Oregon’s biggest problem used to be logging jobs lost from spotted owl lawsuits.
A new sort problem is developing. Green jobs and green programs are going off the rails. Portland recently passed a draconian “Climate Action Plan to reduce CO2 emissions by 80% that has little chance of succeeding by its 2050 deadline.
Read the story from the Oregonian here
The latest news is that the Green Tax breaks aren’t what they were promised to be and taxpayers are getting hosed for a cost 40 times what was voted on:
State lowballed cost of green tax breaks
State officials deliberately underestimated the cost of Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s plan to lure green energy companies to Oregon with big taxpayer subsidies, resulting in a program that cost 40 times more than unsuspecting lawmakers were told, an investigation by The Oregonian shows.
It gets worse. Now tax breaks are being sold in Oregon for less than they are worth.
Read about it here in the Register Guard
The tax credits can be sold, enriching companies that have nothing to do with renewable energy, and the swelling program is a drain on state revenue, critics say.
Here are some examples:
- Peak Sun Silicon, of Millersburg, sold a $3.25 million tax credit to US Bank for $2.18 million.
- Peak Sun also sold a $5.85 million tax credit to two companies: Nordstrom for $2.85 million and Standard Insurance for $2 million.
- Solaicx, of Portland, sold a $9.04 million tax credit to US Bank for $6.05 million.
- SolarWorld, of Hillsboro, sold an $11 million tax credit to Wal-Mart for $7.37 million.
- SolarWorld also sold a $10.96 million tax credit to Flir Systems, of Portland, for $7.34 million.
“It would be interesting to trace some of the relationships between those in industry and those setting the policies… do a lot of ex-Government types end up in cushy exec jobs in industry I wonder? Perhaps even coincidently the companies that may have benefited from their policies generated during their government tenure… perhaps I am somewhat cynical…” Bulldust
You are not cynical at all it is called the corporate/government revolving door. Here are some examples from the Ag industry. (my area of expertise sort of) The idea of a few corporations having complete control of my food supply scares the begeesus out of me! Very soon it will be impossible for the individual to raise their own food. Combine that with “global cooling” and we could be in a world of hurt food wise. http://www.opednews.com/articles/History-HACCP-and-the-Foo-by-Nicole-Johnson-090906-229.html
Ann Veneman was Sec of Ag. She is International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council (IPC) Member Emeritus and a board member of a Monsanto subsidiary company before she became US Secretary of Agriculture for George W. Bush in 2001. She worked on the Uruguay Round talks for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Meatnews wrote that she “played a key role in eliminating trade barriers (WTO) Ann Veneman served on the board of directors for Calgene Inc. (bought by Monsanto) Calgene became the first company to bring genetically-engineered food, the Flavr Savr tomato, to supermarket shelves. Veneman also worked for the law firm and lobby group Patton, Boggs & Blow. (the people who invented professional lobbying) IPC is the group who put food on the WTO agenda. http://www.publiceyeonscience.ch/images/the_wto_and_the_politics_of_gmo.doc
Robert Shapiro was chair of Monsanto while also leading President Clinton’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. (Is it any wonder we got stuck with WTO?)
Mickey Kantor was US trade representative for much of the Uruguay Round. He subsequently became a Monsanto board member.
Marcia Hale was an assistant to President Clinton and director for intergovernmental affairs. She was also a director of international government affairs for Monsanto.
Clayton K. Yeutter, a former secretary of agriculture and US trade representative, who led the US team in negotiating NAFTA and helped launch the GATT Uruguay Round. He joined the board of directors at Mycogen Corporation. Mycogen’s majority owner is Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company.
Former Cargill Vice-President, Dan Amstutz was the negotiator appointed to head the WTO delegation, He drafted the original text of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture. He also worked for Goldman Sachs. “Opening Southern markets and converting peasant agriculture to corporate agriculture is the primary aim of Cargill and hence the Agreement on Agriculture.
But opening markets for Cargill implies closure of livelihoods for farmers. W.T.O. rules are not just about trade. They determine how food is produced and who controls food production. For Cargill, capturing Asian markets is key. Asia happens to be the largest agricultural economy of the world, with the majority involved in agriculture. Converting self-sufficient food economies into food dependent economies is the Cargill vision and the W.T.O. strategy.” http://www.zmag.org/zspace/commentaries/1711
Neil Hammerschmidt: Coordinator for the NAIS at USDA (APHIS), helped develop an international program before he took charge of the U.S. ID program. During 1998-2003 (just prior to his 2004 position) he chaired the ID and Information committee of the NIAA and was involved in the International Committee on Animal Recording and the ISO (International Standards Organization) Working Group for International Standards for Electronic Identification of Animals. (World Trade Organization/UN working groups) “The National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) is the trade organization that developed the plans for NAIS (Animal ID) http://www.ruralheritage.com/stop_nais/niaa01.htm
Bruce Knight was the vice president for public policy at the National Corn Growers Association. Knight has also worked for the National Association of Wheat Growers.
Knight served on the staffs of three Republican members of Congress. He was appointed Agriculture Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. Bruce Knight is now Principal Consultant of the Cambridge based International Agribusiness marketing consultancy, Innovation Management.
Knight was the guy who let the cat out of the bag that the US Ag department’s “Premises ID” contract removes farm property rights and leaves farmers at the mercy of the International Criminal Court! http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2009/01/17/nais-and-the-international-criminal-court/
The use of the word “premises” instead of property and the word “stakeholder” instead of owner in the USDA contracts turn farmers into sharecroppers who no longer own their land or animals. http://www.opednews.com/articles/NAIS–PREMISES-DEFINED–by-Marti-Oakley-090105-634.html
If I was Mega-Mart I would set a company with a name like”SolarWork” to get a tax credit, then sell it to myself.
hehe
We cannot blame the companies. Clearly their purchasing of these tax credits are legal. Would you walk past a $100 lying on the ground?
Many of us are not surprised at the results of this further governmental distortion of the free market. Alas, it has to get worse. What do you think the Oregon government’s response will be to these unintended consequences? Will it be more or less governmental intrusion? At a minimum, the legislation will get amended and there will be “jobs” to ensure that the tax credits go to those who are more “deserving”. There is certainly a role for government – but this type of thing is an unmitigated disaster for Oregon taxpayers. Hopefully other States will learn from the misery of the Oregon taxpayers – a major potential benefit of our Federal system.
In Portland they have bumper stickers that say “Keep Portland Wierd.” Across the Columbia River in Vancouver Washington, they have stickers that say “Keep Vancouver Normal.”
I grew up in Oregon. Once upon a time Oregon was a fine place to live with good people. Then all the liberals that messed the California Bay area up to the point it was hostle to family life moved north and began to create utopia in Oregon. They were sure they would get it right this time….
I live in Vancouver now and am thinking Texas.
Wow. So not only will the move to ‘green’ energy result in poor quality, undependable power. It will also bankrupt us.
And of course do nearly nothing to ‘help’ the climate.
Re: Richard Briscoe (3:31:29), your comments are well taken. You are correct that there is nothing wrong with the selling of credits per se – *unless* the entire scheme was an intentional fraud from the beginning, and I suspect it was. (Although in this case the end-purchaser may be innocent)
I think you suspect that as well, but just to make it clear for those Oregonians who still don’t quite see what’s going on here: The legislature passes this law. I, being perhaps a brother in law of a legislator and and with his support, realize I have a great opportunity and create a company called Totally Awesome Solar and Wind. Now, I have great plans and spread them around to a lot of people, and I get a $10 million tax credit due to this and my connections which make sure everything goes smooth. The problem is that I never get around to actually creating a business, so I will never have income to apply my tax credit against. But that’s no problem at all! I simply sell it at a discounted rate to someone who *does* have income, and I pocket the $6 or $7million I just made from doing nothing but knowing the right people, and my purchaser pockets the other $3 million. Looks like a win-win, doesn’t it, especially since I’ll kick back some of my winnings to the pol who enabled all of this!
Win-win for everyone except the poor saps at the bottom footing the bill, those chumps we call “taxpayers.” But seriously, in this system who cares about them anymore???
Table 2–Summary of predicted annual avian mortality.
Mortality source Annual mortality estimate Percent composition
Buildings1 550 million 58.2 percent
Power lines2 130 million 13.7 percent
Cats3 100 million 10.6 percent
Automobiles4 80 million 8.5 percent
Pesticides5 67 million 7.1 percent
Communications towers6 4.5 million 0.5 percent
Wind turbines7 28.5 thousand <0.01 percent
Airplanes 25 thousand <0.01 percent
Other sources (oil spills, oil seeps, fishing by-catch, etc.) not calculated not calculated
1 Mid-range of fatality estimates reported from Klem (1990), 1 – 10 bird fatalities per house, extrapolated to 100 million residences
2 Based primarily on a study in the Netherlands (Koops 1987), extrapolated to 500,000 miles of bulk transmission line in U.S.
3One study in Wisconsin estimated 40 million (Coleman and Temple 1996), there are 60 million cats claimed as pets in the U.S.
4Based primarily on one study in England (Hudson 1965, Banks 1979) that estimated 15.1 fatalities/mile of road each year, no searcher
efficiency or bias adjustments in that study, updated based on increase in vehicle registrations
5Conservative estimate using low range of empirical fatality rate (0.1 to 3.6 birds/acre), studies typically adjusted from searcher
efficiency and scavenging
6Estimates from models derived by Manville and Evans (M. Manville, pers. comm.).
7Mid-range of per turbine and per MW estimates derived from empirical data collected at several wind projects (table 1).
be developed to help compensate for the continued
growth of human development on the landscape resulting
in loss of bird habitat.
Acknowledgments
The effort to gather and summarize much of the literature
in this document was funded by DOE, with
direction and support from the Wildlife Working
Group of the National Wind Coordinating Committee.
Most of the collision mortality information was first
reported in the NWCC Resource Document entitled
“Avian collisions with wind turbines: A summary of
existing studies and comparisons to other sources of
avian collision mortality in the United States”
(Erickson et al. 2001). We appreciate the comments
from the reviewers of that report, including K. Sinclair
(National Renewable Energy Laboratory), A. Manville
(USFWS), P. Kerlinger (Curry and Kerlinger), S.
Ugoretz (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources),
T. Gray (American Wind Energy Association), and J.
Stewart (FPL Energy). We also appreciate the comments
on this manuscript from C. J. Ralph.
Literature Cited
Aldrich, J. W., R. C. Banks, T. J. Cade, W. A. Calder, F. G.
Cooch, S. T. Emlen, G. A. Greenwell, T. R. Howell, J. P.
Hubbard, D. W. Johnston, R. F. Johnston, and L. R.
Mewaldt. 1975. Report of the American Ornithologist;
Union and ad hoc Committee on Scientific and Educational
Use of Birds. Auk 92 (3, Supple.): 1A-27A.
Anderson, R. L., M. Morrison, K. Sinclair and D. Strickland.
1999. Studying wind energy/bird interactions: A
guidance document. National Wind Coordinating
Mike McMillan (02:21:25) :
Nobody to blame here but the pols and the dunces who vote for them.
This is the most accurate and succinct post ever to grace WUWT.
I just look on it as payback for what the Governor did to George Taylor.
Just imagine the amount of public tax money that will squandered when this sort of thing becomes national.
The damage done to real manufacturing in the USA will be utterly devastating.
“Wow, the Register-Guard and The Oregonian are probably the most liberal papers in the state …”
You mean the “War-Oregonian”? The paper that endorsed Bush? Liberal? Surely you jest.
That is what happens when you mix environmentalists with economists.
And has anybody noticed that some major environmental organizations are run by economists? For example, the background of the chairman of the IPCC, Rajendra K. Pachauri is in economics as is the director of Columbia’s Earth Institute.
http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/articles/view/1804
Why is this?
The managers of the companies taking advantage of the rules are doing
exactly what they are paid for. THEY ARE PLAYING BY THE RULES. After all, If you were eligible for a $10,000 tax credit for using the recycling tub on trash day, you would take it, wouldn’t you?
On the other hand, politicians are paid to represent you.
So….the results of those laws must be what you want or the politicians would be “fired”.
Politicians look for scapegoats to blame for the messes they have caused.
They say “It’s the fault of Big Pharma, or Big Oil, or Big Insurance, or (the new favorite) George Bush”. But, their rules create the messes!
Also realize: If the politicians didn’t have the power to regulate, special interest groups ( from the Sierra Club to the Steel Mfgr’s Assn.) would not spend a penny to lobby. Whenever a Politician makes a law to “solve a problem”, a new source of contributions is also created.
**********************
voodoo (06:22:21) :
I live in Vancouver now and am thinking Texas.
**********************
We came from the Left Coast to Texas. Admittedly, the weather isn’t as nice, but here the People really do have Power. It’s amazing after coming from a repressive state like California. Come on down; we have room for (conservative) refugees! Just avoid Austin/Travis County. It is the Ugly Blue Wart on the Great Red State of Texas. They also have a bumper sticker “Keep Austin Weird”. Here, the county north of Austin, we have a bumper sticker saying “Keep Weird in Austin”.
One last thought: It is the POLITICIANS that work for you. Hold them accountable. Don’t blame business. They do not work for you and they are playing by the rules that your politicians made.
Regards.
Steamboat Jack
Just in case you thought those tax dollars are at least going into the pockets of American businessmen, here is the reality:
This is a sampling of the industries with over 50% foreign ownership, according to Source Watch http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Foreign_ownership_of_U.S._corporations
* Sound recording industries – 97%
* Commodity contracts dealing and brokerage – 79%
* Motion picture and sound recording industries – 75%
* Metal ore mining – 65%
* Wineries and distilleries – 64%
* Database, directory, Book and other publishers – 63%
* Cement, concrete, lime, and gypsum product – 62%
* Engine, turbine and power transmission equipment – 57%
* Rubber product – 53%
* Nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing – 53%
* Plastics and rubber products manufacturing – 52%
* Other insurance related activities – 51%
* Boiler, tank, and shipping container – 50%
* Glass and glass product – 48%
* Coal mining – 48%
Statistics showed in 1990, before WTO was ratified, Foreign ownership of U.S. assets amounted to 33% of U.S. GDP. By 2002 this had increased to over 70% of U.S. GDP. http://www.fame.org/HTM/greg%20Pickup%201%2010%2003%20report.htm
I wonder how much of US business is foreign owned now? The Batistas of Brazil were busy buying out the American slaughter houses like Swift, National Beef, and Smithfield the last time I checked. The mergers would make JBS Swift the largest meat packer in the U.S. and in the world. It reduces the national meat packers in this country from five to three.
While we were not paying any attention the politicians have been seeling our country out from under us. The Department of Homeland Security says 80% of our ports are operated by Foreigners and they are buying and running US bridges and toll roads. http://www.alabamaeagle.org/issues.asp?action=form&formID=2105&recordID=131006
Seems no one remembers the anti-trust legislation anymore.
“An analysis of the 2007 financial markets of 48 countries shows the world’s finances are in the hands of a few mutual funds, banks, and corporations. This is the first report of global concentration of financial power” http://www.insidescience.org/research/study_says_world_s_stocks_controlled_by_select_few
Mike McMillan (02:21:25) :
Bulldust (00:27:33) :
The gall of some of these companies is amazing.
Not gall, just proper business. The companies aren’t the ones setting out the rules here or doing the fleecing. If stupid politicians want to give throw away constituents’ money, it would be stupid not to take it. If a company can’t use the tax credit, it’s obligated to its investors to sell the credit for what it can get.
Nobody to blame here but the pols and the dunces who vote for them.
This is but one of the many reasons the US Constitution provides for limited government. There is no point in buying and selling votes if you don’t have the power to grant special favors.
Mike McMillan (02:21:25) :
Bulldust (00:27:33) :
The gall of some of these companies is amazing.
Not gall, just proper business. The companies aren’t the ones setting out the rules here or doing the fleecing. If stupid politicians want to give throw away constituents’ money, it would be stupid not to take it. If a company can’t use the tax credit, it’s obligated to its investors to sell the credit for what it can get.
Nobody to blame here but the pols and the dunces who vote for them.
Yes, I do blame rent-seeking companies as well as the politicians. We can’t just blame the system — the playahs and the game are both to blame.
In the nearby city of Spokane, a proposition demanding alternative electricity was recently voted on. Nevermind the fact that hydroelectric is king in the region.
Lunacy is contagious IMO. I’ve heard many people form the western side of my state say things that mirror the short-sighted stupidity of their kin in coastal Oregon, as well as California.
This has gone to far.
Small Government, low taxes and good services and No Red Tape is as important for the economy as cheap energy and good infrastructure and education.
As soon Governments start to interfere with the market, things go terribly wrong.
Let this be a lesson and let’s hope the people understand this lesson and make their voices heard at the next elections.
Green measures will bankrupt the economy.
I visited my daughter in Portland last year and the one thing that struck me was they have no insects whatsoever. The climate is actually very dry. When the humidity exceeds 50% it falls out as rain. Perhaps those folks have let their brains dry out.
California’s global warming law (AB 32) is having a similar effect – higher costs to everyone, and fewer jobs, despite the official statements to the contrary.
http://energyguysmusings.blogspot.com/2009/10/green-jobs-and-energy.html
Californians already use less energy per capita than other states, yet has one of the highest unemployment rates (4th or 5th at last count). So, where are the jobs? California’s green movement should have already made the state a showcase for productivity and low unemployment. Apparently not.
“I formerly listened to what [a man] said, and trusted him to keep his word. Now, I still listen, but watch very carefully what he does.” – Confucius
Thanks, Anthony, for a very important post and thanks, Gail Combs, for contributing research we must know about if “we” are ever to make a difference. To all those who say that businesses are only doing what they are supposed to do: make money any which way, I say [self-snip]. Capitalism (disciplined and honorable — make a profit by adding “value”; respect and compensate your workers; reinvest your profits; don’t keep all the gravy for yourselves) and the reasonable free market will never survive with that attitude.
Oh, and the people who voted in their representatives deserve what they get? Well, who pays the election and reelection costs, who lobbies for special “privileges”, who changes the voting procedures to machines without a paper train, who pays for fraudulent voting? Most of the answers are: businesses, corporations. Who got most of the U.S. bailout money? Corporations (financial, especially — who funded Obama from the beginning). Oh, is Boeing building its new plant in So. Carolina, thumbing its nose at the (ending) tax breaks and labor costs in Wash State? Well, how much of that So Carolina labor is American-born? Did the Dems approve no-pay-back mortgages? Well, did H Paulson relax the reserves that financial institutions needed to keep on hand? Want to blame George Soros? Well, didn’t he make his billions using anything goes, free market “principles”; now he can use them for totalitarian purposes. Thuggery in, thuggery out. How about the Obama-supporting corporations like Microsoft (don’t forget Google) and their “desperate need” to hire scientists, engineers, and technology experts from other countries. A good “free market” principle if you can get it — make profits by excluding American workers.
There must be responsibility from all players in a representative democracy and businesses do not get off the hook because they are supposedly doin’ what they outta. Nor do authoritarian-leaning unions; nor do mediocracy-spreading teachers’ organizations; nor do major scientific organizations who back fraudulent science and destructive public policies.
There is no free market; there is only a reasonable and disciplined playing field — not owned by any government — where all can benefit. The US seems to be moving further and further away from what we fought for in the beginning — and it has only been 220 years.
For years I was the President of a company that had one asset. It was a ranch. I never saw the ranch. It was moved in ownership as a tax write off and I knew the CPA that handled the deal. Here they want to create a market for CO2 trading and credits and get edgy when trading ands buy/sell agreements are transacted.
The worst part of this is the Governor and State bureaucracy delibaerately defrauding the legislature to pass the green tax credits. And the firing of 30 year Oregon Dept of Energy manager because he objected to some of the shenannigans.
Then there is the tax funded wholesale fabrication of study results to advance other green policies.
This is corrupted government and the perpetrators shoud be proscecuted. Where’s their Attorney General or the feds?
“I live in Vancouver now and am thinking Texas.” voodoo
Heard on Amarillo radio:
“If you’ll wear out a pair of shoes in Amarillo, you’ll stay.” That place hasn’t changed in 50 years.
State-by-state unemployment (including DC) has Oregon as the sixth highest in the nation. A very pretty state, and a place I might live if it was less crazy. You reap what you sow.
46 OREGON 11.5