Friday, May 19, 2006

Open Forum 5/19

Bluecoat posted this article over on CT Local Politics. I just had to post the link here. It's too serious an article to be missed.

"Officials are also concerned that there might not be enough power in the future. Jerrold Oppenheim, a public interest attorney, told lawmakers that Connecticut is poised to experience 'resource adequacy problems' by 2010. And he said there is nothing on the horizon that would cover the power gap." (Susan Haigh, AP)

What's so sad about this is that I heard a FERC spokesman talking about CT's future energy problems at least a year ago. I guess the future is here. It's just too bad that our state legislature was buried under the truly important issues of our day, such as banning soda in school.

I heard of at least one well-connected Cheshire Dem who received one of these Lieberman phone calls. Our Senator is definitely concerned. Wonder how it's going for him tonight?

And finally, energy is generally rising in price. But I found this article on natural gas prices to be rather interesting. Unfortunately for our pool, we buy (I believe) most of the natural gas we need during the winter... when supplies are tight and prices are high.

Both state conventions (R & D) will be happening tomorrow. I was a delegate, but won't be going. I have too many other important things to do, like... cut the lawn.

UPDATE

Lamont wins! just kidding. Although he did amazing well. Apparently he got 1/3 of the votes. (And seeing as how I got 1/3 myself, then obviously that's an incredible number to hit! lol.) I just pulled these convention delegate counts from CT Local Pol (their QB, Genghis Conn, is covering the Dem convention live) for the three towns in the 89th... Bethany (2 Joe Lieberman, 1 Ned Lamont) Cheshire (5 JL, 7 NL) & Prospect (3 JL, 0 NL). I really have no analysis for what those numbers mean. Anyone know who the delegates were? I'm not even sure who the Cheshire delegates were. Although I do believe I heard that all five Cheshire Council Dems are in the convention tomorrow when the Governor's nod is given. I imagine that they would all be delegates to the Senate endorsement tonight, but I'm not sure.

Tim White
State Representative candidate (R-89, Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect)
TimWhite98@yahoo.com

5 comments:

Tim White said...

Blue... from a regional perspective, one small anecdote... I've been told that metro Boston has 35 Compressed Natural Gas fueling stations available to regular people (not the usual gov't-only stations). And metro NYC has 50 such stations. And with the Honda Civic GX available for sale at Manchester Honda, CT could jump on the CNG bandwagon fairly easily. Is that the fix to $3 gas? No. But it would help us to begin to diversify our energy portfolio. And if people bought the GX... they would have some driving range. Not a lot, but some.

And granted, CNG is a finite resource. But with good technology, we may be able to convert over to hydrogen with ease... if the hydrogen economy ever arrives.

Tim White said...

Blue... agreed... lots of options and lots of answers... "brick & mortar" vs "transportation" is one question. Distribution vs generation is another question. Distribution can be somewhat eliminated as a concern with on site generation... fuel cells, microturbines, photovoltaics.

Transportation has lots of options too. But considering how far and wide the "energy issue" is, I'm just glad that a discussion seems to have begun. Without first having a public dialogue, I don't believe we'd ever be able to really address the problem. There must be a buy-in from the public to move forward and move forward intelligently.

So I think we agree... my "buy-in" flows right into the policy to which you refer. At least that's how I see it.

Anonymous said...

on to more important things?

Where can you get a decent meal in Cheshire now

Pasta D'Oro is out and Damon's is still vacant.

And sorry, overpriced yuppie seafood is not my bag

Anonymous said...

oh I forgot, Cugino's is taking a long time to reopen after what was supposed to be a minor kitchen fre

Anonymous said...

TIM, YOU HAVE TO FEEL BAD FOR THE FOLKS THAT LIVE NEAR THE MACNAMARA BALLFIELDS. I ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY THAT WE HAVE DUELING BASEBALL LEAGUES IN CHESHIRE. ITS OBVIOUSLY A CASE OF PARENTS GOING OVERBOARD WITH THEIR KIDS' SPORTS. WHEN I SEE THE FULL PAGE ADS IN THE PAPER IT MAKES ME SICK.THE OBVIOUS ANSWER IS TO LIMIT THE NUMBER OF TEAMS AND THE NUMBER OF GAMES. HAVING GAMES EVERY DAY IS RIDICULOUS. WHAT HAPPENED TO BASEBALL BEING A SPRING SPORT, WHY PLAY ALL SUMMER? I THINK THIS IS A HOT ISSUE AND I WOULD JOIN WITH THE LOCAL COMMUNITY IN STRAIGHTENING THIS OUT. THE OVER 30 MENS BASKETBALL LEAGUE PLAYS HOOP THERE IN THE SUMMER SO DONT ALLOW THEM TO PAVE THE COURT FOR MORE PARKING SPOTS. THEY NEED TO CUT BACK ON GAMES , NOT INCREASE PARKING. ADDING MORE ACTIVITIES TO BARTLEM PARK IS STUPID. THERE WAS A TIME(SEVERAL YRS AGO) WHEN THE TOWN WAS TALKING ABOUT ALL THE TRAFFIC DOWN THERE ON RT 10...NOW EVERYONE AND THERE BROTHER IS HAVING FIELDS BUILT THERE. MAKES NO SENSE.