Category: Amanda Kozar
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 The same combination of insufficient transmission lines, steadily increasing energy consumption and outdated generating plants has led the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to rank Southwest Connecticut as one of the nation’s top reliability risks.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 2003 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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Lieberman Encourages US-China Cooperation to End Dependence on Oil
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30-The United States and China could be headed for economic and national security clashes if they do not curb their dependence on oil in the coming years, Sen. Joseph Lieberman said Wednesday.
China's rapid economic growth has had a corresponding effect on its growing consumption of oil. According to the International Energy Agency, China consumes more than 6 million barrels of crude oil per day, second only to the United States, which, at more than 20 million barrels a day, leads the world in oil consumption.
In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Lieberman described this global competition for oil as "one of the biggest sources of mutual frictions between the U.S. and [China]."
The two countries' growing consumption has both energy officials and lawmakers concerned about what this appetite for oil, if left unchecked, could mean in the future-particularly regarding national security disputes between the two countries.
According to the agency's International Energy Outlook 2005, "demand in the emerging economies rose by almost 1.9 million barrels per day, with China accounting for more than one-half of that increase." The agency projected that, if nothing changes, world oil consumption will increase from 78 million barrels per day to 119 million by 2025, with emerging Asian markets, including China, accounting for 45 percent of the increase.
During his speech, Lieberman warned that this growing dependency on limited resources "could lead to Sino-American confrontations over oil that could, in years ahead, threaten our national security and global security unless each of our nations reduces our dependence on oil."
Something needs to be done soon, he added, before "the race for oil becomes as hot and dangerous as the nuclear arms race last century."
Lieberman recently introduced legislation that calls for the United States to decrease its oil consumption by 10 million barrels per day by 2031 by developing alternative fuel sources and an energy-efficient transportation system.
William Martin, a former U.S. deputy secretary of energy, said that China, which has signed oil deals with Sudan and Iran, is also worried about growing competition over oil.
"If I'm China, and I'm looking around the world ... frankly I'm terrified of the United States," Martin told the gathering.
In preparation for recent talks with visiting President George Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao proposed promoting China-U.S. cooperative ties, including mutually beneficial work in the energy sector and strengthening communication about energy strategies.
"When both nations that are potentially combative have the opportunity to win without fighting . fighting would be a tragic failure of foresight and leadership," Lieberman said.
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Shays’ Rebellion
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22-Congressman Christopher Shays' day was not even close to being over when he walked into his office on Capitol Hill around 5 p.m. last Thursday to do press interviews.
Members of the House had spent all day debating proposed Republican spending cuts that would slice funds for programs like Medicaid, food stamps and student loan subsidies. The negotiating went on into the wee hours of Friday morning.
In the end, only 14 Republicans voted against the spending cuts and Shays was one of them. The budget reductions were approved by the House and now negotiators are trying to work out the differences with a less stringent Senate version of the bill.
In person, Shays is polite and somewhat soft-spoken. During an interview he leans forward to listen and is attentive to the staffers in his office. When he speaks, he appears thoughtful and earnest. At times he is passionate, but he does not raise his voice.
And yet, his voice is heard all over the Capitol.
In the 18 years that Shays has served Connecticut's Fourth District in Congress, he has become known as an outspoken centrist who is not concerned with placating either Republican congressional or White House leaders. Recently, Shays and a group of about 20 other moderate Republicans made news for opposing the GOP leadership over a number of issues, but Shays' rebellion is nothing new.
Last week, the House spending cuts for 2006 brought the centrist resistance, along with Shays, into the spotlight.
Many Republicans were calling for cuts on numerous programs as part of a deficit reduction package which would have included authorization for oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. That provision especially drew criticism from Democrats and moderate Republicans. Rep. Charlie Bass (R-N.H.) led the opposition, circulating a protest letter. Shays, along with fellow Connecticut Reps. Nancy Johnson (R-5 th ) and Rob Simmons (R-2 nd ) signed the letter and the provision was eventually eliminated from the legislation.
Even with Alaskan drilling no longer an issue, leadership had to work hard to gain the votes they needed thanks to the resistance of Shays and his fellow moderates. The spending cuts narrowly passed the House 217 to 215, and the vote revealed a divided Republican Party.
It exposed some of the "inter-party squabbling" recently plaguing the Republican Party, said Danielle Doane, director of House relations at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
"The problem is the budget reconciliation was the first time the conservatives really were pushing conservative policy and I think that rankled a lot of the moderates," said Doane.
Conservative Republicans were unimpressed with this centrist rebellion.
"The moderates are 'fiscal conservatives' until they actually have to cut something," Doane said. "Chris Shays is a self-declared budget hawk. He wants to cut spending, he's on the Budget Committee, he's always talked about 'no deficit.' I mean, he says all the right things."
But, she said, whenever spending cuts are proposed, he never supports them. "And I think that's a problem a lot of moderates have, they shy away from putting any specifics to their rhetoric and that's the problem," she said.
The spending bill was not the first time Shays has found himself out of sync with the Republican leadership.
In April, the Washington Post dubbed him "The Loneliest Republican" when he was the first in his party to call for the House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to resign over questionable campaign fund practices prior to his indictment in September on charges of conspiring to introduce illegal corporate contributions to Texas state legislature races. And more recently he has been very vocal about ethical issues plaguing the Bush administration.
"The American people deserve better than a top government official perjuring himself and obstructing justice," Shays said in a statement after Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, was indicted for obstruction of justice and perjury.
He also opposed President Clinton's impeachment, supports stem cell research and abortion rights and recently he urged Congress to consider an anti-torture law despite the administration's threat to veto any such legislation.
Although other moderate Republicans and Democrats support his outspokenness, there are those who do not.
Criticism has come from the conservative Club for Growth, an organization of fiscal conservatives that has drawn up a list of moderate Republicans they refer to as "Republicans in Name Only," or RINOs. Shays is on that list.
"That's offensive to me, that someone defines what a Republican is by what they are," Shays said.
Many of Shays' colleagues, in fact, support his actions as evidence of his dedication to his district.
"He's very independent," said Congressman Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican. "I admire his outspokenness. I think every member should be outspoken. You have to represent your district. And Chris does that very well."
And he has received like support closer to home.
"He cares about what happens here, he has a very strong sense of commitment," said Connecticut State Senator Judy Freedman (R-26). "He is very honest and has a lot of integrity."
Last year, Shays won re-election to his ninth term with only 52 percent of the vote, the smallest margin of victory he has received since winning office in 1987 and a much closer race than he faced in 2002. Shays' Democratic leaning 4th District, voted for Al Gore for president in 2000 and John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race. Shays learned a long time ago, he said, that "to represent my district, I would never be Speaker of the House. They come in conflict."
His candor has not gone without repercussions.
Despite being one of the most senior Republicans on the committee, Shays was denied chairmanship of the House Government Reform Committee because he was a chief sponsor of a leading bill to overhaul the campaign finance system-a position that did not impress conservative leadership.
The congressman pointed out that although he supports a number of issues that may be stereotyped as Democratic, such as abortion rights and gun control, he does not think his party affiliation is in question.
"Who said supporting stem cell research doesn't make you a Republican?" Shays asked.
If anything shows the extreme divergence in opinion surrounding Shays, it is the biennial superlatives poll conducted by Washingtonian magazine. In 2004, congressional staffers voted Shays both first place for "Gutsiest" and second for most "Spineless" member of Congress.
Shays, however, would probably reject the partisanship this vote no doubt reflects. The congressman is used to reaching out, as he said, "to both sides of the aisle" and much of his legislation reflects the bipartisan support that he said makes the most successful kind of legislator.
"I believe that we need to be Americans first and Republicans and Democrats second," he said.
Lieberman Seeks Alternatives Energy Sources
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Nov. 16-In an effort to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, Sen. Joseph Lieberman on Wednesday proposed federal regulations as well as individual incentives to cut oil consumption and promote alternative sources of energy.
The plan, Lieberman said, "will dramatically cut the dependence on foreign oil that is sapping America's power and independence as a nation."
Asserting that a growing reliance on other regions, particularly the Middle East, for oil is a security as well as an economic risk to the United States, Lieberman and a bipartisan group of senators announced that they want to decrease oil consumption by 10 million barrels a day by 2031.
"The issue of America's dependence on foreign oil is more than an economic issue, it is a national security issue as well," Lieberman said. "That no matter how mighty we are militarily, if we rely for oil that runs our country on a small number of other countries, we can be brought to our knees and that is something obviously we cannot allow to happen."
According to the Energy Information Administration, the United States imported 58 percent of its oil in 2004. This reliance on foreign oil concerns Lieberman and seven other senators, who Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) jokingly referred to as the "Energetic 8."
"Nothing less than our national security is at stake here," Lieberman said. "When you think about our reliance on oil, we are just one well-orchestrated attack or political upheaval away from a $100 barrel of oil overnight that would send the global economy tumbling and the industrialized including its new giant members, China and India, scrambling to secure supplies from the remaining and limited number of oil supply sites."
The plan focuses on the transportation sector by setting targets for flexible fuel vehicles, alternative fueled vehicles, hybrids, and plug-in hybrids by providing tax breaks and loan guarantees to automakers as well as tax breaks for those who purchase alternative fueled vehicles.
The senators also called for an increase in alternative fuel sources such as ethanol, an alcohol-based fuel that can be created from crops such as corn barley and wheat.
A switch to ethanol as a source of fuel for vehicles would allow the United States to use idle cropland to produce billions of barrels of new fuels, Lieberman said.
"We're attempting to be more dependent on the Midwest than the Mideast for our oil supply," said Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), a co-sponsor of the bill.
Ethanol is already being used in countries such as Brazil, where a substantial sugar cane industry is responsible for providing large quantities that are then integrated into the fuel supply.
Joining Lieberman, Brownback and Bayh in co-sponsoring the bill were Ken Salazar (D-Colorado), Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota ), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Bill Nelson (D-Florida) and Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama).
Lieberman said that he is encouraged by the bipartisan support his bill has received, as well as similar legislation that has been proposed in the House of Representatives.
"The purpose of this legislation is to set America free by cutting our dependence on foreign oil thereby strengthening our security, protecting our independence and energizing our economy," he said.
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Lieberman is “Encouraged” After Meeting with Alito
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8-Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said he was "encouraged" after meeting Tuesday morning with Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
After talking with Alito for about 40 minutes, Lieberman told reporters that the meeting had gone very well but he still had a lot to do before making a final decision on the nomination.
"Judge Alito is very learned in the law, an impressive person," Lieberman said, "I thought that he was very refreshingly willing to talk about decisions that he has written, and while, obviously, would not say explicitly how he would rule in particular cases as a member of the Supreme Court, I thought we had a very good exchange."
Lieberman is a member of the "Gang of 14," seven Republicans and seven Democrats who are considered key votes on confirmation.
Alito, who was nominated to fill Sandra Day O'Connor's seat on the Supreme Court after Harriet Miers dropped out before Senate hearings began, has been meeting with senators since his nomination Oct. 31.
Since then, critics have accused Alito of being an extreme conservative and someone who would tip the court to the right on issues such as abortion.
"I'm disappointed that it appears President Bush chose to nominate a top choice of the extreme right rather than a mainstream jurist more in line with the views of the American people," Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said in a press release.
Lieberman said that when he asked Alito to define his philosophy, the nominee called himself a "judicial traditionalist."
"I think a judicial traditionalist . speaks to a respect for precedent, a respect for constitutional traditions of the court," Lieberman said.
In responding to questions about Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling striking down restrictions on abortion, Alito "basically said that Roe was precedent on which a lot of people rely and has been precedent now for decades and therefore deserves a great respect," said Lieberman, a supporter of abortion rights.
Abortion is likely to be an important issue in the Judiciary Committee hearings scheduled to begin in early January. As an appeals court judge, Alito ruled in 1991 that states should be allowed to require women to tell their husbands before they have an abortion.
The Supreme Court overturned the decision, with O'Connor providing the crucial fifth vote, applying the test of whether the requirement would impose an "undue burden" on women.
Lieberman said Alito refused to comment on the "undue burden" test because he might eventually have to rule on it if he is confirmed to the Supreme Court.
When asked if he would support a filibuster to block the nomination, Lieberman said he had not decided, adding that "this was an encouraging meeting but there are a lot of questions remaining, and I don't feel in a rush to make decision."
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Shays Pushes for Anti-Torture Bill
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4-Brushing aside pressure from the Bush administration and threats of a presidential veto, Rep. Christopher Shays and 14 other Republican House members are pushing for anti-torture provisions to be included in the 2006 Defense Appropriations Act.
"There's no excuse for the United States tolerating torture or inhumane treatment and the sooner we don't the better," Shays said. "Until we don't we're going to be sending mixed messages to our military personnel. We can't become the very enemy that we're trying to defeat."
The mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, pushed the administration's policy on torture and interrogation into the spotlight. In a letter to the members of the House and Senate working to reconcile differences between the two chambers' versions of the defense spending bill, Shays and 14 other Republican House members urged the chairman to retain a Senate provision banning cruel and inhumane treatment of detainees. The House bill did not include this amendment.
The amendment, introduced in the Senate by John McCain (R-Ariz.), would require that all Department of Defense personnel use only the interrogation techniques authorized by the Army Field Manual, regardless of where the prisoners are held.
McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, said that he proposed the bill in the Senate out of concern for the safety of military troops, as well as to protect the United States' reputation and values.
" We are Americans, and we hold ourselves to humane standards of treatment of people no matter how evil or terrible they may be," McCain said in his statement on the Senate floor in October. "To do otherwise undermines our security, but it also undermines our greatness as a nation."
David Danzig, spokesman for the New York-based Human Rights First, said his organization supports the amendment from both moral and pragmatic standpoints, asserting that torture is an ineffective method of interrogation.
" We've got tens of thousands of people in detention centers and we aren't quite sure how to sort out the good guys from the bad guys," Danzig said. "So when you do bad stuff you don't know whether or not you're doing bad stuff to bad guys."
Fred Burton, the vice president of counter terrorism for Stratfor, a private intelligence company, and a former special agent for the U.S. Department of State, said that in his experience torture is not always a reliable interrogation method.
"I was a U.S. counterterrorism agent for many years and have debriefed a lot of terrorist victims as well as terror suspects and for the most part it has been my experience that torture is not needed to get the answers or the responses that you need," Burton said. "For the most part whenever you are getting a confession or admission under any kind of duress it really makes one skeptical as to the motivation behind that data point."
When the amendment was first introduced in July, the Bush administration issued a statement opposing any legislation that "would restrict the President's authority to protect Americans effectively . . . and bring terrorists to justice."
Since then, Vice President Dick Cheney met with senators to discuss a proposal that could exempt covert agents from the prohibition on torture.
Although supporters of the bill oppose any exemptions, Burton pointed out that excessive incidents, such as what occurred at Abu Graib, are not the norm and trying to include the CIA and other covert operatives in a general uniform policy may be reaching too far.
"What you have had is horrible isolated cases of abuse that is clearly not the norm and I'm not so sure that it requires drastic change," Burton said. "You have to discipline and investigate and prosecute those that are the violators, but I really don't think that from my assessment and my personal observation and personal participation in several high profile cases, that this kind of excessive behavior would be tolerate.,"
Burton further stated that this sort of legislation could limit the CIA's intelligence-gathering ability.
McCain's amendment passed the Senate overwhelmingly, 90 to 9.
After the vote, however, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters in a press conference that the bill may be vetoed if it does not contain the language the president wanted.
However, this would also mean vetoing the $445 billion defense appropriations bill.
"I frankly find it amazing that the administration, which hasn't vetoed any bill, would veto a bill that would set up a clear standard that in the United States of America we do not torture people and we treat them humanely," Shays said.
Shays also introduced last month separate legislation that is identical to the McCain amendment.
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Farrell Raises More Money Than Shays
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1-Democrats are planning to give 4th District Rep. Christopher Shays a run for his money-literally.
Shays' opponent, Westport Selectwoman Diane Farrell, raised almost $100,000 more campaign funds than Shays did in the three months that ended Sept. 30, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Total contributions to her campaign for the quarter were just over $300,000.
"What was particularly significant about the quarter is that we did out-raise Congressman Shays," Farrell said. "Most of the financial support actually came from individuals living in the district which is always important because it translates to votes as well," she added.
With minorities in the Senate and the House, Democrats are seeking every opportunity to unseat Republican incumbents. In Connecticut, Democrats are also eyeing 2 nd District Republican Rep. Rob Simmons' seat.
Connecticut's 4th District is going to be the setting for one of the closest and most interesting congressional races in 2006, according to political experts.
"I think we're in for probably one of the most intriguing races of the 435 districts in the country," said Gary Rose, chairman of the department of government and politics at Sacred Heart University.
Farrell, who ran against Shays in 2004 and won 48 percent of the vote, may prove to be the Democrats' best chances to gain a seat in Connecticut, according to Rose.
"She's not a typical challenger by any means," Rose said. "She's certainly not a sacrificial lamb like you'll find in some districts. So this is a very viable challenger and a potential threat to an established incumbent.".
In the most recent quarter Farrell received contributions from a number of Democratic political action committees, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
"I would say the 4 th district in particular you are going to witness a good number of heavyweight Democrats campaigning for Farrell," Rose said.
According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, Farrell already has received contributions from Democratic incumbents, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
"She has name recognition," Rose said. "She came very close to defeating an incumbent in the last race."
Despite her early fund-raising success, however, Shays' campaign manager, Michael Sohn, is not worried.
"So what?" he said . "The whole campaign is eight quarters? Nine quarters? You know what I mean? We'll have the money we need to run our race."
Although Farrell received more contributions than Shays in the last quarter, Shays had more cash available at the end of the quarter, with $469,197 to Farrell's $284,653.
According to Sohn, Shays stopped fundraising for most of September after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.
"As far as Chris's race, we'll have the money," Sohn said. "We have $200,000 more than Ms. Farrell in the bank right now. Fundraising is going fine."
According to Rose, however, Farrell has the potential to make it a close race in 2006.
"I think that we're going to have an extremely interesting race," Rose said. "This is definitely a very vulnerable congressman right now, and it's going to be fascinating to see how this all unfolds."
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Energy Commission Will Consider Alternatives to LICAP
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26-New England energy officials have been given an opportunity to offer alternatives or amendments to the controversial proposal that would allow energy suppliers to increase rates in areas of high demand and low supply. Critics say the plan would cost Connecticut residents more than $500 million in the first year without a guarantee of improved service.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission appointed an administrative law judge last Friday who will oversee efforts to reach a settlement on the proposed system, known as LICAP, which stands for Locational Installed Capacity. The money gained from the rate hikes, according to the plan, would be used to build new plants that would increase production and reliability.
With its increasing demand for energy, southwest Connecticut is one of the most critical areas in terms of power supply. However, according to state energy officials, until new transmission lines are put in place, there would be no reason for new plants to be built.
"This order gives the region an opportunity to develop a workable alternative to LICAP," energy commission chairman Joseph T. Kelliher said in a news release. "I urge the parties to dedicate themselves to that end and reach a settlement."
Since it was introduced in 2004 by the not-for-profit Independent Service Operator (ISO) for New England, the system has been criticized by energy officials and politicians as too expensive and providing no guarantee of improvement or reliability in energy service.
The forum for settlement talks is, according to the commission, an opportunity for alternatives to be presented and discussed to find the best plan to establish a reliable and efficient power supply in New England.
"The commission's role is to decide whether the proposal is just and reasonable and not unduly preferential and discriminatory," said Bryan Lee, spokesman for the federal agency.
According to the federal order, Lawrence Brenner, the settlement judge, will hold the first conference Nov. 8 to discuss alternatives.
Groups on both sides of the argument said they welcome the settlement talks to facilitate development of the best plan for New England.
"We believe that settlement is the best means of resolving and implementing an effective capacity market in New England," Ken McDonnell, spokesman for ISO New England, said.
Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman is among the Connecticut lawmakers who oppose the rate plan. He said in a news release that he supports the settlement talks as a way to find an alternative to ISO New England's proposal and is happy the commission has appointed a judge to move the proceedings along.
"The current LICAP proposal by FERC results in totally unacceptable high rates of electricity to Connecticut consumers and businesses," Lieberman said. "It is my sincere hope that the settlement process may lead to consideration of all the various alternatives to LICAP and a better outcome for Connecticut."
During oral arguments on Sept. 20, roughly five alternative plans were proposed by opponents, who argued that ISO New England's plan was not practical for all areas of New England.
According to ISO New England, however, all regions were considered in their proposed system, which the service operator developed over a period of two to three years.
"LICAP was developed with the interests of every area of New England in mind." McDonnell said. "So yes, we believe that for all segments including southwest Connecticut, that LICAP is the best solution that's been offered so far, but at this point we welcome the settlement talks."
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Shays Criticizes Reconstruction Progress in Iraq
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18-Progress in Iraq has been hampered by volatile security, naïve planning assumptions, disorganization and corruption, Republican Rep. Christopher Shays said Tuesday.
"Limited visible progress improving basic services frustrates Iraqis who wonder why a liberating coalition that conquered their nation in less than two months can't keep the lights lit after two years," said Shays, who returned last week from a visit to Iraq.
A panel of witnesses that included the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction and inspectors general from other agencies took intense questioning Tuesday from members of the Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, which Shays chairs . The members wanted to know why the Administration's initial estimates of time and money were so far off.
In 2003, the Bush Administration asked for $20 billion for reconstruction in Iraq, saying it would be used to restore oil production to pre-war levels, increase electricity production and provide drinking water to 90 percent of Iraqis. To date, the administration has appropriated $30 billion, with another $13.6 billion coming from international donors.
"We are not there yet," said Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, after Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California) asked if the administration had fulfilled its goals.
"Today's Iraqi oil production and export levels are still well below pre-war levels," Shays said.
Joseph A. Christoff of the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, testified that the initial estimates did not take into account the degree of insurgency facing the reconstruction efforts.
"The United States has confronted a capable and lethal insurgency that has taken many lives and made rebuilding Iraq a costly and challenging endeavor," he said.
Christoff also said it was unclear when Iraqi security forces would be capable of operating without the aid of the U.S. military and how efforts were progressing to provide Iraqis with clean water and reliable electricity.
Although Iraq has 116 police and army combat battalions active in battling insurgents, only one of these battalions was assessed as functioning at "level one," or fully capable of planning, executing and sustaining independent counter-insurgency operations.
Subcommittee members also asked about funds that have gone unaccounted for during the reconstruction. According to Christoff, $34 million in money and assets is missing.
Although there were rumors that the money was stolen, Bowen said this information was misreported. He blamed lack of a paper trail for the missing funds rather than corruption or fraudulent appropriation.
"There should have been better accountability," Bowen said.
Representatives also criticized the oversight the Pentagon's inspectors general, saying that the Department of Defense does not have a single auditor overseeing its projects in Iraq.
"The DOD IG is MIA," said Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who berated acting Inspector General Thomas Gimble for what he called an abandonment of responsibility by the Department of Defense.
All the officials agreed that the eventual goal was to create a secure and sustainable system in Iraq.
To Bowen, this means that the military cannot just pull out of Iraq.
"What we hand over has to endure for democracy to endure there," Bowen said.
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New Medicare Drug Plan: Convenient or Confusing?
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13-Elderly citizens may find themselves overwhelmed with information when they go to sign up for a prescription drug plan through the Medicare's prescription Drug Benefit plan beginning this winter, experts warned.
The new program, approved in 2003, allows Medicare to pay for private coverage plans provided by a number of different healthcare companies, a choice that some critics say makes the new program daunting to its beneficiaries.
"What makes it very confusing is the design of the program," said Patricia Nemore, senior policy attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy. "It is necessary, because of the design of the program, to have enormous amounts of information which is highly variable and not necessarily reliable," she added.
Starting on Nov. 15, people will be able to sign up for one of the drug plans available in their region. In Connecticut alone, there are 60 different plans from which to choose.
Many Democratic senators have criticized the GOP-backed plan, claiming that not only is it confusing, but it benefits big insurance companies and big drug companies instead of the elderly and disabled.
Last week Sen. Joseph Lieberman wrote to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services voicing his concerns about the efficiency of the program.
"[T]he complexities of the program are increasingly making it unwieldy," Lieberman wrote.
Opposition was further fueled by an error printed in the Medicare handbook distributed last week. The handbook erroneously stated that if beneficiaries have incomes low enough to qualify for an extra subsidy, all drug plans are available to them with no monthly premium.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has since corrected the error in their online version of the handbook, but will not be sending a letter to everyone who received the handbook in the mail, according to a spokesman.
The mistake illustrates the difficulty with reliably providing such a huge quantity of information, Nemore said.
However, not everyone feels that the program is flawed.
According to Alice Deak, the director of information services for the Southwestern Connecticut Agency on Aging, there are enough sources of information to help beneficiaries understand the program.
"There is a lot of information and, yes, it can be overwhelming to any of us including the seniors," Deak said. "But there is a vehicle for breaking that information down and providing it to seniors in the community so that it doesn't overwhelm them and they are able to consider their best option under the benefit."
The Agency on Aging is one of the organizations where those enrolled in Medicare can go to get help. Additionally, information is provided at the Medicare.gov Web site and a 1-800-medicare helpline.
"We're making all the information available so that seniors and people with disabilities will be able to make informed and confident decisions in selecting a plan," said Peter Ashkenaz, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
