

On the police scanner, I heard an officer or a dispatcher referring to the 6th Street Bridge. Every so often, I'm editing a letter to the editor and I have to change "Sixth Street Bridge" to "Robert C. Byrd Bridge."

And so I wonder if I'm not alone. I refuse to call the Gallipolis Locks and Dam the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam unless I absolutely have to. After 70 years of habit, it looks like the people of the Tri-State refuse to give up the name "6th Street Bridge" and give Byrd the honor he craves and demands.

And a lot of people refuse to use the names "Nick J. Rahall II Bridge" and "Frank 'Gunner' Gatski Memorial Bridge."

I'm not alone after all. And it feels so good.

Odds and ends, 2/18/08

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A bill that has drawn international attention to West Virginia has been passed overwhelmingly by the Senate, and now goes before the House of Delegates.

The bill, proposed by Sen. Billy Wayne Bailey, would allow children in school to take 10-hour courses needed to get hunting permits.

The Wyoming County Democrat says the bill is a matter of common sense.

The 10-hour course includes everything from wilderness survival skills to all-terrain vehicle safety in addition to basic gun training.

Advocates of the bill say it’s a good way to get more people interested in hunting. The number of hunting permits sold has been dropping over the last decade.

The Senate approved the measure Monday with just three dissenting votes.

Schools have enough to do without being called on to teach gun use, hunting skills and ATV safety. The House should kill this bill.

###

A junior at Huntington High has scored a perfect 36 on his ACT test. Way to go, Sam Shideler. Maybe you'll bet a sign on Highlander Way like the sports guys get. Or maybe you'll get your photo in the main hallway like the sports guys get.

Who am I kidding? What you did was more impressive, but unfortunately, academic achievements don't count as much as sports.

Please, Huntington High, prove me wrong.

###
Last week, the Wall Street Journal had a piece about the money American railroads are spending upgrading their corridors. The link is here. The gist of the story is contained in these paragraphs:

The upgrade is part of a railroad renaissance under way across much of the U.S. For the first time in nearly a century, railroads are making large investments in their networks -- adding sets of tracks, straightening curves that force engines to slow and expanding tunnels for bigger trains.

Their campaign is altering the corridors of American commerce, more so than any other development since interstate highways spread to the interior.

For decades, railroads spent little on expansion, even tore up surplus track and shrank routes. But since 2000 they've spent $10 billion to expand tracks, build freight yards and buy locomotives, and they have $12 billion more in upgrades planned.

I remember going to college in Athens, Ohio, when the Chessie System track ran through the middle of town and campus. I enjoyed seeing those trains go through. But sometime in the 1980s or 1990s, CSX decided the line from Belpre to Cincinnati was no longer needed, so it removed the track.

The last few times I was in Athens, I made it a point to find where the old track had been, and I thought about all those trains and how I learned to sleep beside the tracks despite the horns that blew at all hours of the night.

I also remember the old Chessie tracks that ran through southern Ohio that terminated in Gallipolis. Much of the old track is now a bike trail.

And I remember the old DT&I (Detroit, Toledo and Ironton) tracks that serviced Ironton. A kid growing up in that town might not know how Railroad Street got its name. The fact the street is as wide as any other in town should give him some idea. The DT&I left town around the same time that Amcast Industrial Corp. shut down its factory in Ironton, although I can't say there's a cause and effect.

As for this side of the river, I don't know where the closest abandoned track is. If anyone can help me, I'd love to know.

Odds and ends, 2/15/08

It's about time.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Justice Larry Starcher has become the second state Supreme Court justice to recuse himself from a case involving Massey Energy Co.

And Starcher is calling on Justice Brent Benjamin to do the same.Massey’s appeal seeks to overturn a $76.3 million judgment won by Harman Mining Co. and its president, Hugh Caperton.

The Supreme Court had reversed the ruling in November before photos surfaced showing Chief Justice Elliott “Spike” Maynard in Monaco with Massey President, Chairman and Chief Executive Don Blankenship.

Maynard later agreed to recuse himself, and the remaining justices voted to erase their decision and rehear the appeal.

Starcher cites Blankenship’s multimillion-dollar campaign that helped Benjamin get elected in 2004 in urging him to step aside.

Considering his publicly expressed opinion of Blankenship, Starcher should have recused himself. And Benjamin should d0 likewise.

###

One perk of this job is being on all sorts of mailing lists. Either this week or last, I received the latest copy of Adjusting Today, published by Adjusters International. The nugget in this issue is a map of the USA showing the number of flood insurance policies in each state as of 9/30/06.

WV had 22,155. OH had 38,535 and KY had 21,346.

Guess which state had the largest number. (Cue theme for "Final Jeopardy").




Florida, with 2,162,239. It was the only state with more than 2 milllion policies. It wawsw the only state with more than 1 million. It was the only state with... The second-highest was Texas wtih 615,686. Third was Louisiana with 489,094. Hmm. You can figure that one out.

###

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday. Feb. 14 is my son Joey's birthday. He'll have a lot of fun when he's older. His wife will ask what he got her for Valentine's Day, and he'll ask what she got him for her birthday. It will be a wash.

###

I'll check comments through the weekend. Other than that, I'll see you Monday.

Hillary Spears / Britney Clinton

I'm in danger of developing a Hillary Clinton fixation. If she's not careful, Clinton will be the Britney Spears of politics 2008.

It's all about self-destruction. Here's what I mean:

Lately the pro-Clinton forces have complained loudly that the mainstream media have chosen to go with Barack Obama. I understand that complaint. I have noticed it too. So far Obama has gotten a free pass on his record, and reports are dominated by his oratory. Clinton's frustration is justified, except that she never complained about the fawning press she and her husband have received all these years.

And how does she expect the media to react when she treats people the way she did that MSNBC anchor who used the word "pimp" to describe how the campaign is using her adult daughter? You treat news people like that, and you expect gentle treatment in return?

Britney's self-destruction has been well-documented. Unless she turns things around, Clinton's self-destruction will be well-documented, too. And too bad for her, but senators who run unsuccessful presidential campaigns tend to be forgotten after Election Day. Old news, you know. A new sheriff in town. Who are you again?

Clinton never learned how to feed the press. She may have been too arrogant to do that dirty work herself. She always had subordinates to send. Now the circle is closing. If she can't figure out -- or admit -- why, she's not really smart enough to be president.

AEP warns of looming power shortage

First, this from Reuters:

HOUSTON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The United States faces an electricity crisis if it eschews coal-fired power plants on its way to a low-carbon economy, said the chief executive of American Electric Power, one of the nation's biggest utilities.

Michael Morris of AEP said that he fears the United States will rely on natural gas plants too heavily if it drastically cuts burning coal to make electricity.

"We will find ourselves in a classic electric shortage and we will probably pursue the line that this country usually follows when it faces a shortage and come up with some terribly ill-conceived answers," if construction of coal-fired power plants continues to be curtailed, Morris said.

Compare that with this news release that AEP issued two days ago:

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 13, 2008 – American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) will engage university students in a dialogue about energy availability and security and related issues over the next two months. Michael G. Morris, AEP chairman, president and chief executive officer, plans to visit six campuses between Feb. 18 and April 30 as part of “The Future of Energy” University Listening Tour.

Morris will speak with students at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg Feb. 18; University of Arkansas at Fayetteville March 10; The Ohio State University in Columbus April 2; Howard University in Washington, D.C., April 7; Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., April 9; and University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Okla., April 30. Each visit will feature an extensive question-and-answer session following a brief presentation.

“The tour’s purpose is to engage young people on college campuses across America in a discussion about what it will take to ensure our nation’s energy security and address the deepening challenge of meeting growing demand for electricity while protecting the environment,” Morris said.

It sounds like the guy has a message he wants to get out.

I'm not going to side with Morris except to say that if America wants more electricity, it needs more plants to generate that electricity. But to some people, nothing is good enough.

Coal is too dirty, gas is too expensive, wind power kills too many bats, hydropower floods too many acres of wildlife habitat, geothermal and solar are too inefficent for most locations and nuclear is not to be discussed.

Further reading: "Utilities Turn From Coal to Gas, Raising Risk of Price Increase" New York Times, Feb. 5

From the Wall Street Journal of Feb. 4: Three of Wall Street's biggest investment banks are set to announce today that they are imposing new environmental standards that will make it harder for companies to get financing to build coal-fired power plants in the U.S.

(I think I'vve heard something like that before, but I can't remember when or where).

The breakout box in the WSJ article sounds familiar, too. It highlights a problem AEP has had in developing its lower-emission coal plants in Meigs County, Ohio, and Mason County, W.Va. It wants to reduce emissions into the air and store some carbon dioxide underground, but that would be mighty expensive, and it would need rate increases to recover the project costs. We know how well that will go over. People squawked over the relatively minor expense of possibly having to change their area codes. Wait until they find out how much "clean coal" really costs.

The demand for power keeps going up, and we can't seem to agree on how to provide it.

There is one solution, but it's not one that people will likely agree to. That's to reduce our consumption of electricity. But I can't see that without economic pain or coercion.

What, no photo?

WELCH, W.Va. (AP) — A robbery suspect tried to hide his face with a pair of underwear but the disguise didn’t fool witnesses.

Police arrested 40-year-old Jerry Keene and 48-year-old Elizabeth Blankenship, both of English, a short time after the pair allegedly robbed the Hillbilly Market in English Tuesday night.

McDowell County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Mark Shelton says Blankenship went into the convenience store and then left. Keene then entered, concealing his face with the underwear, allegedly showed a gun and demanded money.

Shelton says witnesses identified the suspect, despite the disguise.

Blankenship and Keene were each charged with armed robbery. They were being held Wednesday night at the McDowell County Holding Facility.

And to think it took two people to attempt this bit of genius.

I can hear my mother saying, "Always wear clean underwear in case you rob a convenience store." Or something like that.

I was hoping someone would have a picture of Mr. Keene in his disguise, similar to Ashland's infamous duct-tape bandit, but alas, I couldn't find one.

Fees to access government documents

It galls me to no end that if I am in a car accident, I must pay $20 to get a copy of the police report. That's $20 for someone to run a large sheet of paper through a photocopy machine.

Apparently, I had it good compared to some folks:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The West Virginia Supreme Court is being asked to overturn a ruling that allowed a private company to pay less than $20 for electronic versions of tax maps that would have cost more than $225,000 as paper copies.

Harrison County software company Seneca Technologies secured 28,206 maps from the state Tax Department for $18.56. It is now offering those maps to the public for free on its Web site.

The free postings deprive counties of money needed to maintain the mapping system and to help support local government, attorneys for Kanawha County Assessor Phyllis Gatson and the Courthouse Facilities Improvement Fund argue in court documents filed Jan. 16.

... Under state law, county assessors charge $8 for each copy of a map. Of that amount, $4 goes to the county assessor’s office, $3 goes to the fund for courthouse upkeep and $1 goes to the state Tax Department.

But state law also says public records requested under the Freedom of Information Act must be provided at cost.

(Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Irene) Berger ruled that Seneca, which used FOIA to request the maps, needed to pay only the cost of producing three DVDs.

If Berger’s ruling is allowed to stand, Gatson and others argue it would have disastrous financial ramifications for the courthouse fund and county assessors across the state.

... Patrick Lough, a software engineer for Seneca Technologies, said Thursday that the company maintains that any information created by the government should be available to the public for free.

Mr. Excessive Copying Fee, meet Mr. Technology.

Unless someone can convince me otherwise, I have little sympathy for the courthouse officials. And it goes back to those $20 fees I've had to pay for those accident reports.

30 years of middle school enrollment

There's been a lot of talk in Huntington's Highlawn neighborhood about the possible closing of Enslow Middle School in the next few years. Enrollment at Enslow has declined, the building is inadequate ... you know the drill.

So I dug into enrollment numbers to compare what the middle schools in Cabell County looked like 30 years ago compared to today. The numbers revealed some interesting facts. The caveat is that 30 years ago, these schools were junior highs with grades 7, 8 and 9. Today they are middle schools with grades 6, 7 and 8.

And some middle schools have been consolidated. If I understand things correctly, Cox Landing and Salt Rock were consolidated into Barboursville. Ona was moved to Milton. Cammack and West are now Huntington.

Despite that, we can see some trends emerge.

The enrollment numbers.

1977-78 school year: Cox Landing, 235; Ona, 322; Salt Rock, 220; Barboursville, 736; Beverly Hills, 758; Cammack, 636; Enslow, 530; West, 437. Total enrollment was 3,874.

2007-08 school year: Barboursville, 774; Beverly Hills, 478; Enslow, 256; Huntington, 515; Milton, 651; alternative school, 7. Total enrollment was 2,681.

Now let's play with the numbers some.

The Huntington schools had 2,361 students 30 years ago compared with 1,249 today, not counting the alternative school. The outside-of-Huntington schools had 1,513 then and 1,4254 today. Put another way, the Huntington schools had 61 percent of the enrollment then and 32 percent today.

Had Huntington Middle School been in existence 30 years ago, it would have had 1,075 students, compared with 515 today.

Likewise, Enslow's enrollment is less than half what it was then. If you were to combine Enslow and Beverly Hills today, the school would have fewer students than Beverly Hills alone had then (724 vs. 758).

Even in the "growing" eastern end of Cabell County, growth is not across all age groups. Even the Barboursville and Milton areas have fewer children in the middle school age range than they did 30 years ago.

Forget the presidential election polls

So this was on the front page of The Herald-Dispatch on Tuesday:

In an early look at how people view the presidential race, Barack Obama had a narrow 48 to 42 percent edge when pitted against John McCain, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. Clinton was essentially tied with McCain, getting 46 percent to his 45 percent.

I ignore these stories. They're okay for getting an overall mood of the nation, I guess, but we all know that there is not one big election this fall. There are 50 state elections. It's the Electoral College vote that decides who the next president will be. The last thing I read on this was whether McCain could retain states that Bush narrowly won in 2004 and how many states that went for Kerry are there for McCain to win.

If I could remember who wrote it, I would link it. If I find a story like that, I will bring it to your attention. To me, that is the real story of this election -- how the race will play out in individual states.

Say no to bullies

I have tried to avoid a lot of comments on politics. There are other people who can comment with more insight and who are into it a lot more than I am.

Having said that . . .

There has been one thought that has been in my head for a while, and now an AP writer has come out and said it. I'm glad someone with a national platform, other than a talk radio entertainer, has said it.

Bill and Hillary Clinton are bullies. And Americans don't like bullies.

So it's not until the ninth paragraph that Fournier uses the word "bully," but it fits with what I and, I'm sure, a lot of people think about the Clintons. They have this tremendous sense of entitlement, and they are willing to throw anyone and anything under the train if that's what it takes to get what they think they deserve.

This most recent incident where Hillary's people got an MSNBC talking head suspended for saying the campaign was "pimping" out Chelsea Clinton was only the most recent example. Maybe the Clinton people should check an updated slang dictionary for modern use of the word "pimp." The worst part was that MSNBC rolled over and played dead when the Clintons complained.

The response I would have preferred is one that I heard a lot growing up in the country. It's a three-word phrase. The first two are "go" and "to."

One good thing about Barack Obama is that he is taking on the Clintons and showing that they don't deserve the White House simply because they are smarter and more brilliant than anyone else. (At one time, Henry Kissinger was the most brilliant man in America, and I'll leave it there for now).

I love the last paragraph of Fournier's piece:

Few Democrats want to cross the Clintons when they're on top. But how many are willing to stand by them when they're down?

The 211th Ferengi Rule of Acquisition comes to mind: "Employees are the rungs on the ladder of success -- don't hesitate to step on them." Maybe some of the people who have been stepped on are tired of it and they're stepping back.

(NOTE: I'm not trying to cut into the territory of fellow Herald-Dispatch employee Heath Harrison, who has a political blog. I merely express a few thoughts on various candidates and things before moving on to other things. When the muse visits me, I will explain what I think was a big mistake by George W. Bush regarding this election, and I ponder John McCain and Barack Obama.).

GM

General Motors says it will offer buyouts to all 74,000 of its US hourly workers. The company won't say how many workers it expects to accept the offer or how much the buyouts will cost, but it will be able to replace up to 16,000 nonassembly workers represented by the UAW with new employees who will be paid half the old wage of $28 per hour.

For a 40-hour week, $28 per hour comes out to $1,120 per week. Half of that would be $560 per week. Saving $560 per week times 52 weeks times 16,000 people comes out to ... $465,920,000 per year in salaries, not counting overtime or benefits.

Ford and Chrysler have offered similar buyout offers, according to the AP.

GM's cutbacks come a few days after the latest Consumer Reports gives a glowing review of the Chevrolet Malibu.

"The redesigned Malibu now ranks among the best family sedans, just below the Nissan Altima, Honda Accord, and Toyota Camry," the March issue says on Page 56.Another GM story that moved yesterday on AP:

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp. reported a $38.7 billion loss for 2007 on Tuesday, the largest annual loss ever for an automotive company.

Now, $465.9 million won't make up for $38.7 billion, but it's a piece of the puzzle.

It looks like the American auto industry is moving back toward reality in its labor costs. I haven't read enough to know what legacy costs the automakers still have with their older and retired employees. But if domestic manufacturers are to succeed, they will have to make cars people like me -- who have no brand loyalty -- want to buy.

My old Jeep Cherokee (yes, I'm still grieving) was a fine vehicle for doing what it was supposed to. And my Ford Escape gets me around in bad weather, which is why I bought it. I really need to find a way to buy a van soon.

For the record, in my life I have bought three Volkswagens, two Fords, one Honda, one Dodge and one Jeep. I wore out two of those vehicles. I sold two to relatives. Three were totaled in accidents, and I still drive one.

Odds and ends, 2/12/08

The first sign of spring is not the return of the robin or the hummingbird. It's not the person who has to mow his lawn at the first sign of 50-degree temperatures. It's the ever-present sound of ATVs going past my house on our secondary road.

I have no gripe against ATVs per se. I do gripe that some people who operate them have an overabundance of the hormones that stunt brain growth. They ride too fast, especially on paved roads and in blind curves.

Now comes this from the Legislature:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — All-terrain vehicle riders would be banned from paved roads unless local authorities decide otherwise under a bill approved Tuesday by a key Senate committee.

The measure would restrict ATV riding on paved roads to crossing from one trail or field to another, but would give county and municipal authorities wide leeway in regulating use of the vehicles. ...

Karen Coria, a lobbyist for the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, which represents ATV manufacturers, said that in towns like Gilbert, where ATVs are regulated and allowed to be driven in downtown areas, there have been no recorded recent fatalities.

“The bill’s intent is to curtail the joyriding being done by those who abuse the privilege,” she said. ...

One thing that should be in the bill is a requirement that ATVs being operated on public roads be licensed and bear certain safety devices such as tail lights and turn signals. If they want to share the public road, they should bear the same burdens as other motor vehicles.

###

Today's Columbus Dispatch had a story about people with an unnatural fear of snow. I don't fear snow, but the more I have to drive in it, the less I like it. To me the best snow is one that falls on Friday night and is gone from the highways by Sunday evening.

If I don't have to drive in it, it's wonderful. But there are too many people who don't know how to drive in snow that multiply the aggravation and terror for the rest of us.

###

Pardon me if I've mentioned this before, but a lot of people on The Herald-Dispatch forums are bringing back variations of the "Don't drink the Kool-Aid" cliche, which started after the mass suicide at Jonestown. According to what I have found, the Jonestown people didn't drink Kool-Aid. They drank grape-flavored Flavor-Aid.

My own private apathy

Some things that will be coming up in the news soon that I don't care a whole lot about:

NASCAR.
The NBA playoffs.
The Oscars.
Spring training for the Kansas City Royals.

One thing that is coming up that I am interested in, but not for the usual reason: the American Idol competition. I say this because I don't watch AI in hopes of finding a new singer whose CDs I will buy. I watch it for the politics and the manipulation. I watched last night's episode, and I got an idea of what three singers the producers want to go far in the competition so they can sell a lot of records. (I was about to use the word "pimp," but I don't want Hillary Clinton calling my boss and demanding that I be suspended or worse).

I didn't watch the first two seasons of American Idol, but I do know the show has morphed into something totally different from Season 3. I was disappointed last year when Sanjaya Malakar got the boot so soon, but it was a nice ride while it lasted. But then, I was one of those people who used to watch rasslin' on TV so I could root for the bad guys.

Back to the closet for the old GAF

Two months ago I gave up the ghost on film photography and bought a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera.

That means an old friend has been retired to the top shelf of the hall closet.

The old friend is a GAF L-CM camera that I bought in 1976. The thing is as heavy as a tank and almost as tough. It will be a long time before a digital camera can take the abuse this old film camera did, and it will be a long time before a digital camera teaches me as much about photography as the old GAF did.

I was just out of college and trying to get a career in journalism started. I figured I needed to learn to use a camera, so I went to a camera store and bought the most affordable good camera they had. It was all manual -- nothing automatic at all. Once I unpacked the box, I went to the library and checked out the Kodak book "How to Make Good Pictures." That book explained shutter speed, aperture, depth of field, the rule of thirds and all the other things a beginning photographer needs to know.

That summer, I shot black and white film. Those were the days before one-hour developing. In fact, about the quickest you could get your film back from the lab was a week. That fall, I bought my first roll of color print film. That winter, I experimented with a roll of infrared black-and-white. By spring, I was into color transparencies (slides).

The old GAF went with me to Florida, to California and behind the Iron Curtain. It accompanied me on the trip in 1986 when I drove both sides of the Ohio River. I used it to shoot pictures that moved on AP and UPI.

Did I say it was rugged? I was walking on the boulders near the Gallipolis Locks and Dam when I dropped the GAF. It landed on the edge of a rock and dented the bottom of the camera body. The dent went all the way to the film door. But there was no damage to the electrical exposure meter inside, and the film door closed as good as always.

A similar but smaller ding to a Nikon FM-2 a few years later knocked out the electronic exposure meter and required a $200 repair job.

As rugged and as instructional as it was, the GAF had its faults. By modern standards, the viewfinder was dark. And it got darker the more the lens was stopped down. And the lens mount was frustrating. You know how most SLRs require a one-eighth twist to get the lens off? The GAF has a screw mount lens. Changing from the 50-mm lens to a zoom lens required three complete revolutions.

But the old thing took abuse and lasted. But its time is past. Digital is here. From what I read, I'll be lucky to get the same 30 years out of my DSLR that I got out of the old GAF. I hear the shutters of digitals wear out sooner than shutters of film cameras. And who knows how long the software in my camera will interface with the software of my home computer. The computer industry learned a great lesson from 1950s Detroit about planned obsolescence.

But you know what? While it may be obsolete from a marketing and convenience standpoint, it still gets the job done after all these years, like that old-tech Jeep Cherokee of mine that was totaled in a wreck back in October. It, too, used an old engine and everything else of old design, but it was still running at 217,000 miles when the accident happened.

Maybe someday I'll feel like shooting a roll of film again. When that happens, I'll reach up in the top of the closet, grab the GAF and load film and start shooting. I bet it will still work.

A couple more pix

Michelle asked for some more photos, so I offer these two.

The first time I noticed a Canada goose up close, I thought it was a beautiful bird. A few weeks later, I saw what happens when a flock of them set up shop in a grassy area. I found these birds at Harris Riverfront Park a couple of months ago.

I changed the photo from color to black-and-white for no particular reason other than I like it better in monochrome. Here is the color version, uncropped. You decide:

I like to convert a lot of the family pictures I take into monochrome because it brings out the facial features and the emotions better. You don't look at the color of the shirt; you look at the texture of the skin. I guess I'm old-fashioned in that respect.

Then there is the floodwall at Catlettsburg, Ky. A lot of people want something painted on the Huntington floodwall to make it look better. They should take a trip to Catlettsburg. This is only one photo of many scenes painted on the floodwall there. Whoever did that job did it right.

Odds and ends, 2/8/07

The Herald-Dispatch carried an AP story yesterday about the death of one of the two remaining World War I veterans in the United States. But from reading the story, the guy never went overseas.

Perhaps the AP should have called him a World War I era veteran.

It's a distinction we learned the hard way here a few years ago.

An obit said the deceased was a Korean War veteran when the guy had never set foot in the place. He had been in the service during the Korean Conflict, but he did not serve in Korea. That is why in modern conflicts we tended to differentiate between Vietnam War veteran or Vietnam era veteran. I dare say the last true World War I veteran passed long ago. At least among Americans.

###

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Calling it a burden on citizens and businesses, Gov. Joe Manchin wants the state’s Public Service Commission to rethink its plan for instituting a new area code.

Last month, the commission voted to create a new area code based on geography, with counties in the north and the panhandles getting the new digits.

Manchin said Friday that an “overlay” plan in which the new area code would be spread throughout the state for new customers makes more sense.

Friday is the final day for formal requests to reconsider the plan.

I have to disagree. Two area codes for one geographic territory? Talk about confusing. Why should I have to dial a 10-digit number to talk to my new neighbor?

Southern Ohio (614 to 740) got through a change okay. So did Lexington, Ky. (606 to 859). Just change half the state and be done with it. Just don't make us take 666, or is that taken?

###

The 10th Street entrance to Harris Riverfront Park was blocked off today because the Ohio River is up. I didn't get too close, but I didn't see the floodgates up to completely close off the park.

As best I can remember, the last time that happened was during the big flood of March 1997.

They probably won't need to put the gates up anyway. The last I heard, the river was supposed to crest at 47 to 48 feet. The base of the floodwall is 55 feet.

I'm taking my Senate floor and going home and you can't play with it

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky lawmaker who was the subject of critical newspaper editorials and cartoons last year is striking back.

State Rep. Jim Gooch of Providence is pushing legislation that would essentially bar editorial writers and cartoonists from the House and Senate floors.

The western Kentucky Democrat was ridiculed last year in newspapers for attempting to quash a coal mine safety and for claiming global warming is a hoax. One editorial cartoon showed Gooch in a hot tub with King Coal.

Gooch’s bill would list editorial writers and cartoonists as lobbyists. In Kentucky, lobbyists aren’t allowed in the House or Senate while lawmakers are in session.

Maybe they could call this the “I Am Above Criticism Bill.”

Hannah and the governor

Last week, I wondered why Gov. Joe Manchin had never gone into detail explaining the changes he wanted to see in the PROMISE scholarship program. So I called his press office to ask about it. No one was around, so I left a phone message. A couple of hours later, the governor himself called, and we talked some about PROMISE.

During the conversation, I said my 10th-grade daughter was watching a morning newscast the day after his State of the State speech, and she hit the ceiling when she heard his idea of requiring people who receive PROMISE scholarships to work in West Virginia at least two years after graduating from college.

Manchin said he wanted to talk with my daughter and gave me a phone number where she could call him that evening. Hannah, being a bit of a shy girl in these things (but not that many others), didn’t call the governor that night. She didn’t call the next night, either.

So yesterday I get a call from the governor’s people asking how they could call Hannah. I gave them our home phone number. The governor tried calling her after school, but the line was out because of the previous night’s wind storm. So he calls me and I give him a cell number where she could be reached.

Later, I learn that Manchin called Hannah. When she answered the phone, she took it to her bedroom and locked the door so no one could listen in. When I asked her about it, she said she didn’t recall much about the conversation except that Manchin did most of the talking and said things about China and India. She says she will tell me more as she remembers.

Maybe she was just overwhelmed by the governor wanting to talk to her.

Before Manchin’s speech, she was undecided on going to Marshall or Ohio State. One of her favorite aunts graduated from Ohio State a few years ago. So did another aunt.
But if Hannah qualifies for a PROMISE scholarship and has to commit to working in West Virginia for two years, she might be off to Columbus.

###

Speaking of which, I have to wonder if there is something at work in the background as far as PROMISE scholarships go.

PROMISE scholarships are funded by profits from limited video lottery. The law authorizing video lottery sunsets in two or three years. There is a move afoot to reduce the number of video lottery machines statewide, especially those in businesses that derive most of their money from it.

Manchin indicated in our phone conversation last week that he would be in favor of such a reduction. The video lottery law was intended to regulate machines found in mom-and-pop businesses and in fraternal clubs, Manchin said. No one intended for out-of-state companies to swoop into the state and set up video casinos all over the place, he said.

If I interpret things right, that means we could see a significant drop in money available for PROMISE scholarships in a few years.

Which comes first: Reducing the amount of money given in PROMISE scholarships so it will be easier to reduce the number of video lottery machines? Or wait until the machines are gone and then deal with the fallout of a high demand for PROMISE scholarships with no revenue source to fund them?

State officials can put this off this year — maybe — but they won’t be able to duck it next year or the year after.

###

We received a news release the other day about a survey of the high school class of 2007. The survey was done for the state Higher Education Policy Commission. A few of the findings noted in the news release interested me:

-- Respondents indicated that academic programs and affordability were the primary factors influencing their college choice. (And here I thought winning athletic programs were one of the big factors. Huh.).

-- PROMISE eligibility was unlikely to influence students’ decision on whether to attend college.

-- PROMISE eligibility did influence students’ decisions on where to attend college. Evidence from the survey suggests PROMISE influenced nearly 14 percent of respondents to attend a West Virginia college rather than an out-of-state college.

-- Students from upper-income and college-graduate households were much more likely to identify PROMISE eligibility as having influenced their decision to attend college in West Virginia than were first-generation college students.

Clean coal, 2/6/08

(Please forgive the length of this post).

Remember FutureGen, the experimental coal-fired power plant that was supposed to lead the way toward nonpolluting electrical generation?

Future Gen was dealt a hard blow by the U.S. Department of Energy last month. The DOE backed out of the project after complaining publicly since late December about the project’s rising costs — to $1.8 billion from $800 million when it was announced in 2003.

Rather than build one large experimental plant, the DOE now leans toward a series of smaller ones.

That’s much different from five years ago. When FutureGen was announced, states bid against each other to be the chosen site. The prototype plant was to establish the technical and economic feasibility of producing electricity and hydrogen from coal while capturing carbon dioxide generated in the process and storing it underground.

The plant could have had as many as 1,300 people employed during construction and 150 permanent jobs once it went into operation. That does not count the unknown benefits from having so many scientists and engineers involved in its construction and operation.
Ohio offered incentives totaling $164 million. West Virginia stayed out of the game. Gov. Joe Manchin said West Virginia didn’t have the money to compete. All it offered was 387 acres near Point Pleasant, W.Va. That came nowhere near what other states were offering.

Eventually, Illinois was chosen as the site.

The FutureGen Alliance, the power and coal companies developing the plant, had planned to pay for 26 percent of the project, with the DOE providing the rest. American Electric Power is a member of the Alliance.

DOE is soliciting new inquiries from private industry for what it says could be a series of clean-coal projects.

According to The Associated Press, U.S. Sen Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Ill., on Tuesday accused Undersecretary of Energy C.H. “Bud” Albright of saying the DOE was not interested in “building Disneyland in some swamp in Illinois” during a conference call with FutureGen Alliance members and others involved in the project.

Albright later apologized.

“I regret the comment I made,” Albright said. “It does not reflect my view then or now, nor does it reflect the view of the department or Secretary Bodman.”

But the damage to FutureGen may have been done. The AP quoted Mike Mudd, chief executive officer of the FutureGen Alliance, as saying construction is “very, very unlikely” without the DOE.

An article in The Times-West Virginian of Fairmont, W.Va., quoted Manchin as giving a reason other than cost for the DOE’s withdrawing from the Illinois site.

“The federal government stepped out of FutureGen because the technology market has moves past” the technology the plant was going to use, Manchin said at an event in Fairmont.

“You’re going to hear something very soon about something that we’re doing and working with” on coal liquefaction, also in partnership with major utilities, Manchin said.

So where do we stand on clean-coal technology? Maybe we’ll learn in a few months. FutureGen just might be regrouping. Meanwhile, American Electric Power is waiting for permission to increase rates before it resumes planning work on one or more new plants using a clean-coal process known as IGCC.

No matter what you do, burning coal cleanly is a more expensive than burning it dirty. If people want electricity from coal and a cleaner environment in the process, they will have to decide how much it’s worth to them.

And some folks will continue to say there is no such thing as clean-coal technology. They will cite the fact that mining coal is a dirty business, so no matter how cleanly coal is burned, the environmental damage remains.

As part of that, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition issued a news release on Wednesday with news on that front.

West Virginia State Senator Jon Blair Hunter, D-Monongalia, today introduced a bill that that would “effectively end the practice of burying thousand of miles of streams under the rubble created by mountaintop removal coal mining,” the OVEC news release said.

“I introduced Senate Bill 588 because I fervently believe that God did not intend for us to destroy the mountains, the streams, the forests and His people in order to mine coal,” Sen. Hunter said.

So that’s where we stand now, trying to clean coal on both ends of the cycle — mining and combustion.

Oil company taxes

Elsewhere on the Internet, someone has pointed out that ExxonMobil paid about $30 billion in income taxes last year, which is the same amount "as the entire bottom 50% of individual taxpayers, which is 65,000,000 people!"

So I got to looking at the income tax bills of the four largest oil companies. If I read their financial statements correctly, this is a list of their income tax expenses:

ExxonMobil: $30 billion.
Chevron: $13.5 billion.
ConocoPhillips: $11.4 billion.
Marathon: $2.9 billion.

For comparison, the total West Virginia state government budget for 2008-09, including the State Road Fund and lottery money, is about $5.56 billion.

A frequent visitor to my back yard

This is the best picture of this critter that I have. I tried to get a cardinal to pose, too, but none showed up to eat the food, at least while I had the camera out.

The photo looks a lot better enlarged, believe me.

Odds and ends, 2/4/08

In October 1998, Marshall University had a dedication ceremony for its new John Deaver Drinko Library. On hand was John Deaver Drinko, who contributed $2.3 million toward the $31 million project.

I wasn't there, but I looked up the article in our archives to see what happened that day.

According to the archived article, pretty much refused to take credit or receive public adulation for his gift of $2.3 million toward the $31 million library project.