Whirlwind trip to upstate New York leaves many tales to tell

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The trip to upstate New York was planned to be fast and relatively fun-filled.

It was fast, there was some fun, and it was filled. Really filled.

After careening across the United States Monday night, I arrived at the Syracuse NY airport (after a plane change at JFK) Tuesday noon, tired, more than a little grumpy but ready to charge into the Department of Environmental Conservation's hearing on a proposal to build a huge propane and natural gas storage depot three miles from my house.

With Cousin Roger and The Cube

I felt like a foreign correspondent, parachuting in to cover a story, at least until the rental car agency told me the only car they had available for me to take was the one pictured to the right.

The Nissan Cube is not exactly what Robert Redford was driving in the 2001 film, Spy Game, in which he starred with Brad Pitt. But I've lost my claims to bearing any resemblance to either of those guys so I suppose I should be happy that I could bomb around Watkins without much fear of getting a ticket in that blue roller skate.

The propane and natural gas storage project is about as bad an idea as I have heard in years, right on a par with when some bright light got the idea in the 1970s that it would be a good idea to store spent nuclear reactor fuel rods in the same salt caverns.

Jaysus.

Sometimes, I do believe the world is run by greedy idiots.

Here's a link to a video with all the testimony: DEC public hearing in Watkins Glen, NY 

The hearing went well (for opponents, not so much for the company) and formed the basis for my Finger Lakes Times column Friday. Writing Wednesday morning, I fell asleep at the keyboard once, revived only by several cups of Earl Grey tea, each brewed with three tea bags.

I was up until about 2 a.m. Wednesday night, of course. Despite two glasses of wine with amiga Amanda at dinner and a hefty double slug of Grey Goose about midnight while writing some screed, I still had the energy of an adolescent.

Inergy's gas man

Perhaps the most interesting thing in the hearing was that it wasn't just that the people who spoke against the project were articulate (most were), prepared (ditto) and passionate (all were). They clearly are beginning to form ideas about what they want to see the area become, not just be in opposition to this disaster-in-waiting.

More than one person made it clear: we don't need or want more smokestack industries.

The balance of the trip - two days and some change - was taken up with domestic chores like running to the bank, dealing with an impressive stack of mail and lots of conversations with the folks who are opposing this project.

Oct. 10 is the last day to comment and there is a flurry of activity going on to ensure that the DEC hears from everyone about the flaws in the environmental impact report filed by the company, Inergy Midstream from Kansas City, Missouri.

Among the many flaws are issues related to earthquakes, lack of a plan for emergencies and the idea of building a 91-million gallon salt water pond with plastic liners (think industrial swimming pool liners). The pond will be perched on a hillside, just  2,500 feet above decidely freshwater Seneca Lake, and very close to the water intakes for the Watkins Glen Village water supply.

That pond, by the way, will contain water up to 12 times saltier than normal sea water, plus, it will likely have a few surprise chemicals lurking it in from being pumped in and out of the salt caverns as part of the propane storage method.

I suppose if the project is approved and the pond is built, when it has a catastrophic breach and the 91 million gallons goes cascading down the hillside to the lake, we could plant some marlin and other saltwater sports fish in the lake and see if they survived. And Watkins Glen homes? Well, perhaps the village can get a federal grant for a desalinization plant - run on propane, of course.

In the meantime, while the follicle-impaired president of Inergy Midstream (above) licks his wounds in Kansas City, Missouri, (after having his testimony contradicted by experts), he is likely remembering that when he testified, nearly 800 people in the audience suggested (some politely, some not so) that he could take his propane tanks, trucks, railroad cars and everything else he has planned for the 576-acre site and return it to, well, just about anyplace but the Town of Reading.

LINKS to stories about hearing:
Elmira Star-Gazette
The Observer newspaper

Be careful what you wish for - a famous saying unheeded

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - A hour or so ago, I put the finishing touches on my online application to join President-elect Barack Obama's administration.

What in the holy %$&^*&#$*%()(_*#^!!!!!!!!!!

Well, Saturday I read in the New York Times that Obama is searching for people to help implement the vision(s) articulated during his campaign. And in true Obama, 2008 form, the application is online at 'change.gov.'

As a slight aside, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I also nominated myself for a Pulitzer Prize several times for stories I had published. Never got one, but I did get some nifty letters thanking me for my interest.


Barack O'bama button

I filled out a transition team short form two days ago and tonight received (and filled out) the full application - which wanted to know a lot of details - and asked for a complete resume and references.

I'm not sure I should have applied to become head of the Central Intelligence Agency, but it was one of the many options I picked, in case you get a reference call. Oh, and they might ask about the Federal Reserve, the State Department (in case they need some help in Mexico) or working in the West Wing giving sage advice.


Online form, thanking me for my application

Unfortunately, when I changed my voter registration just before the recent election, I went from being a Democrat to the Green Party. I thought the poor Greens needed a little cheering up and, well, it will be a couple of years before I vote again in an election with any kind of primary where party registration counts.

I'm not sure the incoming administration will think too much of that party registration as they sift through the thousands and thousands of qualified applicants who have already applied - and the thousands and thousands more expected in the next 70 days or so.

So in the meantime, I'm sticking with my original plan of spending the winter and spring in Arroyo Seco, Jalisco, Mexico, building a little, fishing some, playing the ukulele every day (with the Admiral playing her violin) and writing a lot.

Oh, and also riding my new motorcycle from the village to one of the two surfing beaches.

Wait a minute! What was I thinking when I sent that form in?

Another hit on the website from our fans in Wasilla

WASILLA, Alaska, USA - I can't say for certain that the Palin family - or their fans - are logging onto the website, The Four Headlamps, but there was another Wasilla hit yesterday afternoon and the referral was from an email.

Four Headlamps website

It's likely that someone in Wasilla ran across the post and alerted one of the other 6,000 people in Wasilla that they were getting noticed for something other than being the hometown of Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Whoops, I mean vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin.


The Palin Family poses

If it wasn't so damned cold up there most of the year, The Four Headlamps might consider going there to put on a little musical program.

Little being the key word right now, but we'll do better in 2009.