Major Milestone Accomplished In World's Largest Rail Tunnel Project

The Gotthard Base Tunnel reached a major milestone today, with the breakthrough completing the tunneling operation on the world's longest tunnel project through the Swiss Alps.

This project has been going on for 14 years, and wont be completed under 2016, but it marks a major milestone in tunnel technology and a dedication by the Swiss government to shifting heavy freight traffic from roads to rail. The new tunnel would cut travel time across the north-south axis of Switzerland by an hour and enable higher speed train traffic since the route is level throughout.

Some people had said that this project couldn't be done because of treacherous geological conditions. Indeed, eight people were killed in the course of construction and the work encountered poor rock conditions that heightened the danger of boring through the rock.

Thus far, this project has cost about $10 billion, or about the cost of the proposed ARC Tunnel between New York and New Jersey, which would be a fraction of the size and complexity of the Swiss project.

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US Should Adopt "Feed-In Tariff" To Expand Solar Power Installations

Germany has used feed-in tariffs to great success in order to expand solar power installations. Utilities in the US are balking at similar proposals, claiming it would result in higher costs to rate-payers.

I think that the utilities don't want to lose out on the income that could be generated from major wind and solar powered installations since the feed-in tariffs would enable businesses and individuals to receive due compensation from installing their own micro solar power arrays on their own properties.

Under a feed-in tariff program, renewable power installations, including those on residential and business rooftops, are connected to the electricity grid. This allows the owners to sell energy to utilities at long-term, fixed rates.

If such a program is adopted, proponents say, the benefits could be enormous for California as well as for individual producers, who could profit from the sale of the energy and pay off the cost of the installations sooner.

The state could benefit from having smaller, more flexible alternative energy sources than the massive, expensive installations waiting to be built in remote deserts and mountains, green-tech analysts said.

At the same time, such requirements could boost demand for solar panels and small wind-turbine projects, leading to a surge in new clean-tech companies. A July study by UC Berkeley researchers estimated that a feed-in tariff program could create 28,000 clean-tech jobs each year for a decade, as well as generate more than $2 billion in tax revenue and pump more than $50 billion in new private investment to the state.

But critics say although the program is compelling on the surface, the devil is in the details. In addition to coming up with a fair rate structure and determining who would regulate the program, utilities must figure out ways to easily connect the individual producers to the electricity grid, which is sprawling and disjointed.

"It's a bit like talking about the color of the second-floor bedroom before we build the foundation of the house," said Austin Beutner, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, who recently met with experts from Germany. "The direction is a good one, but we have to go about it in a sober and measured fashion. It's a lot more complicated than anybody wants to acknowledge."
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Even the name — inherited from Europe — has been confusing.

"When people hear the word 'tariff' they think 'tax,' " said Mary Leslie, president of the Los Angeles Business Council, which is backing a local proposal that the DWP would administer. "It should be 'reward' or 'rebate' or something. The term is undermining the benefits of the program."

The name of the proposal does need work, but the fact is that such a system would enable homeowners to benefit far more from solar power installations and utilities would have access to a wider range of alternative energy facilities, driving down their energy acquisition costs for distribution. To date, that has been one of the drawbacks on alternative energy projects - the cost for alternative energy like wind and solar has been higher than coal or gas. This proposal would help balance the field, and would bring more power sources on line.

It would spur more homeowners and businesses to consider installing solar power systems of their own.

As to the utilities' concerns over figuring out rates for these new providers, a tiered rate system could be imposed based on rated energy output per installation. Someone with a 50-100kw installation would get X, a 101-200kw installation would get Y, etc. The rates would be tiered in such a way that it would encourage larger solar installations - higher rates for progressively larger installations.

This proposal shouldn't just be confined to California, where the idea is under consideration, but should be made a national policy so as to spur production and technological innovation around the entire country. This is an opportunity for utilities to upgrade their infrastructure and build additional redundancy and robustness into their power systems.

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Free the "Boobies" Bracelets From Overzealous School Administrators

Schools across the country have decided that a plastic bracelet sold to help raise funds for breast cancer research was inapporpriate for a school setting.

So, they've banned them.

A $4 rubber bracelet meant to raise breast cancer awareness has done that and more: Students nationwide are wearing the "I (heart) boobies" wristbands, and running afoul of school administrators.

Schools from California to Florida have banned the bracelets because they believe the "boobies" language is inappropriate.

The bracelets are marketed by a California-based nonprofit created to raise breast cancer awareness among youth. The Keep A Breast Foundation has sold 2 million of the bracelets so far, with the money going to breast cancer research and education programs.

The group believes a bracelet with a catchy, envelope-pushing slogan such as "I (heart) boobies" is a better way to teach kids about breast cancer than more traditional methods like pink ribbons.

Kollin West, a 14-year-old student at Laramie Junior High School, is one student who got in trouble over the bracelets.

Schools have demanded that students turn the rubber bracelets inside out so that the slogans aren't visible.

I think that the school administrators have more important things to do than patrol for bracelets that send a positive and uplifting message to breast cancer survivors. Inadvertently, these overzealous school administrators are highlighting the boobies campaign but their continued crackdowns send the wrong messages to students who are trying to do something positive.

The ACLU is considering getting involved over free speech implications, and I think that they'd be right to do so.

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ARC Tunnel Proponents Use Misleading Statistics

Proponents of the ARC Tunnel are claiming that someone from Rutherford could save 20 minutes every day commuting into Manhattan if the ARC tunnel is built. That's assuming that the person is going to commute to Penn Station and not Lower Manhattan via PATH (which is a longer commute thanks to the construction of Secaucus and the additional stop made there).

Is the time savings (which likely wont be 10 minutes each way because there are routinely delays of 5 minutes built into scheduled times) worth the cost projected at $10 billion or more?

No.

Moreover, a one-seat ride virtually eliminates the need for the $1 billion transfer station that has been underutilized ever since it was built. The time savings may not materialize because of train schedules that continue to send trains to Hoboken and into Penn Station, rather than delivering all trains to Hoboken. Without a major increase in parking at stations all along the North Jersey train lines, there isn't going to be the mass of commuters necessary to justify the costs.

Of much more immediate utility is the necessity to build a replacement to the Portal Bridge. That bridge repeatedly causes major disruptions to traffic on the Northeast Corridor and is a major choke point as the 4-track system narrows to two tracks (just as it does for the Hudson River tunnels). A typical problem with the Portal Bridge can cause 30-60 minute delays, just as it did last night.

A replacement project would eliminate the movable bridge section and build a fixed span in its place that enables high speed transiting of the area leading into Secaucus. That's where the money should have been spent first and foremost, but instead the money went for the Secaucus Transfer and then to the ARC Tunnel.

It's a misplaced sense of priorities among all the concerned parties - including NJ Transit and Amtrak.

That needs to be addressed, but this latest report does nothing of the sort. Senator Lautenberg referred obliquely to the delays last night and claimed that the ARC tunnel would fix that problem, but these are two separate projects.

The ARC Tunnel is a necessity, but not at the cost of bankrupting New Jersey which lacks the ability to cover the expected cost overruns. The federal government is in a position to best make sure that the project moves ahead, but at the same time assurances that the costs can be contained (and that the costs are reasonable and accurately reflect the conditions and costs) must be delivered. This can't be a blank check, even for the federal government.

After all, other projects around the country can come in on budget and on schedule, despite daunting construction hazards and technological hurdles. Take the Hoover Dam Bypass (Highway 93 bypass). It came in on budget and on schedule, despite working in the extreme conditions of the Colorado River basis and in close proximity to a national landmark. The replacement I-35 bridge in Minneapolis came in under budget and ahead of schedule and the contractor won $27 million in performance bonuses for completing the structure ahead of schedule. The winning bid ended up being well below the expected costs.

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The Toughest Truck In the World

Meet the Toyota Hilux. It takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin' to crib a tag line from another well known sturdy product.



Hammers, spanners (wrenches), and a can of WD-40 was all that was needed to keep the truck going. It's little wonder that terror groups and militias around the world love to use this truck.

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Former Obama Car Czar Gets Slapped With $5 Million Fine For Pension Kickbacks

Steven Rattner, who was picked by President Obama to be car czar to oversee the impending bankruptcies and reorganizations of General Motors and Chrysler, has been fined $5 million and banned from most aspects of the financial services industry for being involved in pension kickbacks in New York State.

Under a deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission that could be announced as early as Thursday, Mr. Rattner will pay a fine of more than $5 million along with accepting the ban, according to the people briefed on the talks. Mr. Rattner may still be able to perform some roles in finance, even with that ban.

A spokesman for Mr. Rattner declined to comment.

Mr. Rattner, 58, while at the private equity firm he co-founded, the Quadrangle Group, was accused by federal regulators of paying off a political adviser to secure investment business from the state’s pension fund.

He is the most prominent financier to pay a settlement in the pension kickback investigation, which raised questions across the country about the ways investment firms seek money from public pension funds. Private equity executives like Mr. Rattner often hire outside advisers called placement agents to help them pitch their services to public pension officials, a practice that has come to be called pay to play. New York State, and the city, have since banned their pensions from working with placement advisers, though the practice continues in many parts of the country.

The investigation led all the way to the top of New York’s $125 billion fund. Alan G. Hevesi, the state’s former comptroller, pleaded guilty last week to a felony for steering pension fund investments to a money manager who had contributed to his campaign and steered business to one of Mr. Hevesi’s friends. The state’s former chief investment officer also pleaded guilty to securities fraud in March for his role.

The investigation in New York was led by the S.E.C. and the office of the New York attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, the Democratic candidate for governor. Mr. Cuomo’s office was still negotiating with Mr. Rattner on Wednesday night, said the people close to the case.

Rattner's involvement in the auto industry was curious given that he had no experience in the auto industry and that he was already under investigation by NYS Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for the pension problems (which ultimately resulted in arrests and convictions for controller Alan Hevesi, Hank Morris, and several others).

Rattner resigned in July 2009 over the widening scandal. Cuomo has been working for more than a year on wrangling a deal from Rattner.

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Ahmadinejad Rallies in Lebanon And Engages In Troofer Talk

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is busy trying to spread Iranian influence throughout the Middle East and he's stopped in Lebanon to help prop up their proxy army Hizbullah. He's also busy capitalizing on the ongoing fascination with conspiracy theories - particularly when it comes to the 9/11 attacks in the US.

Ahmadinejad announced that Iran is creating a panel to prove US behind the 9/11 attacks.

He's capitalizing on the alternative reality movement that remains pervasive in the Middle East and beyond, where people think that the 9/11 attacks were done by the US to expand its influence overseas in any number of areas. Ahmadinejad only manages to tell the truth by accident - and regularly engages in all kinds of conspiracy theorizing and revisionist history, especially when it comes to the US or Israel.

There's no word on whether Alex Jones, the troofer conspiracy-monger has accepted a position. After all, Jones has done more to spread 9/11 conspiracy nonsense in the US than anyone else, and he uses his online presence to spread the crazy.

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Paladino's Latest Policy Prescriptions: Eliminate the MTA; Cut $20 Billion From Medicaid

Well, this is a bit of fresh air. It's writing about a policy issue with Carl Paladino instead of his inane comments that continue to show him unfit for the job of governor.

He's come out with a couple of policy choices, one of which shows just how out of touch with fiscal realities he is.

He's called for the elimination of the MTA and direct control of the resulting agency by the governor. I've railed against the mismanagement of the MTA for years, and there have been repeated calls by members of the legislature to reform public authorities law for years, most recently led by Richard Brodsky.

Eliminating the MTA isn't going to solve the mass transit problems in the City, nor is it going to address the declining state support for mass transit that has put the agency in a bind.

Oh, and Paladino clearly doesn't understand how the MTA operates. The governor already has the power to choose the MTA board. The MTA has to answer to the Legislature. It is already a creature of the state political system and government oversight so his rambling rant doesn't change matters.

He also claims that the MTA has two sets of books, which was actually disproven in federal court and whose annual reports are public record.


Not that it matters, since this is a red meat issue designed to gain favor among Republicans upstate and independents and moderates in the NYC Metro area who are perpetually unhappy with the way the MTA operates and the rash of fare hikes and service cuts. Just as his anti-gay remarks were designed to gain favor among Catholics, he's trying to hit various constituencies to try and overcome a major deficit in the polls.

Then, there's Paladino's attempts to deal with the state budget situation. He thinks the way to save the state from fiscal disaster is to cut $20 billion from the state's Medicaid outlays. That's simply never going to happen because there isn't $20 billion to cut and the cuts would directly affect medical care in the state.

Oh, and it would also mean a fight involving fighting against both the hospitals and medical professionals who get reimbursed from the Medicaid outlays, and the service unions that work at those facilities. We're talking about groups that treat even holding spending in check as a cut, so this is simply not workable from a political perspective.

LoHud.com has attempted to pin down where the candidates stand on the issues, even if the positions are ludicrous.

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New York's $200 Billion Retiree Health Care Funding Shortfall

The New York Times is reporting that New York State is short $200 billion in covering retiree health care obligations for its state employees. That's $200 billion - with a capital B.

The total cost appears in a report to be issued on Wednesday by the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a research organization that studies fiscal policy.

It does not suggest that New York must somehow come up with $200 billion right away.

But the report casts serious doubt over whether medical benefits for New York’s retirees will be sustainable, given the sputtering economy and today’s climate of hostility toward new taxes and taxpayer bailouts.

The daunting size of the health care obligation raises the possibility that localities will be forced at some point to choose between paying their retirees’ medical costs and paying the investors who hold their bonds. Government officials aim to satisfy both groups, and have even made painful cuts in local services when necessary to keep up with both sets of payments.

Only a few places have tried to rein in their costs, by billing retirees for a portion of the premiums, for example. Retirees have responded with lawsuits, but ratings agencies and municipal bond buyers have shrugged off these warning signs.

“So far, the market doesn’t care,” said Edmund J. McMahon, the director of the Empire Center. “The market seems to assume, on the basis of nothing, that at some point all of these places are simply going to stop paying retiree health benefits.”

The health benefits are entirely separate from the pensions that New York’s public workers have earned. Governments have reported their pension obligations for years, but their retiree medical obligations have been building up unseen, because governments were not required to account for them. The information is starting to come to light because of a new accounting requirement.

One city, Schenectady, found the cost too overwhelming to calculate, warning that it “will be astronomical, with the potential of bankrupting municipalities.”

The city even said in a document accompanying a recent debt offering that it did not know whether it was really required to comply with the new accounting rule.

No one seems to have a clue how to fund this, and everyone in Albany appears to be doing little more than paying lip service to fiscal responsibility.

How can the state afford these obligations? They can't - unless they want to impose a massive tax hike on taxpayers that are already among the highest taxed in the nation (and don't think for a moment that other states aren't in better shape - they aren't). What will end up happening is that the state will attempt to shift the burden on to those retirees, rather than assuming the costs.

It wont come without lawsuits by those retirees who will claim that the state has violated its contractual obligations to pay those costs, but the states can no longer afford these benefits. It will mean that new hires will not see these kinds of benefits, and that existing employees will see their retirement benefits altered to eliminate these kinds of coverages.

That will help years down the road, but existing obligations will saddle the state with costs it cannot afford.

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Chilean Miners Begin Returning To Surface After Being Trapped For More Than 2 Months

The video shows the first of 33 miners that were trapped more than 2,500 feet underground since the summer in a Chilean mine.



I can't begin to imagine what they were feeling during that time - or during the perilous ride up the narrow passage drilled down to their refuge underground. A rescuer was first sent down to help evaluate the miners and determine the order in which they would return to the surface. They were also provided with special food and compression stockings and sunglasses to prepare them for the trip to the surface.

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Opposition Lining Up Against Google's Offshore Transmission Line Project

Who can possibly be against the offshore transmission line project that received major backing from Google yesterday? Environmentalists.

They think that the transmission line will end up bringing power from cheaper coal powered facilities up the East Coast, rather than power from offshore wind power projects that are still in development and several years from being operational. They figure that it will undercut the development of alternative energy projects in New Jersey.

It's an argument that has been made before with regard to other transmission lines that are sorely needed to upgrade and add redundancy to the power grid along the East Coast.

It's also an approach that has had some success, but it comes at a cost of not providing a modern power grid or the redundancy to deal with power outages or issues with existing transmission lines.

Opposition is also coming from groups looking to build wind power projects themselves, because they see competition down the road and want to forestall the competition until they've established themselves.

These opponents ignore the fact that wind power projects are unlikely to get off the ground if they don't have an easy way to link up with the power grid, and an offshore cable is just the thing to ease the siting and link concerns - to say nothing of the added costs of building a new land-based connection for each project.

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