Category: Cristian Hernandez
Offshore Wind Farms Closer to Becoming a Reality
OFFSHOREWIND
New Bedford Standard Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
April 22, 2009
WASHINGTON—Change is blowing in the wind as hundreds of thousands of people living on the coast of Massachusetts transform the way they power their homes and businesses.
Offshore wind farms are no longer breezy talk in Massachusetts. Developers and experts agree that offshore wind will become a reality in the next five years. There are two major projects at different stages of development, and one of them, Cape Wind, could begin spreading 130 turbines across Nantucket Sound as early as next year – making it the first offshore wind farm in the United States. Eventually, the project could produce 420 megawatts of energy.
Meanwhile, energy developer Patriot Renewables has been working on the South Coast Wind Project since 2006. The project would install 90-120 turbines in Buzzards Bay and produce 300 megawatts of energy.
“There is huge potential for New Bedford and the SouthCoast,” said John Miller, director of the Marine Renewable Energy Center at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. “The region has the opportunity to become the center of development for marine renewable energy.”
Patriot Renewables is working on environmental studies to determine a location that will have minimal environmental impacts. Researchers are working on a study to determine the impact of the project on Buzzard Bay’s birds.
“We probably have a couple of more years of studies remaining,” said Todd Presson, director of wind energy development for Patriot Renewables. “We are always optimistic, cautiously optimistic. We don’t yet have a good handle on the ultimate size, site and other details of the project.”
Cape Wind has been inching its way to construction for eight years and is now waiting for final federal approval. Cape Wind’s spokesman, Mark Rodgers, said the developer expects a final decision in less than a month.
If approved, Cape Wind will begin construction next year and start producing energy by 2012, Rodgers said. It could provide 75 percent of the Cape’s energy needs, according to its developers. The project was started by wind developers Energy Management Inc., a company specializing in conservation and energy development.
“We are moderately confident that we will get final approval,” Rodgers said.
Despite this expressed confidence by developers and investors, Cape Wind’s eight years of federal and state review highlight the industry’s challenges. The review process includes environmental studies, decisions on sites and awards of local and federal permits.
President Barack Obama has made it a priority to have 25 percent of the nation’s electricity come from renewable energy by 2025. An Interior Department report says that offshore wind farms could provide 20 percent of electricity for coastal states, which would amount to 16 percent of the country’s electricity by that time.
Right now less than one percent of electricity used by Americans comes from wind, solar and geothermal energy. Offshore wind has the advantage of being close to populated coasts without the need to build elaborate transmission lines.
Nevertheless, offshore wind farms have encountered significant resistance at the local level. Local residents often worry about drops in property values, aesthetic problems and the impact turbines could have on animal habitats. Opposition is difficult to overcome because projects require approval from both local and state governments.
Cape Cod Wind has been navigating these hurdles, including lawsuits by local residents and opposition from politicians like Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and 10th District Rep. Bill Delahunt. But Rodgers said support for the project in the community is growing.
Glenn Wattley, is the president and CEO of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a group created to oppose Cape Wind.
He said wind turbines would pose a risk to airplanes, be in the way of commercial fishermen, raise electric bills and hurt the scenery. He cautioned that Cape Wind was far from being a “done deal.”
Patriot Renewables, the South Coast Wind developer, said feedback from the community and environmental groups has been positive.
Rodgers said similar concerns were raised in Europe, which already has operating offshore wind farms. Wind farms off the coasts of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom produce 1,471 megawatts of energy, according to the European Wind Energy Association.
“While concerns are understandable, track records in Europe show wind farms are good neighbors to coastal communities and represent the ability for coastal states to become much more energy independent,” Rodgers said.
Mark Forest, Rep. Delahunt’s chief of staff, said the congressman does not oppose offshore wind but thinks projects like Cape Wind should be subjected to federal guidelines. “We want to have rules in place to help guide the review,” he said.
Lack of federal standards is another hurdle for offshore wind. In 2005, the authority to regulate offshore renewable energy projects in ocean waters under federal jurisdiction moved from the Energy Department’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service, which, among other duties, manages land in the Outer Continental Shelf, where some offshore wind sites are being proposed.
Cape Wind is in federal waters (13.8 miles off Nantucket) and the South Coast Wind Project is in state waters (1-3 miles from shore) and not subject to federal regulations.
The Minerals Management Service is working on guidelines or “memorandums of understanding” that will provide a roadmap for energy development.
“It’s now a matter of weeks for the new rules to come out,” said Walter Cruickshank, MMS deputy director, speaking at recent conference on marine renewable energy in Washington.
The decision on Cape Wind will not be subject to the new guidelines because the project is too far advanced in development. Cape Wind is the first project of its kind, and the rules have developed parallel to the project.
Laurie Jodziewicz, a policy specialist for the American Wind Energy Association, the trade association for the industry, said that developers will benefit from having the “rules of the road” available when thinking about future projects.
“The rule will provide standards on how to lead projects and provide environmental standards,” she said. “There will be lessons learned along the way, but broadly we’ll see offshore wind projects moving ahead.”
Cost is another problem for offshore wind. Presson said that Patriot Renewables has already spent well over $1 million on environmental studies alone. Cape Wind has already spent $40 million on environmental studies, permitting and fighting off opposition.
According to the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the cost of projects offshore is significantly higher because of higher maintenance costs and the expense of building undersea transmission lines.
Despite challenges, federal and state lawmakers are pushing hard to expand renewables. Gov. Deval Patrick has spoken in favor of offshore wind and has begun several initiatives to push ahead on renewable energy.
The governor has said he wants the state to produce 2,000 megawatts of wind energy by 2020, 70 percent of which would come from offshore wind farms. The goal has the potential to power 800,000 homes.
“With the growing interest in wind turbines we see in communities across the Commonwealth and the abundant wind resource we have off our coast, wind power is going to be a centerpiece of the clean energy economy we are creating for Massachusetts,” Patrick said in a press release in January.
Lisa Capone, press secretary for the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environment, said the agency is working on a comprehensive oceans management plan that will determine the best locations for renewable energy projects in state waters. The management plan will have an impact on South Coast Wind because that project is being planned for state waters.
“Preliminary studies indicate that with sufficient research and development commercial offers can be realized,” said Tom Welch, an Energy Department spokesman. “Offshore wind’s electric generation capacity could grow significantly.”
President Obama’s economic stimulus package includes $3.2 billion for grants to encourage renewable energy, $42.2 million of which has been allocated to Massachusetts.
Rep. Delahunt, with support from Reps. James McGovern, D-3, and Barney Frank, D-4, introduced a bill that would provide money for states to designate state waters for renewable energy projects. Forest said Delahunt expects the bill to make it to the House floor this spring.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., recently introduced legislation that promotes investments in transmission to facilitate access to renewable energy.
Industry developers and wind advocates are encouraged by these efforts, and many see Cape Wind as a significant first step for the future of the industry.
“They are the first ones out of the gate, and almost every review has been very positive,” Jodziewicz said.
Both Cape Wind and Patriot Renewables are cautiously confident and say they see at least one offshore wind project coming to fruition in Massachusetts within five years.
Cape Wind’s Rodgers advised those looking to invest in offshore wind to have “persistence and patience.”
And Patriot Renewables’ Presson said people need to keep all of the benefits of the project in mind and to have a “high tolerance for uncertainty.”
###
Group Works to Connect Portuguese-American Communities
PALCUS
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
April 15, 2009
WASHINGTON—Nearly 20 years after its founding, the Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the U.S. is still working to connect Portuguese-American and other communities with Portuguese roots—from Brazil and the Azores, for example—all over the country.
The organization, widely known as PALCUS, lobbies for Portuguese-American issues in Washington and has board members from various regions, including two from the South Coast Region.
“We are in the South Coast region gathering around the community and bringing local organizations together and asking what the issues are,” said Alda Petitti, the organization’s treasurer, who works in New Bedford as an accountant. “We want to bring our resources to them.”
But despite its successes in community outreach, the non-profit organization still faces challenges when trying to connect Portuguese-American communities to each other.
“We are basically trying to be an advocate for the entire community whether you live in Colorado or Fall River; we are trying to be inclusive,” said John Bento of California, the chairman of PALCUS,
The biggest challenge, he said, was trying to be both a national organization and one that represents geographically fragmented communities that have different histories. He said the group also faces the challenge of generational differences.
“PALCUS can do a better job setting up a vision that can work nationally and regionally. There needs to be a diverse but clear agenda that can include more communities,” said Frank Sousa, director of the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Sousa noted that there are more than one million Portuguese-Americans in the country; and that in the South Coast region, 40 percent of the population has Portuguese ancestry.
Manuel Geraldo, PALCUS’s vice chairman, said board members and directors try to look at national issues that may be affecting more then one community in the country. But some issues, he said, affect only some areas, and PALCUS tries to rally politicians to make positive changes in the community.
The organization is currently working to stop the deportation of residents who are not citizens and have been convicted of crimes.
“We are not sure if this is in the best interests of the residents,” Geraldo said. “Most of them are Americans, they know very little about their culture and may not know anyone in the Azores. They may not even speak the language.”
PALCUS has been working to resolve the issue for more than two years, writing letters to officials and arranging meetings with Portuguese embassy officials to discuss possible solutions.
Associate director Paulo Araujo serves as the face of the organization in Washington. “I serve as a link between the community and the board as well as the U.S. and the Portuguese government,” he said.
Members of the organization’s executive committee and the board come from places with large concentrations of Portuguese-Americans, including California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
Odete Amarelo of Fall River is on the board and has been working with PALCUS since 1994. She said she acts as a resource for the South Coast community that may have issues to bring to the main office.
“I try to look at issues at the national level but focus on local issues and see how I can participate,” she said.
Amarelo, a native of the Azores, worked for the Fall River school system for more than three decades advocating for children who do not speak English. She recently retired and now teaches Portuguese at Bristol Community College.
Recently Amarelo and Petitti have been busy working on the deportation issue and just finished obtaining federal funds for a Portuguese language program at Rhode Island College.
President Bush had vetoed the bill authorizing money for the program, but after PALCUS rallied support within the community and brought the issue up with politicians in Washington the program received the funds
Preservation of Portuguese culture is a priority for PALCUS.
“One of our missions is to educate people about culture and language as well as creating education opportunities in communities,” Geraldo said
Geraldo has been part of PALCUS since 1994 and said he is proud of the time and effort he puts into his work with Portuguese-American communities. His father, who migrated from Portugal at the age of 21, came from a farming town and moved to the United States to get an education.
PALCUS has a college internship program that places college students of Portuguese descent in the offices of members of Congress, the U.S. embassy in Lisbon and various government agencies. Interns are provided with a stipend.
PALCUS chairman Bento said that one of the organization’s current initiatives is setting up branches or the organization at the college level.
Recognizing the achievements of prominent Portuguese-Americans is also a priority for board members and directors.
“It’s a way for people from different communities all over the country to connect. It enables people who want to share successes to do so and it allows Portuguese-Americans to be honored on a national and local level,” Petitti said.
Each year PALCUS hosts a fund-raising gala to honor Portuguese-Americans. Past honorees include television broadcaster Meredith Viera and singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado.
“It’s important because we don’t always give ourselves the credit we deserve,” Bento said. “We want to set up a link to prominent Americans. Most people don’t know that Tom Hanks is half Portuguese. ”
Meanwhile, PALCUS has been having a series of mixers aimed at creating networking opportunities with fellow Portuguese-Americans.
Board members say they are confident that PALCUS will continue to grow and become an even better advocate because it does more than just talk about problems.
“I have seen a lot of Portuguese organizations,” Bento said, “and all they do is talk. When I saw PALCUS I thought, now here’s an organization that’s actually doing things, not just talking.”
###
Rep. Frank’s Earmark Requests for Local Projects Total $40 Million
Earmarks
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
04/09/09
WASHINGTON—Rep. Barney Frank has requested more than $40 million in earmarks for local projects to be included in next year’s spending bills.
“Most of them are for economic development and creation of jobs for companies that are hiring in the south coast,” Frank said of the projects he has proposed for funding in the fiscal year 2010 appropriations bills.
The earmarks, disclosed in detail on Frank’s Web site, are for state and local projects, non-profits and for companies that do business in the 4th Congressional District.
The biggest-ticket item in the list of 24 requests is $7 million for the Muddy River restoration project. Mike Keegan, the project’s manager, said the flood-prevention project consists of three phases and will cost an estimated $80 million when completed. The work, being done by the Army Corps of Engineers, started in 2005.
Among the private companies that could receive funds is New Bedford-based software developer International Compliance Systems. The company could get $3.2 million to expand its mishap reduction system, which identifies potential risks for accidents in the military.
“It identifies where there are precursors and puts together action plans and tools,” said Steven Hemingway, the company’s president and owner. He said the money would help expand the system throughout the Department of Defense.
The Taunton Nursing Home could get a $1.5 million boost for renovations. The nursing home is looking to update the air conditioning system and to build a new kitchen.
“The support we get from the congressman is marvelous,” said John Brennan, the nursing home’s administrator. “The seniors who live here, they know this guy. He’s no stranger to the Taunton Nursing Home.”
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth could get up to $6 million, including $1 million for the Marine Renewable Energy Center. The university’s School for Marine Science and Technology would get $3 million for a fishery multi-species survey and $2 million for a scallop fishery assessment project.
“The purpose of the Renewable Energy Center is to aid in the development of ocean-based renewable energy,” said John Miller, the center’s director.
Other earmarks disclosed by the congressman include $4.9 million for Bristol County sewers, $2.5 million for electric drive train research, which would help extend the range of electric vehicles being developed by Vectrix Corp., and $1.5 million for a Mill River habitat restoration project.
Congress will work on the spending bills in the coming months and would be expected to pass them by Oct. 1, the beginning of the 2010 fiscal year. Not all of the requested earmarks are expected to be included in the final bills, according to the congressman’s Web site.
#####
House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Illegal Immigration
Immigration
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
04/02/09
WASHINGTON—Lawmakers and immigration enforcement agencies agreed Thursday that deportation of criminal illegal aliens should be a priority. But they disagreed about some of the administration’s policy choices.
The agreement was expressed during a hearing by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.
“Last year we directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] to use $1 billion of its resources to identify and remove aliens convicted of crimes, whether in custody or at large,” said subcommittee chairman David Price, D-N.C. “I believe in the wisdom of this course and want to know how the ICE plans to make more progress.”
Price said that even though immigration enforcement agencies had achieved relative success, more had to be done to deport aliens who have committed criminal offenses. He said ICE, a part of the Department of Homeland Security, has increased non-criminal deportations by 400 percent since 2002 but criminal deportations by only 60 percent.
“Secretary [Janet] Napolitano has made the identification and removal of criminal aliens a top priority for ICE,” said David Venturella, executive director of Secure Communities, an ICE program intended to enhance federal-local cooperation in detaining and deporting immigrants with criminal records. “We are focusing on improving information sharing to more quickly identify criminal aliens.”
Venturella said it was difficult to identify all criminal aliens because of the excessive speed at which criminals are processed in local and state prisons. Price agreed, saying that only 14 percent of criminals in local prisons are screened, compared with 100 percent of inmates screened at state prisons.
Workforce enforcement efforts have been aided by the department’s E-Verify, an electronic screening system that immigration officials said identifies workers who are not legally allowed to work in the country. The officials said they want to continue to work on the accuracy and fairness of the system. There are currently 63,592 companies enrolled in E-Verify.
Rep. Harold Rogers., R-Ky., praised the E-Verify efforts but warned that making the deportation of criminal aliens a priority should not interfere with the task of deporting non-criminal aliens. He called the emphasis on deporting criminal aliens a “poorly veiled proxy for immigration reform.”
He pointed to reports that ICE has released 28 confirmed illegal immigrants who were arrested during a raid in northwest Washington and has given 24 of them work permits.
“Recent calls from the administration and others to re-prioritize, apply greater scrutiny and redirect valuable ICE resources toward criminal alien investigations come at the detriment of other critical functions,” Rogers said.
But Venturella said the attempt to establish new priorities has not hindered other efforts to combat illegal immigration. “We have added agents—border patrol agents; it has not diminished our efforts on catching and releasing [returning to their home countries] illegal immigrants.”
###
Dartmouth High Students Visit Capitol to Lobby for Human Rights
DARTMOUTH HIGH
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
03/26/09
WASHINGTON—Twelve Dartmouth High School students woke up at the crack of dawn Wednesday to catch a flight to Washington for a whirlwind one-day trip to Capitol Hill. Their mission was to petition government officials to take action in the Darfur-Sudan human rights crisis.
The students, members of the Amnesty International club at Dartmouth High School, were invited by Rep. James McGovern, D-3, to attend a human rights hearing sponsored by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
“We want to learn about our government and get the word out there that student groups care about international issues like Darfur,” said Phil Krause, a senior and the club’s vice president.
Students visited the Amnesty International offices in Washington and the office of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., where they met with Dylan Gottfried, Kerry’s aide on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Today’s trip was really cool,” sophomore Chloe Gilligan said. “This trip was different. We talked to the Amnesty International people about how they became involved in human aid work. John Kerry’s office aide was well informed. He knew what he was talking about.”
Rep. McGovern, the co-chair of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, invited the students to sit in on the hearing, which concerned the dangers facing journalists and human rights advocates in Colombia.
“We admire that you are here. It’s an inspiration,” McGovern said in acknowledging the students during the hearing. “I’m glad they are going to get a chance to learn more about the issues in Colombia.”
“It was completely shocking and moving. I had no idea those things were happening in Colombia,” junior Chloe Bernert said.
Bernert, like the other students, is interested in international relations and said she hopes to return to Washington as a college student at Georgetown University.
“Darfur has been one of my main focuses for a very long time,” Bernert said. “The younger you learn about issues the better; if you know what’s going on you will be more willing to try to enact change.”
Amnesty International, which campaigns for human rights, has 2.2 million members worldwide. The club at Dartmouth High School was formed in 2003, shortly after the start of the war with Iraq.
“Students were upset, and they wanted to get involved,” said Ben Kahrl, social studies department chairman and adviser to the club. “I told them they could start an Amnesty International club.”
The club has blossomed from 8 members to about 60, Kahrl said. Each school year students pick two international human rights issues to focus on. This year they are working to raise awareness of the Darfur-Sudan crisis and discrimination against women.
During the school year they meet twice a month to write petition letters and organize events designed to educate the student body about human rights issues, the students said.
Club members each year make two trips to Washington to lobby the government on the issues they are working on.
“It’s important to teach kids how to exercise their rights to petition. Almost in no other country in the world do people have as much access to people in power,” Kahrl said. “It’s important for them to sense that they have a voice, a powerful voice. Just the fact that we can come down here and see the federal government is extraordinary.”
#####
Coast Guard Supports Bill That Would Crack Down on Illegal Fishing
Fishing
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
03/19/09
WASHINGTON—A bill that would help prevent depletion of dwindling stocks of fish by strengthening enforcement against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing was endorsed Thursday by an industry group and the Coast Guard, which would be charged with enforcing its provisions.
Their testimony came at a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing.
“Unsustainable fishing practices by foreign fishing fleets adversely affect stocks that migrate” between the high seas and U.S. waters, said Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam, who introduced the legislation last month.
Bordallo called fishermen taking part in illegal fishing “free riders who benefit unfairly from the sacrifices made by the U.S. fishermen and others for the sake of proper fisheries conservation and management.”
Fishermen in the United States are subject to multiple layers of regulation but foreign competitors are often not subject to the same rules, said Bordallo, who is chairwoman of the Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife Subcommittee that held the hearing on the bill.
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing has an annual value of $10 billion, Bordallo said. More than 70 percent of global marine fish stocks are depleted or exploited, she said.
“For our business to remain economically viable, fishing activities must be sustainable,” said Stetson Tinkham, director of international affairs for the National Fisheries Institute, an industry trade group. “Science-based quotas for individual species or for species complexes must be established and those catch levels should not be exceeded. Catches must be recorded and reported. In short; fisherman should follow the rules,”
The legislation would allow U.S. officials to take actions against countries that don’t have strict regulations. Penalties for violation of the rules could lead to a ban on imports. The bill also would require that a list of vessels engaged in illegal fishing activities be kept and that appropriate action be taken against the vessels.
The legislation would strengthen the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, a 30-year-old law that was updated in 2006. The act uses market-based incentives to replenish stocks and enforce fishing laws.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Sally Brice-O’Hara said the Coast Guard was ready to take on the challenge and approved of the provisions in the bill to toughen enforcement. Currently the Coast Guard is largely responsible for enforcing fishing laws.
“In the face of an increasing need for food security and the increasing scarcity of marine resources,” she said, the Coast Guard is ready to work to preserve fish stocks around the world.
Bordallo said she hopes to get the bill to the House floor this spring.
####
Legislation Could Protect State’s Revolutionary War Battlefields
Battles
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
03/06/09
WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives passed legislation this week that would help preserve Revolutionary War and War of 1812 battlefields.
The bill, cosponsored by Rep. Jim McGovern, D-3, allots $50 million for the establishment of a national grant program to help acquire and protect battlefield sites.
The money would be distributed to local preservation groups and local governments in the form of matching grants that pay no more than 50 percent of the total costs needed to acquire the battlefield site. Officials from the National Park Service said that property owners have to be willing sellers.
Massachusetts has 26 Revolutionary War battlefield sites including the site of the New Bedford-Fairhaven Raid of 1778, which is not under the protection of the National Parks Service. In September of 1778 the south coast came under attack when 4,000 British troops burned homes and sunk ships.
“There are quite a few [battlefield sites] that are still around but are threatened by 21st century development,” said Tanya Gossett, preservation planner for the National Park Service Battlefield Protection Program. “A lot of times folks are not even aware of historic events that took place in those grounds.”
The National Park Service Battlefield Protection Program operates a similar program for Civil War battlefields.
Lawmakers said that urbanization, suburban sprawl and residential development have encroached on important battlefields all over the country. A report by the National Park Service said that out of 677 significant Revolutionary War and War of 1812 sites nationwide 177 are in danger of being destroyed.
Other Massachusetts endangered sites include Penobscot Bay, Nantasket Roads, Newburyport, Dorchester Neck and Charlestown.
“The battlefields of the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 provide a unique opportunity for Americans to experience where and how the epic struggle for our nation’s independence took place,” said Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., in a written statement. Holt sponsored the legislation.
Gossett said that the bill provides incentives for communities interested in historic preservation.
The bill will be placed in the Senate’s legislative calendar for consideration this spring.
#######
Local Projects May Get Funding From Omnibus Legislation
Omnibus
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
02/27/09
WASHINGTON—Local projects may get up to $21.4 million in earmarked federal funding requested by Rep. Barney Frank.
The money is included in the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which passed the House Wednesday 245-178.
“I am very proud of the earmarks I have sought for the 4th District,” Frank said in a statement. “They will help create jobs, promote economic development, and provide very important public benefits.”
Proposed funding for projects in the area include:
- $475,000 for the construction of YWCA in New Bedford.
- $1.6 million for the development of submarine sensor software.
- $380,000 for handicap access improvements for the Auburndale commuter rail station.
- $475,000 for the construction of a community center in New Bedford.
- $1 million for the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute.
“With other states around the country in line to receive project funding under the omnibus bill, I believe it’s important to make sure the people of the 4th District get their fair share,” Frank said.
The list of 22 earmarks also includes $423,000 for cranberry grower organizations, $950,000 for the building of a bus terminal and parking facility in Fall River, $95,000 for upgrades to the New Bedford airport, and a $285,000 for the South Coast Health System electronic records technology.
“The monies set aside for the Fall River but terminal will inject much needed jobs and funds into out local economy and help people get back to work,” said Fall River Mayor Robert Correira in a press release by Frank.
The legislation has been criticized by House Republicans for having too much pork. According to the government watch dog organization Taxpayers for Common Sense, the bill has 8,570 disclosed earmarks worth $7.7 billion.
In a press release, Frank’s office said that about 40 percent of the earmarks in the bill were requested by Republican House members.
Included in the bill are nine appropriations bills that will fund the federal government through fiscal year 2009, which ends Sept. 30. The Senate is expected to vote on its version of the bill sometime next week.
####
Local Cities to get Housing Funds From Stimulus Package
Housing
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
02/26/09
WASHINGTON – Federal funds will start flowing to local communities for the development and improvement of public housing projects, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Department officials doled out $10 billion of the $13.61 billion included in President Obama’s Recovery Act for Housing and Urban Development to state and local housing authorities on Wednesday. Among the recipients are the New Bedford Housing Authority with an allocation of $4.8 million and the Fall River Housing Authority with $3.6 million.
“This is terrific news for the housing authority. This will enable us to do many things that have been pushed aside because of lack of funding,” said Joseph Finnerty, the New Bedford Housing Authority’s executive director.
In addition to money for local housing authorities the stimulus bill will boost the Community Development Block Grant program. Massachusetts will get $9.1 million for block grants, which fund local development projects such as public housing, infrastructure developments and anti-poverty efforts. The grants are mainly used at the discretion of local and state governments.
“We are very thankful and eager to implement these resources and are optimistic that we can put this money to immediate use,” said Patrick Sullivan, the director of New Bedford’s Office of Housing and Community Development.
New Bedford will receive $802,671 for block grants, Fall River $805,818, and Attleboro $125,811.
Local housing and community development officials said they plan to use the money to pick up the slack of projects that have been put on hold due to lack of funding.
“We have experienced a number of cuts over the years. We have a couple of infrastructure projects that have been waiting. We can use some of this money for them,” Sullivan said.
Included in those projects is the construction of a new community center that authorities have been trying to jump-start for the last year and a half, Sullivan said.
Finnerty said he wants to use the Housing Authority money to catch up on deferred maintenance in public housing facilities. He said the agency defers maintenance due to lack of funds and often can only afford to address the most egregious problems.
A major project for the housing authority will be updating older building that lack handicap accessibility. Finnerty said a lot of work also will be done to repair the sidewalks and roads in public housing neighborhoods.
The HUD money also will provide relief for the homeless. The stimulus bill includes $1.5 billion for the Homelessness Prevention Fund. Massachusetts will get $18.4 million with Fall River and New Bedford each getting $1.2 million.
Sullivan said that the city is trying to help people who have become homeless because of foreclosures
“There was an increase of homeless in the city and homeless families. We are looking to utilize initiative to provide services and creating permanent housing opportunities for the homeless,” Sullivan said.
New Bedford has a total of 496 homeless people, a 25.5 percent increase from last year, according to Sullivan’s office. The number includes people who are in emergency shelters and transitional shelters.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness the stimulus money would help an estimated 600,000 homeless individuals in the country. According to the organization there are 700,000 homeless Americans on any given night.
“It’s important to prevent a new generation of homelessness as a result of the recession,” said Nan Roman, the president of the alliance. She said the organization hopes to work closely with local governments to help them efficiently utilize the funds.
In Fall River, Mayor Robert Correia said that it is likely that the recovery funds coming from HUD will be used to help people struggling to my make utility payments and to help prevent foreclosures and any increase in homelessness.
“I am very pleased to hear such great news. The city will be working in the next few weeks to prioritize our projects and put the best plan into action to apply the funds where they are needed the most,” Correia said in an email.
#####
The White House Estimates Thousands of Jobs for Local Districts
Jobs
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
02/20/09
WASHINGTON—The economic recovery package passed by Congress last week could mean thousands of jobs for the New Bedford area, according to White House estimates.
The $789 billion package would create or save an estimated 3.5 million jobs over a two-year period, 8,000 of which will be created in the 3rd Congressional District, 8,100 in the 4th District and 7,400 in the 10th District. The estimates are based on each district’s working age population, current employment, and types of business and industry, according to a White House press release.
“It’s going to keep people from getting laid off,” said Rep. Barney Frank, D-4th.
New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang said he wants jobs created by the recovery package to help stabilize local governments and the city’s infrastructure. He said the key issue now is waiting to see how the money will filter down to the city to help with education and public safety.
“In order to create jobs we have to make sure local governments are stable enough to create growth,” Lang said.
Massachusetts lost 16,800 jobs last month and the umeployment rate rose to 6.9 percent in December, the higest level in more then 15 years. The stimulus package would create an estimated 79,000 new jobs in the state.
“This package contains enormous opportunities for Massachusetts, particularly in the areas of infrastructure, education and funding for safety net services,” Gov. Deval Patrick said after the bill passed in the Senate.
It is still unclear how funds that will generate jobs will be distributed or how individuals can apply for jobs. Officials from the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said they are working with the governor and the Obama administration to identify how projects will get approved and to understand what kinds of jobs will be created as a result of the bill.
Jennifer James, the department’s undersecretary, said they are working on a strategy that will allow them to match up people looking for employment with jobs generated by projects funded by the stimulus. They want to use the state’s 37 career centers to best match job opportunities with the unemployed, she said.
“We believe that the resources coming from the federal governtment are highly critical for Massachusetts,” James said. “We are very hopeful that they will create employment opportunities and retain jobs.”
Frank said the version of the legislation that emerged from the Senate is not as good as the version the House passed but said the bill was still a good deal. “Its going to be a lot better than we would have gotten under George Bush,” Frank said.
Rep. James McGovern, D-3rd District, praised the bill, which in addition to creating thousands of jobs in his district provides $180 million for infrastructure projects in Massachusetts.
“We need to act quickly and boldly to put people back to work and restore confidence,” McGovern said in a written statement.
Mayor Lang said that budget problems have forced the city to lay off employees. He said he hopes to put people back to work and jump-start local projects that have been put on hold because of the economic downturn. Among the projects the mayor said he would like to see receive federal funding are the creation of a commuter rail from Boston to New Bedford and Fall River and the renovation of schools. New Beford has the highest number of 100-year-old schools in the area, Lang said.
Local lawmakers in Congress and local offcials said they are satisfied with the legislation approved by Congress last week and are hopeful the stimulus package will pull the economy out of the worst economic crisis since the Depression.
“My feeling is that without the stimulus the economy would continnue to fall into a severe resession,” Lang said. “Full employment is the key to getting the economy moving.”
#####
