• Green training for current, future and unemployed workers in building, construction, retrofitting, and installation occupations;
• The development of a new community and technical college GREEN-UP certificate program, the new wind energy technology program at Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College, and new water and wastewater treatment programs at Marshall Community and Technical College;
• The development and implementation of community and technical college courses that teach basic and green technical skills in combination, as well as green entrepreneurship for those interested in starting green businesses; and
• Professional development for career center, registered apprenticeship program and community and technical college faculty to assist them in incorporating green concepts and skills into classes and programs.

The West Virginia GREEN-UP Council, along with five regional teams, will coordinate grant activities.

DCT Advisors LLC is pleased to have been able to assist WorkForceWV in obtaining this grant and looks forward to working with WorkForceWV on initial project start-up and facilitation of GREEN-UP Council activities over the next several years.

Just then they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that rise from that plain.  And no sooner did Don Quixote see them than he said to his squire: “Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished.  Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants?  I intend to do battle with them and slay them.  With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless.

- Miquel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

In our search to create a carbon neutral world, we have begun to harness small, but not insignificant, amounts of wind energy.  Until recently my knowledge of wind energy was limited to a vague notion that there were a lot of windmills (not true) and wooden shoes in Holland.

Today I know a lot more about wind energy.  That knowledge makes me appreciate that making environmentally-correct decisions can be very complicated.  Some of the issues:

• Not all places are equal in terms of their ability to produce wind energy.  Only one region of West Virginia – the Potomac Highlands – is well suited for large-scale wind energy production.
• The best places for wind in West Virginia – the tops of large mountains – can be very hard to reach with 50+ ton wind turbines.
• Wind turbines can kill endangered species like Indiana bats.
• The noise created by wind turbines has been linked to negative health effects for nearby residents.
• Many people have concerns about the impact of wind turbines on viewscapes.  Would you want to stay at a bed and breakfast in Greenbrier County with a large wind turbine in plain view?  How about wind turbines in our “quasi-sacred” national forests and other public lands where, by the way, most of West Virginia’s harnessable wind energy can be found?

Unlike Don Quixote’s imaginary enemies, our environmental enemies – global warming, destroyed ecosystems, polluted streams – are quite real.  But slaying these real enemies might prove just as difficult for us as slaying imaginary enemies was for Don Quixote.

During the process of facilitating the development of West Virginia’s green jobs education and training plan, I had an opportunity to read some very rosy assessments of future green jobs needs.  Those reports (e.g., O*NET) repeatedly emphasized that green jobs were primarily, but not exclusively, going to be found in existing occupations.

As a result of these assessments, the leading national report on green jobs education and training, titled Greener Pathways, had this to say: “More time should be spent embedding green skills training within current curricula, and less energy inventing new programs.”  This admonition caused the West Virginia GREEN-UP Council to propose expending most new green education and training dollars on greening up existing programs and existing workers, not on starting a lot of new sustainability programs.

Is Greener Pathways right?  I think so:

• To design a green building, you must have basic architectural skills.
• To build or renovate a building using green products, you must have building and construction trades skills.
• To install or retrofit an energy efficient HVAC system or maintain a wind turbine, you must have basic electro-mechanical skills.
• To ensure that a community’s water supply is environmentally safe, you must have basic chemistry and biological testing skills.

While I’m convinced that a green revolution is upon us, I worry that students pursuing these new sustainability degrees will not be able to find jobs upon graduation unless they also have other, more practical skills.

In my opinion, this push to create stand-alone environmental sustainability programs is another example of higher education being out of touch with real world needs, even as it tries to address those needs.

1) This decision is not likely to play well in Peoria or Parkersburg:

• Why should a West Virginia resident care about Indiana bats?  Of course, they’re endangered in West Virginia; they’re “Indiana” bats.
• The environmentalists are no longer satisfied with shutting down fossil fuel production; now they’re shutting down renewable energy production, too.

2) Although this decision will not play well, it appears that Invenergy could have done something very simple – apply for an Incidental Take Permit – to satisfy the Endangered Species Act.  Indeed the judge referred to Invenergy’s plight as “self-imposed.”

• Why do companies like Invenergy not jump through reasonable hoops like the Incidental Take Permit process?
• Invenergy is lucky that the bats hibernate from mid-November to the end of March, which means it can operate its wind turbines while it submits its permit request.

3) Even “clean” energy solutions sometimes raise environmental concerns, as this specific case illustrates.  The road to a carbon neutral world is likely to be a long and bumpy one.

While I am generally sympathetic to the Sierra Club cause, I think their opposition to these gifts is wrong-headed.  In my perfect world, West Virginia University, which actually has a competitive advantage in the field of energy research, would become a leader in the alternative and renewable energy fields.  To do that, they need money from people in the energy industry – and for good or ill, that includes people like Murray and Blankenship, who at least understand the potential benefits of energy research, even if their statements about global warming and other issues are far afield.

It would be great if higher education institutions never took money from benefactors who did not-so-good things, but we wouldn’t have some of the world’s finest educational institutions without the benefit of some ill-gotten gains – Duke University (built by tobacco), Carnegie Mellon University, and Rockefeller University, just to name a few.

Today Senator Byrd speaks truth to power about coal.  His theme: “The time has come to have an open and honest dialogue about coal’s future in West Virginia.”

• Why aren’t we having that important dialogue?  Because politicians and industry are “scapegoating and stoking fear over the permitting process.”
• Can the world live without coal?  ”No deliberate effort to do away with the coal industry could ever succeed in Washington because there is no available alternative energy supply that could immediately supplant the use of coal….”
• What about mountaintop removal coal mining?  ”It is not a widespread method of mining, with its use confined to only three states.  Most members of Congress, like most Americans, oppose the practice, and we may not yet fully understand the effects of mountaintop removal mining on the health of our citizens.”
• What about climate change?  ”To deny the mounting science of climate change is to stick our heads in the sand….”
• What do we need to do?  ”West Virginians can choose to anticipate change and adapt to it, or resist and be overrun by it.”

West Virginia will pay a heavy price if it fails to heed Senator Byrd’s message.

Bob Murray is the President of Murray Energy Corporation.  Murray Energy owns Utah’s Crandall Canyon mine, where nine people lost their lives in August 2007.  You may remember that Mr. Murray initially came across as a sympathetic character in media broadcasts, but opinions changed as the investigation unfolded and it became clear that the accident was the result of serious safety violations and $1.6 million in fines were imposed against the mine operator.

As you would expect, WVU accepted the money and said nothing about Mr. Murray’s controversial past.  I think they did the right thing.

The report begins by making a not-all-that-compelling case that energy issues in the South are different from energy issues in the rest of the country.  As support for this premise, SGPB points out that four states, including West Virginia, are net exporters of energy; the South produces more coal and nuclear power; the South uses more energy per capita because of its climate and industrial base; and the South has great alternative energy potential.

Some interesting information about West Virginia energy contained in the report:

• A GOOD THING: In 2006 West Virginia produced far more energy (4,107 trillion BTU) than it consumed (829 trillion BTU) and edged out Louisiana as the southern state (there were  four) with the largest energy surplus.
• A GOOD THING: Only about half of the southern states have developed state energy plans, and West Virginia is among them.  A quotation from the West Virginia state energy plan highlighted in the report: “A long-term solution to our energy needs will involve a combination of all three energy opportunity areas: (1) enhanced production of fossil energy sources including advanced coal technologies; (2) renewable energy development; and (3) energy efficiency.”
• A BAD THING: West Virginia has 332 clean energy businesses and 3,065 clean energy jobs and is the only state to have seen a decrease in clean energy jobs over the last decade.  (Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2009)
• A BAD THING: West Virginia had no clean energy venture capital investment between 2006 and 2008.  Nationally over $12 billion in such investments were made.
• A GOOD THING: West Virginia is projected to have 10,700 new green jobs by 2038.

The report recommends the following:

• Educate people about energy issues.
• Pursue a broad range of energy options (which appears to be a fundamental principle of every state’s energy plan).
• Begin with energy conservation and efficiency (but realize it won’t produce energy independence).
• Encourage research and development related to new energy technologies.  (The federal investment in energy R&D in 2007 was $2.8 billion; stimulus funding is providing $2.5 billion for advanced energy technologies.)
• Ensure that the workforce is prepared for emerging green jobs.  (WorkforceWV currently is working on such a plan.)

… Washington and Lee University’s School of Law has two truly spectacular public service law programs worthy of recognition:

Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse. Instead of helping lawyers try to get death penalty sentences set aside after a case has been handled poorly at the trial court level, which is what most law school programs do, VC3 actually helps lawyers in the midst of death penalty proceedings.  VC3 deserves some credit for Virginia’s low death penalty imposition rate.

Black Lung Legal Clinic. When I was a student, I learned that one of the most challenging cases to make was for federal black lung benefits, even if the person were dying or had died from pneumoconiosis.  Washington and Lee law school students have been assisting coal miners and their survivors bring such claims for years and are five times more successful than average.

It’s easy to poke fun at all the rich kids who go to Washington and Lee University, but they did admit a poor kid like me, and some of those rich kids did learn a thing or two about real public service from these fine programs.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) contains billions and billions of dollars aimed at bringing about a “green revolution.”  If some of these initiatives are successful, they truly could revolutionize American and world energy production and consumption.  To help you understand the dramatic scope of the federal green investment, I have provided a partial list of initiatives below:

Department of Energy:

• Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E).  To foster research and development of transformational energy-related technologies.
• Smart Grid Investments.  To improve electricity delivery and energy reliability.
• Nuclear Science and Technology.  To pursue forefront nuclear science research.
• Early Career Research.  To support energy researchers who are early in their careers.
• Alternative Isotope Production Techniques.  To seek breakthroughs that will facilitate an increased supply of isotopes that are in short supply.
• Integrated Biorefinery Operations.  To create biofuels and bioproducts refineries that can use a variety of feedstocks effectively.
• Energy Efficient Information and Communication Technology.  To reduce the energy use of technology equipment.
• Enhanced Geothermal Systems.  To improve energy extraction from geothermal sites and use of ground source heat pumps.
• Hydroelectric Facility Modernization.  To improve hydroelectric power production.
• Wind Turbine Drivetrains.  To design and construct a facility to test wind turbine drive trains.
• Wind Energy Consortia.  To develop consortia between higher education institutions and the wind industry.
• Advanced Energy Efficient Building Technology.  To support a wide range of research and development concerning energy efficient buildings.
• Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing.  To increase production of batteries and electric drive components.
• Truck Engines/Powertrains.  To improve truck engine energy efficiency.

Department of Labor:

• Energy Training Partnerships.  To provide training and placement services in energy efficiency and renewable energy industries.
• Green Capacity Building.  To build capacity of training programs to meet the needs of expanding green industries.
• State Energy Sector Partnerships.  To develop and implement a green energy sector workforce plan.
• State Labor Market Information Improvement Grants.  To improve data collection concerning energy efficiency and renewable energy industries.

Other:

• Department of Transportation – TIGGER.  To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption of public transportation systems.
• Environmental Protection Agency.  To promote diesel emission reductions.

So where will the green revolution, if there truly is to be one, leave West Virginia?  The answer may depend on how quickly we can turn our hills and valleys green.  We’ll explore possible answers – and tie them into our Socratic analysis of mountaintop removal coal mining – over the coming weeks and months.

By the way, look for a new report from the CFTC this month that REVERSES a finding that the gas price hikes were caused by supply and demand issues, not speculators.

Chairman Gensler’s telephone number is 202.418.5050, and his fax number is 202.418.5533 if you want to weigh in on this important issue.

Goldman did it by persuading pension funds and other large institutional investors to invest in oil futures — agreeing to buy oil at a certain price on a fixed date. The push transformed oil from a physical commodity, rigidly subject to supply and demand, into something to bet on, like a stock.

- Matt Taibbi

How was this bubble created?  Remember the four elements:

• An Intangible Market.  Goldman Sachs peddled oil futures, not oil in the here and now.
• A Broken Rule.  In 1936, the CFTC was given authority to regulate speculative trades in commodities.  In 1991 a Goldman-owned subsidiary was given an exemption from the speculative trades limit, and 14 other companies eventually obtained similar exemptions.
• An Insider.  While Goldman’s “oracle of oil” was predicting a “super spike” in oil prices in the future …
• A Hedge.  … Goldman was heavily invested in oil and profiting from the rapid increase in price in the here and now.