Left In Lowell

FERC had a brainfart.

The cub reporter quickly blurted out the bits his Editor want to float:

“We find that the proposed pneumatic crest gate system can be installed without unacceptably altering the dam or adversely affecting the park and historic districts,” FERC wrote in its ruling. “The crest gate system will also provide important benefits to recreation, fish passage, dam and worker safety, and project generation, and will help alleviate upstream backwater and flooding effects to the maximum extent possible.”

Of course, there are little gems stashed in the “Order Amending License.” (h/t Corey Sciuto)

Project Economics
47. The licensees’ proposal to install an inflatable crest gate system has an estimated capital cost of $5,980,000. This capital cost results in an average, annualized cost of $956,000. We estimate that the annual cost to operate the system would be minimal.

48. Operation of an inflatable crest gate system instead of flashboards could enable the project to generate more power, because the gates could be reinflated relatively soon after high flows. In contrast, the flashboards would be washed out for an estimated three months. The licensees estimate that project operation with the inflatable crest gates would result in an increase in annual generation of approximately 8,000 megwatt hours (MWh). Using a regional estimated alternative energy value of $38.74/MWh, as determined from the Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook for 2012, this additional generation would be valued at $310,000 annually. Therefore, the net cost of the licensee’s proposed action, including total capital costs and generation benefits, would be approximately $646,000 annually.

49. Although our analysis shows that the cost of installing the crest gates would exceed the value of the increased generation, it is the applicant who must decide whether to accept this license amendment and any financial risk that entails.
(bold mine)

There is a lot to digest. Please give it a go, then chime in here.

PS. We are about to find out, if the Dept. of Interior folks are willing to take it to the next level. The Dept. of the Interior(Parks) has a brand new Secretary and Energy(FERC) is due to get a new Secretary. So, leadership may come from the locals until Obama’s Cabinet members can find their way around. This matter may be determined by which Department has better insulated its ‘Legal Eagles’ from sequestration. :v\

Here is a detailed breakdown of the Governor’s proposal by MassBudget.org.

Think the sequester doesn’t affect us? Think again.

Even the Lowell Sun knows better.

If automatic federal funding cuts go into effect Friday, Lowell National Historical Park officials expect they will have to cut about $415,000 from its budget, eliminating travel for employees and park funding for programs like the Lowell Folk Festival and the Tsongas Industrial History Center.

The National Park Service has asked individual parks to prepare to cut 5 percent from their budgets, but exactly what will happen when the automatic cuts, known as sequestration, go into effect still isn’t clear, said Celeste Bernardo, the Lowell park superintendent.

“The uncertainty is really difficult,” she said.

And I have news for the Republicans among us: The projected deficit has been cut pretty dramatically and it’s gone down already, without these draconian, stupid, self-inflicted and painful slashes to our important programs and services. And it is a LACK OF GROWTH that is killing our revenues and fueling huge deficits. The last thing you should be doing in a still-recovering economy is laying off teachers and fire fighters and reducing spending on projects like roads and bridges. All of those jobs are full of people who, when employed, SPEND MONEY and create economic activity. Guess what they do when they get laid off? They stop spending!

Not long after the Warren campaign set up shop in Lowell, I sat down with Andrew Howe to get a sense of the game plan. We both knew that, in Lowell, Brown had beat Coakley by 1001 votes in a low turnout election. We speculated that turnout would be much better and that the party demographics favored Warren, but we also honestly weighed the potential for Brown to match any gains we could make, via turnout.

In those early days, we considered a near win, a dead even match, or a slight win to be good enough for Warren, here in Lowell. If Warren could run up the margins in Boston and strong progressive towns and cities, we would have been happy to be within a nose, here in Lowell. But, then the volunteers started pouring in.

As it turned out:

Lay it out there, folks.

I say:

You can make your own scenario using the NY Times map, here.
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(Bumped as a reminder…this event is today! –Lynne)

*FLASH* Anyone that attends tonight’s RALLY will receive 5 Million bucks from Donald Trump!
(h/t Letterman)

Where the ax meets the grindstone - Lowell. Do you remember this ad, Fighter?

For more details and to RSVP, CLICK HERE.

The End
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The Caller ID said Falmouth, but it was our former Mayor and #1 vote collector, Rita Mercier. Well sorta. It was a recording of her voice. A robocall, they call ‘em. Do you remember getting a million of those during the Brown/Coakley race. I’m convinced the onslaught of obnoxious calls from every national Dem with name recognition helped seal the deal FOR Scott Brown.

Last I checked, Warren wasn’t using “robocalls.” But, then again, we have real people volunteering to knock on doors and look you in the eye. This crew went out at about 11:30am -

Poor ol’ Scott Brown needs “RoboRita” to get his message out.

PS. I’d love to get that audio file, if someone has it on voicemail, ect. Holla.

Here it is, folks. Enjoy:

(h/t Mr. Lynne, who transcribed the message for us)

“Hello this is Rita Mercier calling for Scott Brown. I am the former mayor of the city of Lowell and I am a life-long Democrat. I support President Obama. However I am also voting for Scott Brown, because Scott has proven that he does not follow party lines and will always do what’s right for Massachusetts. As a Democrat I want someone with an open mind and Scott has shown that he will work together with President Obama and anyone else to move us forward, regardless of party. Scott doesn’t put party first and neither should we.

I hope you will join me in voting for him on Tuesday November 6th.”

Then another voice comes on and says: “Paid for by Scott Brown for US Senate Commitee Inc. 508 740 7255.”

Map graphics come from the Boston Globe. URLs are provided.

This one is from 2008 and shows Obama leaving McCain in his dust. The thing to remember about this election is it had the highest Lowell turnout (31,905) since 1992 (32,984).

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/election_results/ma_president/

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So, I’m out holding a Warren sign with several others today at Chelmsford/Stevens, maybe 10 minutes before Art Ramalho arrived, and some gimoke slows rolls the intersection to yell out, “Fuck her! She’s a liar!”

Talk about being a prime candidate for Mike Hayden’s anger management seminar. The 3-5 openly hostile commuters (over 1.5 hours) all seemed to look the same, sorta like me. I even joked that I should make a bumper sticker that said,

This Middle Aged, Fat, Bearded, Angry, White, Male is NOT Voting for Scott Brown!
(Go Figure)

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