When I was fighting Richard Pombo last year, I knew what was going on. It was very clear to see every connection between Pombo and the Corporate / labor / criminal (Abramoff) conspiracies that run this country. Even though I am not a Democrat, I was hopeful that the Democratic Party would find a way to bring forth candidates who did more than mouth the right words. I was intrigued mostly by Senator Obama and Governor Richardson.
If you want to continue to believe that, go read another entry. If you want to find out why I have been so disappointed, follow me on the jump.
I had little hope that Hillary would be other than a corporate apologist. For some of the other candidates, I had much higher hopes. Then, it was much to my chagrin that I read in High Country News (subscription required) that the New Mexico Attorney general is investigating the governor's office use of a PNM paid lobbyist as a staffer during the 2007 legislative session. That sounds just like Pombo, or maybe John Doolittle.
But that is not what really got to me. I am really concerned about Global Warming. I was an avid reader of Chris Mooney's first book, The Republican War on Science. That laid out in detail how the major corporations paid for think tank support and generated a climate of doubt about everything they did not want to happen. It was a trick that they learned from the tobacco companies.
Now, we have a top clean energy insider in New Mexico, Ben Luce, taking on the Governor Richardson In fact, Luce has started his own grassroots organization to address the matter. It is called Break the Grip. The intent is to break the grip that major corporations have on legislation, both at the state and federal levels. Always glad to do the work of a staffer, they draft legislative proposals that the politicians then sell to the public.
Quoting from High Country News:
In June, after 10 years of helping craft laws related to energy efficiency and renewable energy in New Mexico, Ben Luce held a press conference in Santa Fe. The gist of Luce’s message was this: Corporate influence over the Legislature and the governor’s office has thwarted true progress on clean energy.
Now, Luce and his group, Break The Grip, are calling for the state to repeal four laws passed in the 2007 legislative session that they say were compromised by influence from PNM, the state’s largest electric utility. A spokesman from the governor’s office dismissed Luce’s assertions as a "rant." Nevertheless, the state’s attorney general is investigating the governor’s office’s use of a PNM-paid lobbyist as a staffer during the 2007 legislative session.
I had no doubt who was supporting Pombo's Energy positions. But when Richardson loses the support of a Ben Luce, then we know that the game is still being played and that the corporations are writing the rules. The money in the energy field will generate as many promises as it does real energy, and we know who will be paying for it... we all will.
Here is just one of Luce's problems with current practices in New Mexico. It is a financial killer for all who would place solar panels on their homes.
Defeat of Net-Metering Legislation/Compromise of Net-metering Rules: Attempts to increase the net-metering limit at the Legislature in 2005, with the support of the Richardson Administration, were met with strong opposition by the New Mexico Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NMRECA), who introduced their own legislative proposal that would have essentially gutted net-metering entirely. NMRECA did negotiate with advocates, but their opposition in any case led to a highly compromised "consensus" proposal, which had a very strong cap on the amount of net-metered capacity in coop areas. Even this proposal was then gutted in the end by an amendment , apparently due to coop lobbying. Attempts to pass an untainted parallel version were thwarted by what was likely a legislative hostage-taking over another environmentally unfriendly bill.. Advocates ultimately had to request that Governor Richardson veto the final bill (which he fortunately did). In 2006 the Commission increased the threshold enormously, but under pressure from electric coops limited net-metering above 10 kilowatts to "monthly true-up", meaning that systems are not allowed to carry over credits month-to-month. A truly strong net-metering rule would not have had this restriction.
I might have said the same about Obama regarding his positions on "clean" coal, and also on ethanol from corn. Both are clean energy scams. Neither are the solutions that they claim to be. At least, he has backed off of the coal issue. I hope that he backs off of the corn / ethanol support also, though that may be hard to do for a Senator from Illinois.
I guess I will continue to wait for honest answers about energy. I don't think that they will come from Richardson. I question whether they will come from Obama.
It is was rather cute when Richardson made national television in Iowa saying that with him, you get both experience and a change. A change from what?