Bush on Trial?

The 2008 thrashing of the Republican Party encouraged many to hope that the Obama administration would move to prosecute the war crimes of its predecessors. There has been progress. Previously classified evidence is being released. Talk of study commissions continues. But we’re unlikely to see high Bush officials in American handcuffs any time soon.

Show trials would almost certainly derail Obama’s ambitious agenda at a critical moment in the nation’s history. What isn’t commonly discussed is the potential degree of disruption. There’s more going on here than congressional Republicans chanting no. Read the story in Cyrano's Journal Online.

Electrifying Developments: Of Action and Operating Reserve , June 12, 2009

This feature series is an account of the ongoing maneuverings between Progress Energy Carolinas and the citizens of Western North Carolina (WNC) about how to meet the electrical needs of a region beset by rampant high-end real estate development.

Progress has a reputation as a comparatively good corporate citizen. It came as a shock to many when, in December 2006, the company and the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners unveiled plans to build an oil-fired peaking power plant on county land in Woodfin, a small town north of Asheville. Citizen opposition and the Woodfin Planning and Zoning Board eventually scuttled the project. Faced with a looming shortfall of locally generated peak power, Progress appointed a Community Energy Advisory Council (CEAC) to advise it on efficiency and conservation strategies.

The June agenda centered on operating reserve. When federally required excess generating capacity is figured in, the gap between WNC peak demand and Progress-generated supply that has increased by about 100 MW since CEAC was commissioned to help Progress reduce it. The meeting was a bumpy ride. Read the story