Category: Fall 2005 Newswire
Connecticut to Revamp Pandemic Flu Strategy
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16– Scientists everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief: Pandemic flu is finally on the global agenda. But the task ahead is just as daunting, as health professionals and government officials prepare for an eventual outbreak. The states carry a particular burden, faced with a logistical nightmare and limited resources.
In the United States, state and local health departments are considered the nucleus for protecting and responding to a health crisis like a flu pandemic== an outbreak of the disease that affects large numbers of people simultaneously and is geographically widespread.
Their responsibilities range from monitoring for unusual sickness to creating emergency response plans to help treat sick residents and stop the spread of a disease outbreak. Leaders and health workers are expected to coordinate an efficient and effective plan to protect their community.
Connecticut health officials agree the main challenges they face are logistical – things like personnel shortages and being able to mass-distribute whatever treatments are available at the onset of a major health crisis.
The federal government, in the November release of its National Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan, acknowledged this weighty but essential state role.
Earlier this month, U.S. Health and Human Resources Secretary Mike Leavitt convened a meeting of senior state and homeland security officials to address pandemic planning. Leavitt chose strong language to underline the seriousness of the threat and noted that no one can predict when the next massive outbreak will strike.
The immediate fear concerns a deadly avian – or bird – virus, called H5N1, that continues to affect mostly birds but has also shown a rare capacity to kill people and other animals. Experts worry that the virus may acquire the ability, through genetic mutation, to pass easily from person to person.
“The reality is–and you know it – pandemics happen,” said Leavitt, who began a 50-state tour to meet with health and government officials after the meeting in Washington. “When it comes to a pandemic, we are overdue and we are under-prepared.”
While the federal move to action on planning for a health crisis of this magnitude is generally commended, some advocacy groups, including Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit group that advocates for disease prevention, expressed concern about some aspects of the national plan that relate to state responsibilities.
“The Bush plan calls for states to spend $510 million for anti-flu drugs, which can reduce the severity of the flu,” read a statement released by the group. “However, earlier this year, the administration proposed a cut of $130 million in state and local public health preparedness.” While the national plan calls for $100 million to states to ramp up pandemic planning, the group said that “this sum does not even offset the previous proposed cut in funding.”
A recent report by the trust gave the federal government a grade of D+ on public health emergency preparedness. Many states did not fare much better in their evaluations. The study looked at such things as “capabilities to test for chemical and biological threats and hospital surge capacity to care for patients in a mass emergency.” Connecticut earned a score of 5 out of 10.
Connecticut has a pandemic action plan to guide emergency responders and other relevant groups, but it was created before Washington announced its national strategy. Most states, including Connecticut, are working to update their plans. Gov. M. Jodi Rell established a joint committee, drawing upon the efforts of four state agencies, to address this need. She asked the four agency heads to complete the State Plan for Influenza Preparedness and Response by next month.
The Connecticut plan is more strategic than operational, said Dr. James Hadler, the state epidemiologist and director of the infectious disease section of the Department of Public Health. “It outlines issues, responsibilities and methods we’d consider,” he wrote in an e-mail message. “We will be developing operational plans in the future – for example, how we’ll actually distribute vaccine and antivirals to healthcare providers who aren’t part of a larger healthcare system such as a hospital or community health center.”
One important update to the state plan, Hadler said, will identify priority groups that comply with federal recommendations to receive antiviral medications and vaccines. The national plan calls on states to first vaccinate health care workers who are directly exposed to patients.
Because of the uncertainties inherent in a flu pandemic, he emphasized that any emergency response plan must be flexible.
“For example, we don’t know if a pandemic strain will spread as quickly as regular influenza,” he said. “We don’t know how virulent it will be; we don’t know if it will preferentially affect one age group or another; and we don’t know how fast it will get to the U.S.”
He added: “All of these are relevant factors in determining an appropriate response at the time.”
One of the most outspoken congressional advocates for pandemic planning, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said that while the administration’s plan embraces the major components of a national strategy, its “greatest weakness is helping improve state and local health infrastructure.” He said states need to hire more epidemiologists, lab workers and emergency responders.
Harkin added that states could look into mobilizing nurses and other health care workers who are not currently active in the workforce.
He also reiterated a common theme among experts: It’s likely the public health system in its current state will be overwhelmed during a pandemic.
“This is not Chicken Little alarmism,” he said.
The flu presents a unique set of challenges. Each year around 36,000 Americans die from seasonal human flu, with children and elderly populations disproportionately affected. A pandemic flu is different from the seasonal flu in one critical way: it is a brand new virus to which humans have no prior immunity. This would probably enable the pandemic virus to affect a cross-section of the population, regardless of age or health.
Because a pandemic virus would spread quickly and incapacitate scores of people, emergency responders woulod be first in line to receive vaccinations and other treatments, according to the national plan.
That plan lays out a worst-case scenario, in which by week six of a pandemic, 722,000 Americans could be infected. The hypothetical outbreak would begin in a small Thai village, and by the 16 th week, 92 million Americans would be infected with the H5N1 bird flu.
According to health officials, vaccination is the bedrock for averting or at least minimizing the impact of a pandemic. President Bush in the national plan calls for $7.1 billion, in part to improve vaccine production. The current systems in place are riddled with obstacles that make development and production a slower process than necessary.
Doctors have advice for the general public too. They say to practice good hygiene – like washing hands and covering mouths when sneezing or coughing – and avoid putting others at risk if flu symptoms are present.
The states monitor flu activity, observing trends in patient reports and looking for atypical health threats. One primary way states conducts what is broadly called biosurveillance is by collecting regular reports from labs, hospitals and physicians on incidents of flu. The states, in turn, contribute to a national tracking system.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls on states in the event of a pandemic to establish a network of clinics to each treat several thousand patients for a limited number of days. According to Connecticut’s pandemic plan, 70 clinics are necessary to serve the entire population.
State health officials are also concerned about the process proposed in the national plan for states to obtain antiviral drugs, which help lessen symptoms after infection.
” I think most people in [the] states believe we shouldn’t be competing with each other to buy antivirals and have some states that are ‘haves’ and others that are ‘have nots,’ ” Hadler said. A fairer and more effective route, he said, would rely on a central federal purchaser. But he added, “It would make sense to have much of the stockpile pre-positioned in states.”
“Requiring each state to purchase antivirals separately does not make sense from a health perspective,” Trust for America’s Health said. “Germs don’t respect jurisdictional boundaries, and we must have the flexibility to provide the medication where outbreaks are most severe.”
Flu pandemics are recurring events. Past outbreaks have led to soaring levels of illness and death, and great social and economic disarray. The pandemic flu virus of 1918 killed 20 million to 50 million – possibly more – people worldwide. Two other pandemics struck later in the 20 th century. Furthermore, a second, though usually less severe, wave of infection usually follows after a lull in the first outbreak. Pandemic readiness plans typically take this into account.
There are three conditions a flu virus must meet to be defined as a pandemic. The H5N1 strain has met two: it is a novel virus and it causes severe illness. The third condition – ease of transmission between people – has not been achieved, and there is no way to know if it will. However, as long as it continues to infect people and birds it threatens to initiate a pandemic.
Experts expect H5N1 to spread to all corners of the world via migratory flocks and interstate trade. The United States, they say, is no exception.
Human cases are still rare, and attributed in almost all cases to direct contact with sick birds. The World Health Organization maintains an official Web site that tracks the number of human infections and deaths. As of Dec. 9, 137 cases of human infection were reported since the onset, with 70 cases ending fatally. Health officials are particularly worried about the high death rate and the types of people – a number of them young and healthy – attacked by the virus.
In more-acute cases, bird flu in people has caused symptoms like “acute respiratory distress, viral pneumonia and other severe and life-threatening complications,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Scientists in Hong Kong said that H5N1 bird flu can cause “a ‘storm’ of immune system chemicals that overwhelms the patient,” Reuters reported. The chemicals can suddenly engulf infected lung tissue to the point where it can prove fatal for the patient.
It is this potential menace that prompted Secretary Leavitt to warn the 50 governors that “we are facing one of our most serious public health challenges. The threat of an outbreak of pandemic influenza is real.”
Bird Flu Threatens Maine’s Brown Egg Industry
By Joanna Broder
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 - When the port of Shanghai first opened to foreign shipping in 1843, American sailing ships traveling from Boston to China for silk and spices would carry back a crate of red-, black- or cinnamon-colored chickens to provide eggs or the occasional chicken dinner for the long trip home. But unlike the white or tannish-colored eggs the mariners were used to, these birds laid an egg with a rich-brown hue. In China, white symbolizes death or funerals.
New Englanders fell in love with brown eggs ? they were so much fresher than the white eggs that took so long to arrive from the mid-west ?and they eventually become a dietary staple in the region: Maine has even become the number one producer of brown eggs in the world. Brown eggs are now the third biggest agricultural product in the state.
Today, the same country that introduced brown eggs to Maine has the potential to introduce the agent that would be responsible for their demise: a highly-virulent strain of avian influenza virus known as H5N1. Avian influenza is the umbrella term for a large group of viruses that affects birds. While much attention has focused on the possibility that bird flu could endanger human lives, less has been paid to the economic consequences of an outbreak in the poultry industry in this country.
"Sadly we'd be looking at the end of our brown egg industry here in the state of Maine," if the bird flu hit, said Shelley Doak, the director of the division of animal health and industry at the Maine Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources.
In 2004, egg production in Maine generated $61.4 million dollars in cash receipts, according to the New England field office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Nationally, it could cause "severe damage to the poultry industry," said Dr. Mike Opitz, extension veterinarian emeritus at the University of Maine in Orono.
The value of all egg production nationwide in 2004 was $5.3 billion according to the National Agricultural Statisticas Service. Broiler chickens, turkey and egg production had a combined value in 2004 of $28.9 billion.
If the virus were found in a commercial flock, international organizations would need to be notified and U.S. poultry exports would be banned. Over the last decade exports have represented between 10 and 15 percent of the total value of poultry and poultry products of U.S. origin, according to Agri Stats, a statistical research and analysis firm serving agribusiness companies.
"That would be killer to the poultry industry in Maine," Opitz said. But he cautioned: "We shouldn't get paranoid about it and throw a lot of money just at avian influenza. There are many other issues we have to deal with."
H5N1, or bird flu as it is commonly known, was first detected in China nine years ago in a farmed goose. Since then the virus has killed large numbers of wild birds and domestic poultry in Asia and parts of Europe. In birds, it has spread as far west as Central Europe. It may make its way to the United States in less than a year, according to Don Hoenig, Maine's state veterinarian. No cases of bird flu have been confirmed in birds or humans in the United States.
If bird flu comes to this country, it is unlikely to arrive first in Maine because the state is not traversed by any major flyways for birds, according to Opitz. However, migratory waterfowl could transmit the virus through secretions and feces. Many commercial farms have ponds where ducks or geese tend to stop, Hoenig said. Domestic chickens could come into direct contact with contaminated bird droppings. Or, farm workers carrying the virus in the form of manure on their shoes could track it back into a bird house. Trucks could transmit the virus from one farm to another. "It could come in a million different ways," Doak said.
"If you've ever been around chickens they love manure," said Dennis Avery, director of global food issues at the Hudson Institute, a non-partisan research organization that promotes global security. "They love partially digested grain."
Brown egg farmers are highly-centralized in Maine; the big commercial operations are located in close proximity to each other, for the most part in Turner, Winthrop and Leeds.
Many state officials and industry leaders agree that because of their history with other strains of avian influenza and the strict biosecurity measures in place on commercial farms ? not to mention the fact that birds are kept indoors ? commercial poultry have only a small risk of contracting H5N1 from migratory birds. But should it happen, bird flu "would most likely move quickly through the barns," Doak said. Highly virulent strains of avian influenza have the potential to kill 90 to 100 percent of a flock in two days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Once in the state, bird flu could wipe out Maine's entire brown egg industry in a matter of weeks, according Hoenig.
Even if the government paid for the lost chickens through indemnity programs, during the time farmers were out of birds, "they'd have to try to supply their market with brown eggs through some other source and there's nobody else that produces as many brown eggs as we do," Hoenig said.
"Everything in agriculture has a ripple effect," Hoenig said. There is one major feed company that provides feed for the birds and they too would suffer from the effects of bird flu. Similarly, many dairy farms rely on manure from Maine's chicken farms to fertilize their fields and their business would be affected. Then there are all the people who work indirectly with the farms, such as electricians, Hoenig said.
The commercial poultry industry is familiar with avian influenza, having battled highly pathogenic, or virulent, strains of it in Pennsylvania in 1983.
But industry and government officials say that they feel confident about the security of commercial chicken farms. Since 1998, Maine has monitored the commercial poultry industry for avian influenza by testing a percentage of birds in a flock prior to the birds going out to slaughter, Hoenig said. The state also conducts sick-bird surveillance at the diagnostic laboratory in Orono. And it monitors brown-egg breeder flocks every three months. A breeder flock produces fertilized eggs that are then hatched and go on to become the new brown-egg laying hens.
David Radlo, president and CEO of Radlo Foods, an organic and commercial egg producer based in Watertown, Mass., with commercial brown egg farms in Leeds and Turner, Maine, said he is not concerned about the threat of bird flu because of the rigorous safety protocols already in place. "We are prepared as we can be and we continue to be vigilant," Radlo said. "This is our livelihood."
In the poultry industry methods to secure hen houses from disease are known as "biosecurity." A "biosecure" farm is likely to have a fence around it to regulate comings and goings, a protocol to disinfect vehicles coming onto the farm and a policy mandating workers wear protective clothing, such as coveralls, boots and hats. Poultry houses also are usually kept locked.
Dennis Bowden has a mid-sized commercial brown egg farm in Waldoboro with 10,000 layers. He protects the hens from disease by not allowing outside visitors. Anyone who walks into the hen house has to walk through a sponge soaked with a disinfectant to sanitize their shoes. Bowden said he also puts chicken wire up on the eves of the henhouse to prevent wild birds from nesting there.
But some poultry experts and industry members are concerned about the growing number of organic farmers. To be certified organic, poultry farmers must allow their fowl some degree of outdoor access, according to Barbara Haumann, senior writer at the Organic Trade Association. Being out of doors may make the animals more likely to have contact with migratory waterfowl droppings than indoor commercial birds.
In 2003 there were 1.6 million organic layer hens in the nation, up from roughly 44,000 in 1992. There were 6.3 million broilers in 2003, up from about 17,000 in 1992, according to the economic research service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Organic poultry sales in the United States as a whole are projected to grow 33 percent each year from 2004 to 2008.
Radlo's chickens have outdoor access. However, the birds are screened off with fences and netting so they cannot come into contact with migratory waterfowl, said William Bell, general manager for the New England Brown Egg Council. Radlo Foods is a member of the council.
"Tell me how a net is going to prevent wild bird droppings from infecting an outdoor poultry flock," the Hudson Institute's Avery said.
The previous cases of avian influenza in the United States have all occurred in confinement flocks, said Jim Riddle, immediate past chair of the National Organic Standards Board, a Department of Agriculture advisory board that reviews and approves substances that can be used in organic farming. More research is needed on how susceptible outdoor birds really are to H5N1 before making any decision about how effective nets are in keeping out disease, he said.
In Maine, there are only about 20 or 30 organic poultry farmers, but there are hundreds of "backyard farmers" who raise anywhere from two to 100 chickens, often outdoors, to use for broilers, eggs or to compete in shows.
Unlike commercial poultry, backyard poultry do not receive any testing for disease. Interstate regulations that apply to larger commercial farmers also do not affect them, Doak said.
Backyard farms are "irresponsible," Radlo said, adding: "You're asking me: 'Where do I think the outbreak is going to occur?' And I'm telling you it's in backyard flocks."
State Veterinarian Hoenig has a backyard flock. "How much risk are my 11 or 12 backyard hens to get [bird flu] and spread it? Very, very minimal right now," he said. Still, Hoenig acknowledged that the H5N1 threat might rise next year when migratory waterfowl could fly into the United States down the flyways.
The Department of Agriculture has discussed implementing new testing of backyard farms, but decided it does not have the resources for it. However, in recent months the department has escalated communications with the poultry industry about biosecurity, had more contact with backyard farmers through Maine's Alternative Poultry Association, and met with other state agencies involved in influenza planning. Currently the state only monitors wild birds for West Nile virus, but it is establishing a protocol to monitor wild birds for avian influenza.
Nationally, the United States does not import poultry products from Southeast Asia.
If H5N1 appeared in Maine, the state's instant management and emergency response teams would go into action, along with special, federal animal inspection teams, Hoenig said.
The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture could also declare a state of emergency and allocate emergency funds.
"We'd probably have a lot of people coming in here from all across the country helping out," Hoenig said.
Opitz said that the U.S. and Maine departments of agriculture worked well together in 2002 to handle the low pathogenic avian influenza outbreak in Warren. But when asked how well prepared the nation and state would be for H5N1, he was less sure.
"I don't have a good feel for how effectively, with the available means, we really could deal with that," he said.
Areas where the state is vulnerable, Opitz said, include auctions, places to go to buy live poultry, and live bird markets, places where a person can purchase poultry and then have it slaughtered onsite. Live bird markets have been a cause for concern among national experts because of the many species that come together potentially leading to the spread of disease from contaminated equipment, vehicles or people coming back from live bird markets
There are no live bird markets in Maine, but many of the state's "spent layers," or hens past their laying prime, are sent to live bird markets in other states such as New York or Boston. Hoenig said that his office has worked closely with the individuals who are involved in the markets, meeting with them and talking about reducing the risks.
Last November, President Bush issued a proposal requesting $7.1 billion in emergency funding from Congress to prepare the nation for and protect it from pandemic influenza. Under the plan the states would receive $100 million collectively to help them revise and test their state's emergency avian influenza response plan. The money has not yet been approved by Congress.
"If they pass the president's initiative that would be a big help," Hoenig said. "If we actually get some money we [could] actually hire somebody to do what Shelley Doak and I have been trying to do for the past couple of years and that is sit down and update these plans."
"You're talking about three million birds or more," Hoenig said. "It's a huge logistical issue."
Small City, Big Risk
By Tara Fehr
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Bulletproof vests for canines and trailers for transporting lawn mowers may not be what most Americans expect from homeland security.
While Connecticut may have passed on buying the vests (Ohio did not) and the trailers (Texas bought them) with money earmarked for security needs, the state's safety in a post 9/11 world remains a challenge.
New London does not have as many people as other cities that are considered at high risk, such as New York City, but it does have some of the highest risks, particularly in its infrastructure and its transportation routes.
The city has a major submarine base and a nuclear power plant nearby. It has a deepwater port facility. Close to two million people use the Long Island Sound ferries every year, and there are major rail stations for Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad. Freight traffic flows through New London by rail and along Interstate 95, which goes right through the middle of the city.
"The folks that allocate money, whether it's to the state or local government, have not done the best job they can do in determining where the risks are and allocating money appropriately," said Richard Brown, New London's city manager. "I'm not convinced that the allocation formula that was developed at the federal level in the first place was appropriate."
Federal funds for preparing for future terrorist attacks comes from the Department of Homeland Security, which was created in 2002 after the Sept. 11 attacks. The government allocates money to the states, which in turn allocate the funds to municipalities. In the past, grant money was based on population, but there is a new effort to include risk assessment in the decision-making process.
The federal government disburses its general homeland security grant to each state based on a package of requests submitted by the state's homeland security administrator that addresses where the risk, threat and need is present in the state.
Federal officials would not give details of the assessment process because of national security reasons, but Clark Ervin, the department's former inspector general, said it is not defined. He said the department needed a comprehensive nationwide assessment checklist that would be applied uniformly.
The department of has not made its allocations for 2006, but every state can make a case for needing money, Ervin said.
"We're optimistic that because we're so close to New York and Boston and because of the level of transportation services that we have in the state that we'll be able to get additional funding," said Wayne Sanford, deputy commissioner of Emergency Management and Homeland Security in Connecticut.
Connecticut will also receive a share of regional funds for its transit system. Homeland security allocates transit funds regionally because lines often run through more than one states So Connecticut, New Jersey and New York together received an estimated $37 million this year, according to the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
The federal department generally allocates money in a block grant to the states, which then disburse funds to local governments. Steven Llanes, spokesman for the federal agency, said it allocates funds based on the threat applications and then monitors the states' spending.
Sanford said 80 percent of the state's funds are designated for municipalities. A committee of approximately two dozen persons - including representatives of state agencies and local police, fire and emergency management departments - recommends where to distribute the rest of the money in four key areas: prevention, protection, response and recovery.
In fiscal year 2005 New London received $110,000 from the general homeland security grants and $61,838 from a separate law enforcement terrorism protection program, Sanford said.
New London was one of six or seven communities that received an additional $119,000 . because it was considered a more densely populated area, but Sanford said he hopes for an increased amount from the federal government for 2006, based on the added risk-based criteria.
New London is potentially at high risk, according to Ian Cuthbertson, director of the World Policy Institute, which studies globalization and national security and is part of the New School in New York City.
"New London is a good target for terror," Cuthbertson said. "The harder it is to attack bigger areas, the more danger medium-sized cities are in because terrorists look for soft targets."
Brown agreed about his city's vulnerabilities. "We're a major hub," he said.
In protecting its railroad systems, ports and highways, New London works with multiple agencies.
Amtrak, for example, has its own police force, cooperates with other law enforcement agencies, uses canine teams and performs random ticket checks on trains.
Cliff Black, Amtrak spokesman, said he remains hopeful that Amtrak will receive more funds from Homeland Security under the risk-based formula.
The Coast Guard also hopes to benefit from the new formula as it works under a "do more with less motto," Vanessa Looney, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said.
"We're always asking for more resources, but then again, everybody is doing that," said Roger Guest, a Coast Guard port security specialist in Connecticut.
Guest said that the area's nuclear power plant and submarine base can stretch the Coast Guard's resources. "That is why we try to partner with the locals to assist with everything we need," he said.
Local law enforcement also assists in highway security. Federal, state and local governments make a combined effort to secure the roads, Donna Tadiello, spokeswoman for the state police, said.
As part of the Connecticut Department of Public Safety, the state police will perform commercial vehicle inspections and respond to specific threats while looking for unusual behavior.
Traffic on major local roads, particularly Interstate 95, has been a concern for some residents.
"The road system is woefully inadequate to handle the volume of traffic," city manager Brown said. "You only have to be in this area for a little while to see how without any problems whatsoever the roads can just close down completely."
Although Tadiello said that the state has an evacuation plan, Brown questioned how effective it can be when an accident on I-95 could close the road down in both directions for hours.
"We need money," Brown said.
But not everyone thinks increased funds will help make for a more secure Connecticut.
"Security is going to be the kind of issue where everybody is going to say, 'You can't be too secure, there can't be enough money or there can't be too much money,' " said Chris Cooper, Connecticut Department of Transportation spokesman said. "Given the resources that are available, I think that everybody is reasonably sure that there is a strong level of security at our facilities."
Ervin said he was convinced when he was a Homeland Security inspector general and remains convinced today that a 100 percent risk assessment is the only way to secure the country from terrorist threats. But he said that won't happen until the government ranks the country's infrastructure so that cities such as New London do not get lost between two big targets.
"Until you have that, the country is flying blind," Ervin said.
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Chief Justice’s Wife Talks About Life Since Holy Cross
By Jean Chemnick
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Jane Sullivan Roberts, wife of John Roberts who was confirmed as Chief Justice in September, received media attention during her husband's confirmation hearings because of her involvement with Feminists for Life, an anti-abortion feminist group.
Ms. Roberts, 50, is a partner at Washington's Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman law firm and the mother of two children, Josie, 5, and Jack, 4. She is an alumna of the College of the Holy Cross and serves on its alumni board. She recently was interviewed by Telegram and Gazette Washington correspondent Jean Chemnick.
Q: Tell me a little bit about growing up in the Bronx.
Jane Sullivan Roberts: Well, I had two sisters and a brother, and we grew up on the same block where my father grew up. He was born in the house next door. It was a neighborhood with many, many families with three generations of the same family living on the same block. Some families even had four generations.
It was very cohesive. It was almost exclusively Catholic, and life revolved around our church and our school.
All my grandparents were from Ireland, and my mother was from Ireland, and our neighborhood was Irish and Italian. We had many relations there, and people who knew each other from Ireland or got to know each other in this country. Irish and Italian got to know each other in this country. All the generations lived together.
Q: Why did you decide to go to Holy Cross? I know you were in the first class that included women. Did that seem kind of daunting?
A: [I was] hardly aware that it had been an all-male college. It had great academics. It was in New England, it had a strong sports intramural program. It was Catholic, and it seemed to be a caring place.
Q: Once you were there, was there any resentment from the guys that there were women around?
A: No I didn't feel it at all. I felt incredibly welcomed. As soon as we got there, we had a floor by floor meeting in the dorms, and the head [resident assistants] who had transferred to the school, were asking us at the behest of the administration "what can the college do to make you feel more comfortable?"
And it got down to details like different kinds of soap dishes in the bathrooms. In the library-the way the old library was set up-to get downstairs, to the stacks where you might get a very quiet desk, you had to walk down the main hall, the main reading room, and there were oak tables lined up. As a young woman as you walked down the aisle, heads turned and that was a little embarrassing. And we mentioned it. It wasn't a complaint, but we mentioned it, and a new staircase was opened up. It took some construction to do that.
They changed the food. They were used to feeding big men, and we all put on ten pounds the first semester and we went home and our mothers complained. They changed, and they offered skim milk, yogurt, salads. You felt that the college was really trying to accommodate us at different levels.
Q: You played intramural sports, didn't you?
A: I did crew, yes. Everything was new, and we got the cast off boy's [junior varsity] boat. We had to raise money for a boat, right? We didn't have a boat. We got the cast off, and we had a coach. And likewise, the women's basketball team was kind of scrambling for resources.
The college was figuring out how to accommodate all of us. They didn't have a master plan worked out before we got here, in these details, you know like sports. But you know, the country was figuring it out. Title IX came out, and the country, along with Holy Cross, was trying to figure out how to provide more facilities for women.
Q: What was the most fun you had in college?
A: Dancing. I love to dance. We went lots of places. The dorms had parties, and we could dance in the dorms. So that was regular weekend fare. I would go-generally late in the evening-and dance for a couple of hours. And then we had a few formal balls-about three or four each year-and we'd get dressed up, long dresses, and we danced. And we had the Boston Navy Band play big band music-it was just fabulous. Instead of just waiting . for some guy to ask us to the dance -- more importantly, a guy who couldn't dance -- what we did is, we invited the guys to the dance, and as a condition, we said that you have to practice for a week with us. So every night at 11 o'clock in our dorm we would hold a practice session. So by the time we got to the dance everybody was primed, and we just had a great time.
Q: Did you consider yourself a feminist back then?
A: Yes, I did. I certainly did. I believed in equal opportunities for women. And I think I lived it out. I would attend feminist meetings-we had a feminist group on campus. I wouldn't call myself a leader of that group, but I think I might have been considered a leader of women, if you get the distinction.
Q: You were a math major, but you studied education in Australia. Did you think you wanted to be a math teacher?
A: I wasn't quite sure, I was just good [at math] and liked it. I wasn't very career oriented in college. Most of my contemporaries were not very career oriented in those days, compared with today's students.
Q: When did you decide on your career?
A: My mother decided I needed to decide. I went [to Australia] for one year, and then I decided to stay for a second, I was having such a great time and I stayed a third, I was having such a great time. She wrote me a letter, "when are you coming home and getting on with your life?"
Q: What did you study in graduate school at Brown?
A: Applied mathematics.
Q: Did you know you wanted to go into technology law when you were at Georgetown law school.
A: Fast forward a little bit through law school. When I first came here [to Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman] I was assigned to litigation cases involved in the nuclear industry, because they thought "well math, you must know something about technology, science." Well of course I didn't, but I could learn. I guess what math taught you is that if you look at a text book at the beginning of the year you could hardly read it, at the end of the year you'd mastered it. Math taught you you could learn anything.
Q: So, my understanding of what Catholicism taught, at least traditionally, was that women should be a wife and a mother, and not necessarily have a career. That seems to conflict with feminism. Is there a conflict?
A: Going back to the early days of Christianity, women joined the church in droves because what it allowed them was an avenue, apart from marriage and children, to join a religious life, a respectable alternative to marriage and children. I'm not saying that's a good or a bad thing, it's really a calling-what your calling is in life. I think it's a misperception that the Catholic Church said a woman's only role is wife and mother.
And if you fast forward. to the beginning of the 20th century, where could a woman head a hospital, or a primary school or college, but in the religious? If you went to the secular, it was all headed by men. So the Catholic church for women provided one of the few-I don't want to say only, that's too strong-few avenues for the use of women's other talents.
There is a calling, a certain internal nature for women, our biology allows us to be wives and mothers. We don't have to choose to be a wife or mother, but its something we can do, and most women do in fact choose that.
Pope John Paul has written about this extensively, that women should be allowed to express their other talents, consistent with being wives and mothers. Women want to be wives and mothers, and also want to express other talents that are not necessarily called forth as a wife and a mother, and what Pope John Paul says is that we need a restructuring of our society to allow women to express those talents in ways consistent with being a wife and mother as well, for the full satisfaction of the woman.
And its very like what a number of feminists have said, as well, about I think the yearning of many women today who are in fulltime jobs and are feeling very, very pressed in their roles of wives and mothers. And [many] women who are home, [feel] that they don't have an outlet for their other talents. Women who are part-time seem to be able to strike a balance.
Q: But you're a partner. You must have worked full-time at some point.
A: I worked full-time until the children arrived in 2000. I worked very hard.
Q: Why did you decide to adopt?
A: We couldn't have children biologically. I had always wanted to adopt, anyway, but I had envisioned it as being part of maybe having eight children, and some would be adopted. I had read a book as a child called the family that nobody wanted where they adopted 30 or 60 children, I don't remember how many.and I thought, whatever family I had, we could always make room for another child.
Q: How did you and Justice Roberts meet?
A : In a beach house in Delaware. I love to swim, and I love the ocean. . [In 1986] I brought a number of friends from Shaw Pittman, and we joined a beach house that had been started by a friend over at Hogan and Hartson [the law firm for which John Roberts worked].
But he was not really quite the beach-goer that I was. He preferred to play golf, so we didn't meet until '91.
Q: When did you realize you were falling in love with him?
A: When I came back from Australia in '93 we met again. A friend was going into the Clinton administration, and we were having a dinner party to celebrate her-she was going to be deputy general counsel for [the Department of] Energy, which was a big deal-so the beach house group. had a dinner here to celebrate and that's when I met John again, and I liked him. And we started to date.
Q: Did you know ahead of time that your husband was being nominated to the Supreme Court?
A: He knew at 12:35 the day it was announced on TV. It was announced at 9 o'clock that night.
Q: What advice do you have for young women, who maybe are graduating from Holy Cross now?
A: Do what you like and what you love and you'll be best at that and happiest at that. There's no one right path. If the right man comes along right away, don't turn love down. Have your children. If the right man doesn't come along right away, prepare yourself for an otherwise productive life. You can't predict your path. But do what you love.
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Is Southwest Connecticut Headed for a Power Crisis?
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15-On August 14, 2003, the power went out in southern Connecticut. It probably won't be the last time.
It also went out in the rest of the northeastern United States and up into southern Canada. In all, it affected an estimated 40 million people in eight states and 10 million people in Canada.
In the end, officials concluded that overgrown trees near high-voltage power lines caused a generating plant in Cleveland to go off-line. The cascading effect ultimately resulted in the forced shutdown of more than 100 power plants.
The power was out for only about a day or two in most areas, but the cost of the blackout is estimated at $6 billion.
The blackout also brought to light an unflattering picture of the power grid in Southwest Connecticut.
In western Massachusetts and western Vermont power outages totaled about 500 megawatts, but Southwest Connecticut lost about 2,000 megawatts. According to Ken McDonnell, spokesman for the Independent Service Operator for New England (ISO New England), "that was because Southwest Connecticut was and continues to be the weakest part of [the New England] grid."
Although officials were already aware of the problem, the blackout in 2003 illustrated the insufficient capacity of transmission lines in Southwest Connecticut, McDonnell said..
"It's an infrastructure problem whose weaknesses were vividly illustrated through outages that started half a continent away," he said.
Could residents in Southwest Connecticut be facing another energy crisis? The same combination of insufficient transmission lines, steadily increasing energy consumption and outdated generating plants has led the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to rank Southwest Connecticut as one of the nation's top reliability risks.
Energy officials are concerned about the increasing demand for power in New England, particularly in Southwest Connecticut, which consumes 50 percent of all power in the state. With winter approaching and natural gas supply shortages looming, in part because of hurricane damage in the Gulf of Mexico, energy officials are expressing anxiety over possible blackouts.
Power demand in New England is growing by 1.5 percent a year, an increase equal to one power plant's annual output. According to the nonprofit New England Coalition for Reliable Electricity, the demand for electricity will exceed supply sometime between 2008 and 2010.
Beryl Lyons, spokeswoman for Connecticut's Department of Public Utility Control, pointed out that Southwest Connecticut is operating well below most efficiency standards because of outdated power generation plants.
"When you build something like [a power plant], it has a life expectancy of 30 years, somewhere in that range," she said. "These things are well past that. They can't work up to capacity; they are very expensive to operate."
According to a recent ISO New England report, more than 70 percent of the generating capacity in the Norwalk-Stamford sub-area is more than 40 years old. Although the Southwest Connecticut area has added generating capacity in the past ten years, approximately 40 percent of the plants are more than 30 years old, and approximately half of these are more than 40 years old.
In an attempt to update power plants in New England and prevent an energy crisis, ISO New England recently proposed a controversial new rate plan for the region.
The locational installed capacity plan, generally called LICAP, calls for increased electric rates in area of high demand and low supply. Southwest Connecticut is such an area.
The New England Coalition for Reliable Electricity, which supports the rate plan, recently released a study by CRA International on the plan's effectiveness and efficiency.
The plan, the study concluded, "is a 'win-win proposition,' providing both lower electricity prices and improved system security."
According to the study, the plan makes sense economically because it replaces old systems with newer and more efficient plants, thus providing cheaper and more efficient energy.
However, the state's Department of Public Utility Control says the rate plan does not address the real power problem in Southwest Connecticut: aging transmission lines.
" LICAP is purely punitive," Lyons said. "You're not going to induce anybody to build [a power plant] in Southwest Connecticut if they don't have a transmission line to put it on."
The Connecticut Siting Council, a state agency, noted in a 2003Â statement that the transmission grid serving Southwest Connecticut fails to meet the reliability standards of the North American Electric Reliability Council, the Northeast Power Coordinating Council and the New England Power Pool.
" To put the problem into layman's terms, picture it like driving route 95 through your area," Lyons said. "There aren't enough lanes on the highway, right? So everything gets congested and you can't get through. So that means that all of New England can have more than enough power but that transmission lines can't hold it. So if you don't build a bigger one, you can't get it through."
ISO New England, the New England grid operator, uses a system called loss of load expectation analysis to predict energy reliability. According to the analysis, "the Connecticut, Southwest Connecticut, Norwalk-Stamford and Boston sub-areas are extremely vulnerable to unexpected load increases, unit deactivations or generator-forced outages, including fuel supply interruptions."
The region has been aware of the situation since at least 2001, and the Siting Council in 2003 approved a transmission line project to update more than 80 miles of transmission lines in Southwest Connecticut.
The Southwest Connecticut Reliability Project comprised two transmission projects: Bethel-Norwalk, already under way, and Middletown-Norwalk, scheduled to start construction next summer.
However, the timeline is a precarious one. Although the Bethel-Norwalk project is scheduled to be finished by next December, if all goes well, the second project is not scheduled to be finished until 2009-a year after ISO New England predicts that energy demand may surpass supply.
" It's close," said Frank Poirot, spokesman for Northeast Utilities, the company in charge of the transmission projects, "but we know if the construction schedule is adhered to, in other words if we are able to actually build these projects and meet our construction deadlines, that we will be completing them without a lot of time to spare."
Meanwhile, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita left their mark on Connecticut's power situation.
Power plants in Southwest Connecticut, as in much of New England, rely heavily on natural gas for their power supply. New England relies on the Gulf Coast for 25 percent of its natural gas resources. According to ISO New England, hurricane damage in the Gulf region this year s is having an impact on electric supply in New England.
ISO New England is predicting record highs for energy use this winter, even with normal temperatures.
If the region experiences extreme temperatures this winter, power companies may be forced to institute rolling blackouts.
"If it turns very cold for multiple days--let's say it gets down in the minus 10, minus 20 degree range, anywhere in the region--we expect that we may run short primarily of natural gas for generating electricity ," ISO New England's McDonnell said.
This would mean that if the grid operator forecast an imbalance between energy demand and supply, it would have to resort to controlled power outages that would be shared throughout New England.
These rolling blackouts typically would be scheduled for a block or small neighborhood and last 15 minutes to two hours and then move on to the next scheduled customers until the energy deficit is met.
According to ISO New England, blackouts would be the last-case scenario after all other conservation measures are attempted.
"If things deteriorate badly for three or four days as they did in January 2004," McDonnell said, "that's when we could experience some real problems."
Rolling blackouts have never been implemented in New England, and ISO New England has outlined several steps to prevent them, such as a "demand response" program that pays businesses to cut back on energy use in times of very high energy demand.
"That's not to say that controlled power outages or rolling blackouts are not possible," McDonnell said, "but if we were to order them in a very worst-case situation, it would be after we've exhausted all other steps that are available to us to try to avoid that kind of a situation."
Despite the precautions, some organizations are convinced that Connecticut needs to look beyond its current sources of energy in order to establish more efficient and reliable power.
The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, an organization that invests in clean or renewable energy sources such as fuel cell plants, wind energy and solar power, views these alternative fuels as important ways to avoid an energy crisis.
"We hope to be one of the solutions to help alleviate the energy problems that exist in Southwest Connecticut," said Charlie Moret, the managing director of marketing and communications for the Clean Energy Fund.
The fund has invested in more than 80 alternative energy projects throughout the state and, according to Moret, hopes that the current energy situation will make people aware of renewable energy.
"Everybody knows that energy costs are going to continue to rise, demand for energy continues to exceed how much supply can be put on," Moret said. "So the faster that people can be educated about our energy issues and the problems we face in the future, the quicker we can get to arrive at some solutions that will be workable."
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No Child Left Behind Three Years Later
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14- Despite repeated statements by Bush administration officials about how the "No Child Left Behind" education overhaul legislation is reducing the achievement gap in America, many researchers and educators are still critical of the law.
"I don't think it has been effective and I don't think it will be effective," said Neal McCluskey, an education policy analyst with the libertarian Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom. "The problem is that the No Child Left Behind Act tries to force one model on all schools."
The act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002, requires all schools that receive funding under Title I, which directs federal funds to schools and school districts with high percentages of low-income families, to develop and implement an accountability system of annual testing in reading and math through eighth grade and at least once during high school.
The crux of the problem, critics say, is the law's requirement that schools must show "adequate yearly progress," as defined by the state, in an effort to close the current racial and economic achievement gaps or they will be labeled "in need of improvement." Under the law, also known as NCLB for short, all students must be considered "proficient," according to the state definition, by the 2013-2014 school year.
"The focus of NCLB is really on improving student achievement and closing those achievement gaps" between low income and minority students, said Alexa Marrero, spokeswoman for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. "Overall achievement is going up and even more quickly we're seeing achievement gains among those students who historically may have been allowed to fall between the cracks."
According to July 2005 results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, elementary school student achievement is at an all time high in both reading and math while the achievement gap at this level continues to narrow. The report also revealed that reading and math scores for African-American and Hispanic nine-year-olds have reached an all time high and that 43 states either improved academically or remained steady with the previous year in fourth and eight grade reading and math.
Democrats and other critics, however, are not convinced that the results accurately reflect the effects of the law.
"We're still pretty early into the law," said Tom Kiley, spokesman for Rep. George Miller (D- Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. "But we've seen some encouraging results," he said, adding that "there's still a long way to go."
Under the law, all students must be considered "proficient," with each state deciding what that means, in both math and reading by the 2013-2014 school year. In addition, states must set annual goals for the number of students who will perform "proficiently" on the exams that year. If the state does not meet those goals, it is labeled as "in need of improvement." After two years of not meeting the adequate yearly progress goals, the state must offer parents the choice to send their children to other public schools in the district.
"What do you do when you have a school that everyone wants to leave?" Rick Trombly, a spokesperson for the National Education Association in New Hampshire, asked. He and other critics worry that in such a scenario, neighboring districts would cherry-pick the best students from the failing school. "Is that what you want to do-take the 'best' students and then leave everyone else? That seems to me like a recipe for all children left behind."
According to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education, one school in New Hampshire offered parents public school choice during the 2003-2004 school year because of the law. During the 2004-2005 school year, 72 New Hampshire schools were designated as "in need of improvement," according to the New Hampshire Department of Education.
As a result of the requirements, McCluskey and others argue, some states set lower standards so students will be able to more easily meet the annual goals.
For example the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a think tank that supports education reform, reported that the gains states made in their annual tests were not always matched in the national assessments.
According to the analysis, states like Alabama, California, Idaho, Arizona, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky, each reported that an additional five to 11 percent of eighth grade students became proficient in reading between 2003 and 2005 in their state results. These gains disappeared, however, when results from the national test, known for short as the NAEP, were examined.
"The much-discussed 'race to the bottom' appears to have begun," Fordham Foundation President Chester E. Finn Jr., a Reagan administration education official, said in a press release. "If states ease their standards, construct simple-minded tests, or set low passing scores, they can mislead their own citizens and educators into thinking that just about everyone is proficient. Congress had the wisdom to insist that NAEP function as an 'external audit' of state (and national) progress toward proficiency under NCLB. Now we see just how important this is." Marrero said that while this is a concern that has been raised, it is "unfair and misleading to assume that states and teachers in schools would have incentives for their students not to do well."
But according to the preliminary results of a study conducted by the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and Social Sciences at Dartmouth College, superintendents in New Hampshire and Vermont believe that high stakes testing, such as that in the law, have prompted changes in curriculum.
"A majority of them have indicated that changes are occurring in the curriculum towards the tested subjects of math and reading and away from the non-tested subjects," said Scott Carrell, research associate and director of the Policy Research Shop at Dartmouth College.
As a result of such curricular changes, McCluskey said, the law could remove flexibility from schools and administrators that is essential for districts to address the varying needs of their students.
"Individual schools have varied populations and varied needs and they should be able to tailor their curriculum to their school," he said.
McCluskey and other critics argue that statewide standardized testing, as well as the teacher examinations that are required under the law, push states and individual school districts to "teach to the test," focusing their time and attention on passing the mandated tests rather than on ensuring that all students are learning all of the material they will need to succeed in college and life.
Teaching to the test is not in itself a bad thing, McCluskey said, provided that the test in question is rigorous. But if the test has been watered down, it becomes a serious educational problem.
Others attribute teaching to the test to a lack of creativity.
"A lot of the requirements of No Child Left Behind can actually be integrated into extracurricular activities," said Jo Ann Webb, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Education, adding that "unless you have those fundamental skills, you're going to have deficiencies in other areas."
Michael Cohen, former assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education in the Clinton administration and current president of Achieve, a bipartisan, non-profit organization that helps to ensure all young people are prepared for postsecondary education, work and citizenship, said, "The best way to improve test scores is to teach kids a rigorous curriculum in interesting and engaging ways."
When teachers are unable to teach such well-rounded curriculums, they then focus too heavily on the tested areas, Cohen said.
Student tests are not the only ones causing controversy.
Because teachers are required to pass exams that demonstrate their content-knowledge in the areas they teach, McCluskey said, districts are losing valuable potential teachers from the private sector who have extensive knowledge and the desire to teach but lack a degree or the time and money to take the necessary coursework and pass the exams.
"You get the teachers who have nothing else to do but teach," he said. "There's no incentives for people who might be really good teachers to go into teaching"
Under the law, teachers must be deemed a "highly qualified teacher" or the district is required to notify parents that their children are being taught by teachers who do not meet the requirements of the law. While states have flexibility to determine what qualifies a veteran teacher as "highly qualified," the law requires that all new teachers must have a bachelor's degree and pass a state developed teacher examination.
Trombly said these requirements are especially harmful in New Hampshire because they impede local involvement in schools.
"New Hampshire's tradition of local involvement, community involvement, in public education really served us well in the past," he said. "Individual districts could meet the needs of their particular students in a way that best fit their district. NCLB really sets a one size should fit all standards."
Trombly added that "New Hampshire's teacher certification process," which he said is both "rigorous and strenuous," is "what makes our teachers highly qualified." In addition, Trombly said he believes labeling a teacher as "non-highly qualified" is "truly detrimental to what is really going on in the classroom."
And on a national level, controversy remains about the level of funding the law is receiving. Practically since President Bush signed the legislation, critics have accused the administration and Congress of underfunding it.
The Democrats' Kiley said the program is "woefully underfunded and it has been ever since its enactment," adding that the program would require an additional $40 billion to be considered fully funded.
According to the GOP's Marrero federal funding for education has increased by about 50 percent since 2001 and "the federal investment is specifically focused on these goals for No Child Left Behind and certainly there has been adequate funding to achieve those goals," adding that "the primary source for education is state and local sources" with federal funding only accounting for between seven and nine percent.
But even some critics of the law say that full funding is not the answer.
"There's plenty of money and there's been plenty of spending in education," McCluskey said, adding that while per pupil expenditures have increased dramatically, "achievement has flat-lined."
Like McCluskey, Cohen said that though additional funding could be beneficial, it would not solve all of the law's problems.
"More and better services can be provided for kids with more money and that's important but, that doesn't solve the most significant and thorny problems that are built into the design of NCLB," Cohen said.
One of the biggest design problems with the law, according to Cohen, is that the accountability provisions treat a school that is progressing greatly, but not quite reaching its annual goal, the same as a school where little or no progress has been made. Under the law, both schools would be labeled "in need of improvement."
Instead, many experts believe that a "growth model," which would monitor the progress made by the same group of students from one year to the next, rather than comparing two different groups of children year after year as the law does now, would be more effective.
Last month, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced a pilot program that will allow up to ten interested and qualified states to submit proposals for the development of growth models for the 2005-2006 school year. States must show that they have the additional funding and the data processing to track all of the students.
Trombly said that "under the law, we had districts in New Hampshire that actually improved their performance on the measures, but because they didn't improve enough, they were deemed failing."
It’s Not Easy Being Green
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14-Garry Barney hasn't had to pay an electric bill since last March.
Before he installed an array of 18 solar panels on the roof of his Rochester home, Barney's electric bill averaged $100 each month. After going solar in December 2003, he watched his bill drop steadily until it finally disappeared entirely early this year.
"I was tired of paying my electric bills," Barney said, explaining why he turned to solar power. "They kept going up and up and up."
With residential electricity prices in Massachusetts 13 percent higher now than they were a year ago, Barney is not alone in seeking sustainable alternatives to conventional retail utilities. The global market for photovoltaics, the solar technology that powers Barney's house, has grown by an average of 35 percent each year since 2001, according to Noah Kaye, spokesman for the Solar Energy Industries Association.
In Massachusetts alone there are now close to 500 photovoltaic installations-29 in the South Shore area-that power everything from fire stations and high schools to churches and low-income housing, according to data from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, a state agency for renewable energy development. More than 65 percent of these systems provide electricity to private residences.
"Interest increases whenever conventional prices increase," Kaye said, noting that there haven't been similar levels of interest in solar power since the oil embargoes of the 1970s. "Many people feel we are in an energy crisis again-one that we may not be able to turn back from."
Local solar professionals also have noticed an uptick in business. Herbert Aikens, the owner of Lighthouse Electrical Contracting, a Pembroke-based solar installation company, said he noticed interest increasing about three years ago, and more recently, he added, it has only intensified.
"Over the last two years it has really started to pick up," Aikens said. "Oil cost probably has a lot to do with it."
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita also have contributed to the growing interest, said Nancy Hazard, executive director of Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, a renewable energy education and advocacy group. Not only did the storms leave surging oil and natural gas prices in their wake, she said, they also sparked public awareness about the importance of clean energy.
"People started understanding a little better the connection between energy use and climate change," Hazard said. "They were all of a sudden motivated to find a better way to meet their energy needs."
Many reports this summer theorized that global warming was a major contributor to the devastating hurricanes. Burning oil, coal,or natural gas for electricity releases gases that can contribute to this type of climate change.
Photovoltaic technology, in contrast, converts the sun's energy directly into electricity. Because there are no emissions, solar power is clean and non-polluting.
Another major factor encouraging this growth is the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that was signed into law in August. Provisions of the legislation provide tax incentives to consumers and businesses that install solar power systems in their homes and facilities.
Under the bill, which was pushed heavily by President Bush, homeowners who install photovoltaic systems are eligible for a tax credit equal to 30 percent of the cost of installation. The incentive applies to systems installed throughout 2006 and 2007, and the total allowable credit is capped at $2,000 for this entire period.
"The energy bill was an historic step by the federal government to recognize the potential of solar energy to make a major contribution to the United States' energy supply," Kaye said.
Evidence indicates that the incentives are working. Since the bill became law, Aikens said, he has noticed a slight increase in inquiries. The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, which offers rebates for renewable energy projects, gave out $256,000 in grants in October-more than triple the amount awarded in April.
Though the potential benefits of solar energy-opportunities for savings, social responsibility, increased energy independence-are compelling, there are also serious challenges.
One common concern in the Northeast is that the region might not experience enough sunlight to generate sufficient power. However, while New England, with its notoriously fickle weather, is not the ideal environment for the use of photovoltaics, solar energy can still be an attractive option.
Because the cost of retail electricity is significantly higher in the Northeast than in the southern states-the average price in Massachusetts in 2005 is 40 percent higher than in Florida, according to the Energy Information Administration-there is a greater incentive for New Englanders to investigate alternative options, experts said.
"We may have cold weather and we do have some cloud cover," Hazard explained, "but also our energy prices tend to be higher, so the cost equation is quite positive."
Nor does the comparatively limited sunlight need to be an obstacle.
"The entire United States has, as a whole, very good solar resources," Kaye said.
During the sunnier summer months, in fact, Barney is able to power his entire house with his solar array. The extra electricity he generates is sent back into the public grid, for which he receives credit against future bills that he may incur during the sunlight-deprived winter months, a practice called net metering.
Barney said that he expects to pay "a little bit" for electricity in December, January, and February, but that he anticipates being self-sufficient again by March.
Cost-effectiveness is, perhaps, the main question many consumers have about solar power.
Barney, one of the recipients of funds from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Small Renewable Initiative, estimates that the money has reduced the out-of-pocket cost of his system from $35,000 to $10,000 or even less.
The initiative offers rebates of up to $50,000 for residential and small commercial renewable energy installations. The goal of the program is to facilitate the addition of more than 400 new renewable energy projects statewide.
Barney is unsure, however, if the results of his installation ultimately will be worth the expense.
"The jury's still out on that," he said. "I originally estimated that in seven or eight years it would pay for itself. Without the grant money it probably wouldn't be worth it-the payback would be way too long."
Maintenance costs also can add to the total expense, Barney explained.
The price tag, however, continues to shrink, said Kaye, who estimated that the cost of solar power has dropped 95 percent since the 1970s and may be comparable to conventional retail electricity within ten years.
"A typical [photovoltaic] system without incentives can be comparable [in cost] to buying a used car," Kaye said. "But it's also like buying a used car with all the gas you'll ever need in it."
In addition, federal and state initiatives can ease some of the financial burden.
"Tax incentives, the rebates and loan guarantees can reduce the cost substantially," Kaye said.
Massachusetts is, in fact, among the states with the best collection of renewable energy policies and incentives, according to rankings by the Union of Concerned Scientists. In addition to net metering provisions, the commonwealth has a renewable energy fund and comprehensive standards to encourage development of sustainable energy resources.
These provisions have earned the state a second-place ranking by the scientists' group y for total standards and funding.
State law also requires electricity companies to disclose to customers the fuel mix and environmental impact of their product.
Indeed, policies that support renewable energy development can be a key factor in growth, despite other obstacles. Experts point to New Jersey, a northeastern state with weather patterns similar to those of Massachusetts. New Jersey's renewable energy policies, widely considered the nation's most progressive, have been given credit for the state's rapid clean power growth rate.
The progress has not been without controversy, however. Many have criticized the national energy bill as offering too little support for renewable energy while continuing to provide inappropriate subsidies to fossil fuel industries.
"We felt like [the bill] was basically just a collection of subsidies and tax breaks to oil companies that are already experiencing record profits," said Tiernan Sittenfeld, legislative director for the League of Conservation Voters, a national environmental advocacy group based in Washington. "It would do nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."
The $14.5 billion energy bill includes $1.3 billion in tax incentives for energy conservation and efficiency. However, no more than $55 million of that total is designated for solar projects. In contrast, fossil fuel provisions received $5.6 billion, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.
"It is largely a compilation of wish lists for energy industries," said Dave Hamilton, spokesman for the Sierra Club. Despite including some incentives for renewable energy, he said, "it was nothing that changed the playing field."
For Hazard, the issue of renewable energy comes down to a matter of determining and implementing national priorities.
"We want [our energy] to be secure, we want it to be affordable, we want it to advance our quality of life," Hazard said. "I think we really need to step back, take a longer view, look at what we want as a society and make investments in energy that will deliver those qualities."
Efforts to Protect Local Salamanders Illustrative Of Ongoing Conservation Issues
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 - Each year on a rainy spring night, usually some time in March, a miniature migration turns volunteers across Massachusetts into curious crossing guards.
"We have big yellow signs that we hold up that say 'salamander crossing.' Everybody wears their fluorescent vests and gets out there with buckets and flashlights in the pouring rain," said Deb Cary, coordinator of some of the volunteers and director of the Massachusetts Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary in Worcester.
In Massachusetts, where the land has long been thickly settled by humans, amphibians such as frogs, toads and salamanders often have to cross roads to get from the wooded upland areas where they live most of the year to the low-lying wetland areas where they mate.
These are small creatures - the larger salamanders can grow up to eight inches - and they aren't necessarily easy to see on a rainy night. On these spring nights, the roads between the main living habitat of these amphibians and their mating areas are covered with hopping frogs, crawling salamanders, the little sperm packets dropped by the males and dead, squished animals.
The salamander crossing program is one of several that benefit threatened species of salamanders in Essex County.
There are six amphibians listed as "threatened" or "species of special concern" on the Massachusetts state list, according to the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, branch of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife that administers the state's endangered species program. Only three of the listed species have been reported in Essex County in the last ten years, according to the Natural Heritage database, and only two "species of special concern" are found on the mainland: the blue-spotted salamander ( Ambystoma laterale ) and the four-toed salamander ( Hemidactylium scutatum ).
The third species, the threatened eastern spadefoot toad ( Scaphiopus holbrookii ) lives in Essex County only in the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island.
The salamander crossing program is only one of many efforts to raise awareness of and to help protect the amphibious creatures and their habitats.
In another part of the state, Scott Jackson, a wildlife biologist specializing in reptiles and amphibians, has developed a more permanent strategy for helping salamanders in their migration: tunnels.
Jackson is in the Department of Natural Resources Conservation at UMass Amherst. He helped develop a tunnel system for salamanders and other small animals at a site on Henry Street in Amherst, which was known as an amphibian road-crossing area.
"When you have an entire population that needs to cross the road to breed, that's an obvious issue," he said.
The crossing programs are useful for drawing attention to the plight of the salamanders, he said.
"It's a good thing, but it's not enough by itself," he said. He noted that the volunteers are rarely there when the adults migrate back to the woods after the mating season is over, or when the young make their first migration into the uplands.
Jackson admitted that the tunnel system isn't perfect either. He said that salamanders are reluctant to go into the dark tunnels, and other species sometimes don't make it to the tunnels at all, instead being baffled by the small fences intended to funnel them into the tunnels.
If they help one species and hinder another, "the tunnels and fences themselves are going to cause more problems than the cars," he said. He noted that on roads with light traffic, signs and speed bumps might be nearly as effective in protecting the salamanders, though larger roads would still be a problem.
"If you're zooming down the highway these are a lot easier to miss than a snapping turtle or a moose if one wanders into the road," Jackson said.
Some conservation efforts are centered more around habitat than direct protection of the species. According to its Web site, Massachusetts Audubon has 43 wildlife sanctuaries throughout the state, four of them in Essex County: in Gloucester, Newburyport, Topsfield and Wenham.
The Essex County Greenbelt Association also acquires land for purposes of education, conservation and preservation of green space. Though helping the amphibians is not the association's chief goal, according to Edward Becker, the executive director, it is one of the many benefits of what it does.
"We own a lot of wetland, we own a lot of marshland, and we keep it for the habitat value," Becker said.
Another local organization intent on education and conservation is the Vernal Pool Association. Begun in 1990 as part of an environmental outreach project at Reading Memorial High School by then-biology teacher Leo Kenney, it has grown into an independent organization.
Its main goal is to educate people about vernal pools and their ecology. Vernal pools are the wet lowland breeding areas for salamanders. They're used by "amphibians, certainly, but a number of the turtles go there for feeding," Kenney said. He added that the pools also are home to "an amazing number of invertebrates."
Vernal pools are basically "wicked big puddles" (as Kenney's book about vernal pool ecology is titled) which form when the snow melts in the spring and dry up by the end of the summer. The seasonal nature of the pools means they're free of fish and larger amphibians who would prey on the eggs and young of salamanders and smaller frogs.
One of the goals of the organization is to identify vernal pools and certify them through the Natural Heritage program. Certification lets the public know the pools are there and helps get people involved, Kenney said.
"A pool doesn't really have to be certified to be protected," he said, but they're a "very interesting ecosystem" that people should know more about.
Protecting this interesting ecosystem can be tricky, according to Alan Richmond, a professor of biology at UMass Amherst.
"Most people see a vernal pool and say: 'Huh, West Nile. We'd better drain it and kill the mosquitoes,' or 'Huh, it dries up, let's dig it deeper and put fish in it,' " he said. "Either strategy is bad news for these salamanders."
This kind of struggle over the habitat of a few salamanders in Massachusetts is echoed all over the country in the fight to preserve many species that are endangered at the federal level.
The conflict has recently come to a head in the congressional debate over renewing the Endangered Species Act. The act, which President Nixon signed into law in 1973, must be renewed periodically. The latest bill intended to renew the act would make some major changes to its provisions.
The Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005, sponsored by Rep. Richard Pombo, a Republican from California, would eliminate the ability of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate critical habitat, streamline the process for pesticide approval and restructure the way the Fish and Wildlife Service can administer the endangered species program.
It would allow the Fish and Wildlife Service to compensate private landowners when an endangered species' presence prevents the development of land, causing a financial loss for the landowner.
The House passed the bill, 229 to 193; the Senate has not acted.
Brian Kennedy, a Republican spokesman for the House Resources Committee, which Pombo chairs, said these changes are necessary to decrease the federal bureaucracy involved in protecting endangered species.
Kennedy said the law had produced a "tremendous amount of conflicts" between the Fish and Wildlife Service and private landowners, particularly in western states. He said the goal of the bill is to "protect the private property owner, incentivize the private property owner and make having an endangered species on the land a positive thing."
He said that the current law may have helped keep species from going extinct, but it hasn't helped many species to actively recover. The new law would require a recovery plan to be developed for each species within two years of its being listed. These plans would include active intervention to preserve and restore the species and specifics on habitat preservation, which would eliminate the need for the critical habitat designation, Kennedy said.
Right now, he said, landowners fear the hand of the federal bureaucracy in their affairs, especially because of its glacial speed in addressing concerns and responding to permit requests. They also fear losing money and autonomy, he said, and fear being prosecuted even when their intentions are good. This fear leads to what Kennedy called "shoot, shovel and shut up."
That is, rather than let anyone know that an endangered species is on their land, private landowners would rather kill it, get rid of it and keep quiet than let anyone know it is there and work with the Fish and Wildlife Service to help preserve the animal.
The Fish and Wildlife Service will, if the new act passes, be required to give a timely response to a landowner's proposal to develop a property. The service, Kennedy said, may then give the project the go-ahead or ask for some changes or reject it outright.
If it calls for changes, it must provide both financial and manpower help.. If it turns the project down, it must compensate the landowner "as if the land was taken under eminent domain," Kennedy said.
This last is one of the many provisions of Pombo's bill that has environmentalists up in arms.
Corry Westbrook, a legislative representative at the Washington office of the National Wildlife Federation, said, "It's kind of like paying developers to adhere to the law."
"The Fish and Wildlife Service is usually highly accommodating to private landowners," she said. She added that the permitting process, while it might take time, doesn't often prevent private landowners from doing what they want to do with a piece of property.
"Usually the project goes forward, but they say 'put the parking lot over here instead of in the wetlands,' " she said.
Westbrook also had problems with the way the new bill defines what scientific data should be used in listing new species and making permit determinations.
It will let the Secretary of the Interior "lock in politically motivated definitions of science," she said.
But the rollback of protections in favor of the rights of property owners is the big concern. While Westbrook said that most people will want to do the right thing, some of the biggest property owners will not.
"A lot of times, when people talk about private landowners, I think they romanticize and think, 'Oh, a small farm,' but in reality, a lot of the owners are private corporations," she said. "They think about the bottom line, and that doesn't always pan out for wildlife."
None of the state-protected amphibians found in Massachusetts is on the federal list of endangered or threatened species maintained by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Any species that are on the federal list are added to the state's list automatically, according to Tom French, the director of the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program.
Natural Heritage reviews construction and renovation projects for potential impact on endangered species in the state.
The state designations of "endangered" and "threatened" make it a crime to do anything that would harm a listed animal. The protections the designation affords to animals, plants and their habitats are comparable to the current federal endangered species protections.
"They're essentially the same designation, except for geographical scale," French said.
He said some of the clashes the federal government gets into with property owners are less common on the state level. He attributed this to the fact that landowners in Massachusetts and other populous areas must already contend with zoning and many other regulations. This is not the case in other states - particularly thinly populated western states, he said.
"No one here assumes they can fill in wetlands on their property, but those kinds of rights have not been in place for years and years," he said.
Wetlands and other habitats for rare species are protected at the Massachusetts state level, but while people have come to accept the value of wetlands to wild animals, there is a lot of resistance to protection of the wooded uplands that are of greater commercial value to humans, French said.
"It does make it more difficult," he said. "People understand that a vernal pool is there and that salamanders have to lay their eggs in it, but they don't understand that they have to have forest around the pool." French added that it becomes a question of the minimum area the animals need to live, which isn't always easy to determine.
Natural Heritage tries to take into account both the needs of humans and the needs of listed species when they review projects. To do this, though, they need to know where the rare animals can be found.
"If we don't know it, they're not protected," French said. The most important, helpful thing an individual can do to help preserve rare species and their habitat is to report sightings of these species, including a photograph, to Natural Heritage,, he added.
"The most important single thing is for us to know where they are," he said.
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Worcester Students May Carry the Budget Cut Burden
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 - In the spring of 2001, Willimantic, Conn., high school senior Chris Marot knew he wanted to attend the College of the Holy Cross, but there was a problem: he had no way of financing his education.
At the time, the most viable alternative seemed to be to enroll at the University of Connecticut, which was less expensive and closer to his hometown. Mr. Marot said he had his heart set on Holy Cross but saw the reality of the situation.
"I knew I wouldn't be able to afford Holy Cross," he said.
But after finally being given enough financial aid to attend his first choice, Mr. Marot enrolled at Holy Cross.
It's taken some creative financing - he said he paid the balance of last semester's tuition from the money he made house painting over the summer - but in May, Mr. Marot is set to graduate from Holy Cross with a degree in history.
But for many other students, the financial burden of an education may only be getting heavier. Congress has proposed to cut several billion dollars from the federal student loan program in the coming months.
Last month, the House narrowly passed its version of the budget reconciliation bill, one of the main items on President Bush's legislative agenda. The bill would cut approximately $50 billion in total spending, including $14.3 billion in federal student loan subsidies over the next five years.
The Senate bill, also passed last month, proposes to cut $35 billion in total spending, including $9 billion from the student loan program.
Reduced subsidies for lenders means that borrowers - the students - would absorb most of the burden in the long run. Since banks and other lenders will need a way to maintain their profits, student loan incentive programs may be discontinued, the loan terms may be much less appealing and higher-interest rates may become the norm.
According to the State Public Interest Research Groups' Higher Education Project , the average federal student loan is about $17,500. A student who borrows this amount, under the new legislation, could pay up to $5,800 more in interest than he or she now pays over the life of the loan.
"In many cases, that's tacking on a year or two to the loan," said Luke Swarthout, the higher-education associate for the State Public Interest Research Groups - a citizen run, public-interest organization. "Students will experience these legislative changes in the years after graduation when they're forced to make choices like starting a family or buying a home. It's those economic and social consequences that make this bill outrageous."
The bill passed by two votes in the House, 217-215. Every voting Democrat and 14 Republicans opposed the bill.
Opponents contended that the student loan cuts would force students to carry the burden through increased interest rates and various fees on their loans and would leave many students hard-pressed to afford an education.
"I'm horrified by what the Republicans are trying to do," said Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester. "These cuts are unacceptable. One of the keys to our economic viability is a well-educated work force. We should be making it easier for people to get an education, not harder."
"If I had to choose one plan, I'd pick the Senate's," said Eileen O' Leary, co-chairwoman of the government relations committee of the Massachusetts Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators . "Although the Senate bill does make changes that can cost students more money, most of the money comes out of bank and lender profits, which I'm not opposed to. The Senate bill isn't perfect, but it's a better option."
The government offers three main student loans - the Perkins Loan, which has a 5 percent interest rate and is based exclusively on need; the Stafford Loan, a popular, variable-interest loan that may not exceed 8.25 percent and currently is at 4.7 percent; and the Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students, a higher-interest loan offered to parents of dependent undergraduates.
The Senate bill proposes a fixed interest rate of 6.8 percent for Stafford loans. The House bill proposes an 8.25 percent cap for students and 9 percent for parents
Unlike the House bill, the Senate bill would increase funds for Pell Grants, a form of federal aid that does not need to be paid back. Pell Grants are typically awarded to students whose families earn $20,000 a year or less.
According to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass, the Senate bill would bring about $120 million in additional Pell Grants to Massachusetts students over the next five years.
Lenders are particularly concerned that the Senate budget proposal would reduce federal subsidies paid to them even more steeply than the House bill would . Some lenders estimate a loss of as much as $15 billion over the next five years.
"The bill could lead to major changes in marketing patterns," said John Dean, a representative of the Consumer Bankers Association. "Some smaller lenders may find it difficult to survive in the marketplace and major lenders may not market to community colleges or to institutions with students who are at a higher risk for default."
The Republican leadership is pushing to work out the differences between the House and Senate bills before Christmas, although a complete resolution may not be reached until early in the new year.
Alexa Marrero, spokeswoman for the House Education and the Workforce Committee, said the House bill would increase student loan benefits. For example, she said, it would preserve the Stafford Loans' variable interest rate, which should be to the advantage of the borrower over the long term.
Ms. Marrero also said that the bill would allow students to take out larger loans and pay reduced fees.
"The bill is actually reforming the student loan program," she said. "We're trying to improve opportunities for students, and we are demanding a greater efficiency from the programs. In the short term, students see an increase in the loan limits, and they can watch their fees go down. In the long term, students should know that [the government's] investment in higher education is going to continue to rise."
As for the $5,800 more in interest the average student is expected to pay on a loan, she said: "That number is misleading. There isn't really a way to peg a number on what a student will pay overall because there are so many different factors involved. Opponents of the program have put forth misleading information and inaccurate descriptions of what the new program is intended to do."
Some contend that the government is dumping its financial burden from the Iraq war and hurricane relief on the backs of lower- and middle-class students.
"Cutting student loans is a short-sided policy," Mr. Swarthout of the State Public Interest Research Groups said. "I think there is a perception [in Congress] that they can cut these programs and there won't be political consequences when it comes time to vote."
In addition to cutting federal money for student loans, the Senate and House bills would dip into such programs as health care and food stamps.
"The bottom line is, we're going to have tax cuts that will benefit the wealthy in this country," Mr. McGovern said. "The rich and the oil companies are not sacrificing anything. By cutting student loans and food stamps and home heating oil and Medicaid, you're not making America stronger, you are making it weaker."
With several colleges in the Worcester area, many local students would be likely to feel the financial strain from the student aid cuts.
At Assumption College, 1,687 students, or about 80 percent of the student population, received federal aid in the past year, according to Karen Puntillo, the school's financial aid director. The figure is even higher at Clark University, where about 90 percent of the student body receives some form of federal aid.
Alyssa Sunkin, a junior at Clark, said that the increased cost of education and the threat of increasing loan costs have deterred her from applying to graduate school.
The editor-in-chief of The Scarlet, Clark's student newspaper, Ms. Sunkin plans on becoming a journalist but fears that an entry-level salary will not allow her to comfortably pay off her loans.
"I don't expect to be making 50, 60, 70 thousand dollars right away," she said. "If the loans increase, it's going to be a tremendous strain on me and my family. A lot of my friends here are relying on their loans to stay at the university. College should be an institution that all people can attend, not just people that can afford it."
At Worcester Polytechnic Institute 1,621 of the 2,806 students (58 percent) receive some form of federal aid.
At Holy Cross, 43 percent of the approximately 2,700 students receive federal aid, according to Lynne Myers, Holy Cross' financial aid director.
" Students that receive financial aid are concerned," Ms. Myers said. "The reality is that things like tuition and room and board are going up and financial aid is, at best, staying the same."
Craig Lowell, a senior at Holy Cross, uses a $2,000 Stafford loan to help finance his education. With the potential rise in student loan costs, Lowell said, many students may not be able to attend the colleges they'd like to.
"Even before the increase, I've had friends who weren't able to go to the college they wanted to because they didn't get enough financial aid," he said. "As a college student, you're always strapped for money."
At Worcester State College 2,004 students, or 37 percent of the 5,471 enrolled during the 2005 fall semester, received federal aid.
"For us, we have a large number of students who wouldn't be able to go to college if they didn't have financial aid," said Worcester State College financial aid director Kaine Thompson. "The school is taking on more and more in scholarship aid because of such a great need."
She added: "Most jobs require you to have at least a bachelor's degree these days. [The government] is cutting people's ability to give back to the economy."
Student Debt Alert is a project of the State Public Interest Research Groups. On its Web site, www.studentalert.org , students have initiated a campaign addressing problems with student loan debt.
In the Web site's "Student Debt Yearbook," students from colleges across the country express their concern over their mounting debts. Jody (she didn't give her full name), a prospective graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst's class of 2008, writes that she expects her total loan debt will exceed $110,000.
"It is a raw deal," she wrote in the on-line yearbook. "There's no way that you can possible start out on a good foot when you are way over your head in debt."
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Redistricting Reform Has Strong Advocates, Foes
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 - In 1812, a Massachusetts governor named Eldridge Gerry redrew the state's congressional districts to benefit his own Democratic-Republican Party and keep the Federalists from gaining power in statewide elections. His districts were extremely odd-looking. One, which stretched from Marblehead through Lynn and Andover and around to Amesbury and Salisbury, avoiding everything in the middle, resembled a salamander so closely that the name stuck. The term gerrymandering was born.
Over the course of United States history, politically motivated redistricting has disenfranchised political and racial minorities, protected incumbents and guarded the perceived interests of states in preserving and enhancing its members' seniority and power in Congress.
In Massachusetts in the past two decades, congressional and legislative redistricting have been at the center of a string of court cases, as advocacy groups challenge the district maps drawn by the state legislature after each decennial census.
The voter advocacy group Massachusetts Common Cause has spent the past year pushing to transfer responsibility for redistricting from Beacon Hill to an independent panel of seven commissioners chosen by the executive and legislative branches of the state government.
The effort to pass this plan, known as the "Fair Districts Initiative," began with voter approval of a non-binding question on the 2004 ballot in 15 state legislative districts, and a bill introduced in the House early this year by Rep. Richard T. Moore, Democrat of Uxbridge, which failed to gain the approval of the legislature's Joint Committee on Election Law.
Common Cause and its partner organizations-including the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, the NAACP's New England Conference and MassVote-next launched a petition campaign to start the process to amend the commonwealth constitution, but fell short by 6,000 signatures. The advocates plan to resume their fight through the legislature.
Sen. Edward M. Augustus Jr., Democrat of Worcester, who chairs the Senate Election Law Committee and opposed Mr. Moore's bill, said that he had no problem with the state legislative districts being set by an independent commission.
For congressional districts, however, he said Democratic Massachusetts should not "unilaterally disarm" when Republican strongholds like Texas continue to redistrict along partisan lines. Power in Congress is often based on seniority, and loss of seniority can mean a loss of valuable chairmanships and payoffs for the home district or state in the form of funds for public projects.
"I'd hate to see us lose a seat on an important committee," Mr. Augustus said, especially since Massachusetts may soon lose one House seat because of relatively slow population growth.
U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, Democrat of Worcester, said. "It's an issue of clout for the state." If the late Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. were still Speaker of the House, for example, he said, Massachusetts wouldn't want to redistrict him out and lose a powerful advocate.
Pamela Wilmot, executive director of Massachusetts Common Cause, said congressional and legislative districts are drawn based on who is on the political in with the speaker of the state House and not on who has the most seniority. Besides, she said, if state districts are drawn to protect incumbents because they are powerful, "we might as well abolish all elections."
"You can't have it both ways," she said. "Districts belong to the voters."
She said the proposed independent commission would not protect incumbents, making them more accountable and boosting competition within the Democratic Party. Incumbents in Massachusetts had "very little to fear" from the loss of privilege, she said, because Massachusetts is so heavily Democratic.
"We're likely not to see too much change in competition," Ms. Wilmot said.
"That's a strange argument for a reform group," said Rep. Barney Frank, Democrat of New Bedford and the sole congressional endorser of the Fair Districts Initiative. Mr. Frank said that while he still supports the initiative, he has since decided it would be better to have all states change at the same time from redistricting by state legislatures to independent commissions, and he is endorsing a bill to do that introduced by Rep. John S. Tanner, Democrat of Tennessee.
Ms. Wilmot is not optimistic about the chances for a national bill and said that election law is a state matter.
Ms. Wilmot said her group's initiative was patterned on Iowa's redistricting commission, which she called "the most successful one in the nation." In fact, there are some significant differences between the plan proposed for Massachusetts and the one that has served Iowa for three decades.
After a court challenge to its post-1970 redistricting plan, Iowa instituted the Statutory Redistricting Process, which has been in place ever since. This system calls for the majority and minority leaders of the state House and Senate to each nominate one nonpartisan commissioner, who then collectively nominate a fifth commissioner, who chairs the panel. The commission advises the Legislative Services Bureau, a nonpartisan staff of bureaucrats.
The Legislative Services Bureau draws the maps, based on criteria including federal population and antidiscrimination requirements, respect for county and municipal boundaries, contiguity and compactness. The bureau is directed not to pay any attention to political considerations, such as where an incumbent lives.
After it receives census data, the bureau is given two months to draw a map and must conduct public forums on it around the state. It then presents the map to the legislature for an up or down vote, with no amendments. If the first map is rejected, a second is drawn, and then a third. If the third map is rejected, the legislature can amend it.
"Our philosophy is that a blind process is reasonably fair to all parties," said Ed Cook, legal council for Iowa's Legislative Services Bureau. He said that the fact that Iowa is pretty evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans plays a role in that fairness. Since it doesn't favor either party, legislators are generally "pretty happy with the process."
As far as congressional districts go, said Mr. Cook, there aren't many maps that can be drawn. The Iowa Constitution forbids dividing counties to create congressional districts; so, with 99 counties in the state, there are only 99 "pieces of the puzzle" to work with. Add to that the federal "one person, one vote" requirement, established in the 1960s, which mandates that districts be roughly equal in population, and options are limited.
Nonetheless, the system has had an impact on Iowa politics. Every 10 years the districts are redrawn from scratch, with no reference to where the old districts were. Sometimes incumbents are paired in a new district and have to run against each other. Sometimes they lose their district altogether, and have to move.
"It's our version of term limits," Mr. Cook said.
The party in control of the state legislature changed after the redistricting that followed the censuses of 1980 and 1990, partly because incumbent advantage was largely removed. "There's potential for more change," Mr. Cook said.
The Fair Districts Initiative differs from Iowa's model in that final authority for redistricting would lie with the commission, not the legislature. "Political realities are different" in Massachusetts, Ms. Wilmot said. She said that unlike in Iowa, where there is a tradition of populism and government reform, Common Cause's assessment of the Massachusetts legislature is that it would reject all the commission's maps and draw one of its own in the old way, to serve political interests.
Another difference is the guidelines for nominating commissioners. The initiative would mandate that the governor appoint someone from academia; the attorney general nominates a retired judge; the secretary of the commonwealth picks an expert in civil rights; and so forth. Michael Ferrari, a spokesman for Mr. Augustus, said some members of the legislative committee, which rejected Mr. Moore's bill, were concerned that this constituted writing special interests into the Commonwealth Constitution.
Common Cause's proposal would be similar to Iowa's, however, in that it would not make competitiveness a criterion for redistricting. Ms. Wilmot said that "natural competition" was likely to come from not tailoring districts to fit office holders.
David Skaggs, director of the Council for Excellence in Government, a Washington-based nonpartisan organization whose goal is to improve government's performance on all levels, said that Iowa was "the gold result" for redistricting in the country but that it owed much of its success to its "peculiar political culture," which was largely incumbent-blind already.
Following a conference held jointly in June with the Campaign Legal Center, another nonpartisan group in Washington that works in the areas of campaign financing, communications and government ethics, the two organizations published a plan for redistricting that Mr. Skaggs said they were trying to sell to states all over the country. It calls for increased competitiveness in districts to be the first priority of independent redistricting commissions.
Mr. Skaggs, who has served in both the Colorado legislature and Congress, said the dwindling number of competitive districts around the country was partly responsible for the growing polarization in Congress and state legislatures.
In districts dominated by one party, he said, primaries become the most important contest, with perhaps 10 percent of the most committed partisan electorate turning out to choose the candidate who then easily wins the general election. There is no incentive for candidates to be moderate.
Ms. Wilmot said that with only 13 percent of Massachusetts voters registered Republican, making competitiveness a criterion was impractical.
The federal Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965 to prevent the disenfranchisement of minorities, has two provisions that concern redistricting. Section 5 requires states that practiced discrimination in the past to submit their redistricting maps to the Department of Justice for approval.
Section 2, which applies to every state, declares that if a minority community is large and compact enough for a district, votes as a group and is regularly defeated by white voters, it can challenge a map that denies it its own district. This happened in Massachusetts in 2003, when the U.S. District Court ruled that a plan drawn by the legislature under Speaker Thomas Finneran, which reduced the number of African-American legislative districts in Boston, was guilty of "sacrificing racial fairness to the voters on the alter of incumbency protection."
Ms. Wilmot said Worcester's minority population is "quartered" right now, divided into four legislative districts, both urban and suburban.
Jeffrey M. Wise, who studies redistricting and is a former counsel to the Massachusetts legislature, said it was an issue of competing interests. "You can't say 'because it's in the interest of one party, let's ignore the Voting Rights Act,' " he said. Protecting the votes of racial minorities is an important principle that has taken a long time to establish.
Another concern voiced by some legislators who opposed Mr. Moore's bill earlier this year was that an independent commission was not elected by the voters.
Alan J. Rom, a lawyer with Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, said he sympathized with the groups calling for an independent commission. "I, better than anybody, understand why they're doing this," he said.
Mr. Rom was the plaintiff's attorney in a series of lawsuits in the 1980s and 1990s brought against the state of Massachusetts for manipulating legislative districts for incumbent benefit. In 1983 and again in 1988 he represented minority political action committees suing over district maps that broke up their communities or packed them all into a few districts to minimize their influence.
Even with his experience with legislative gerrymandering, however, Mr. Rom agrees that redistricting should be left to the people's representatives.
"Who's to say commissions would do any better," Mr. Rom said. Even if the legislature is more apt than disinterested parties to let political considerations influence it, its members can be held accountable by the voters. Unelected commissioners cannot.
"People should hold their representatives accountable," he said. If they don't, they are to blame for their lawmakers' actions.
Mr. Skaggs said redistricting was such an obscure topic that most voters didn't realize its impact. He thought it was unlikely that any election had ever hinged on a legislator's role in redistricting legislation. "If you can find one," he said, "I'll eat my hat."
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