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OVERVIEW
The perception among many is that
environmental concerns are in conflict with economic strength.
But, nothing could be further from the truth in this emerging green
economy.
Creating, preserving and improving a
healthy environment defines perhaps the greatest economic opportunity
for our region, our state and our nation since the beginning of the
industrial revolution.
State government can and should play a
role in promoting environmental enterprises ranging from localized
re-use of recycled materials, to re-designing and construction of energy
efficient and net energy producing homes, office buildings and
factories, and to the massive deployment of solar, wind, geothermal,
ocean wave and tidal technologies.
This new industrial revolution is
happening right now around the world. China, India, Brazil,
Germany, Japan and others are getting a head start on many new
technologies because our political and economic leaders in North
Carolina and in America are failing to recognize the enormous need and
potential to move in that direction. Instead our political leaders
are allowing themselves to be pressured by corporate energy interests
into subsidizing the expansion of old and obsolete technologies that
pollute our air, water and food supply, like coal and nuclear
power. These highly centralized industries provide relatively few
permanent jobs for the enormous investments required to build the power
plants, as they squander capital that should be used right now to build
a cleaner, safer more prosperous future for a broad spectrum of skilled
and unskilled employees and entrepreneurs in the green energy fields.
As a citizen and as a candidate I will
continue to raise these issues and try to bring more productive policies
to the attention of our elected and appointed public officials. If
elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives I will introduce
legislation that will move our state rapidly on course to compete for
technological and economic leadership, while creating, preserving and
improving a healthy environment.
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Promoting
Small Businesses
In
general I support promoting an economy based on small, home-grown
businesses, rather than large international or national corporations.
I
would expand programs that help small businesses get started, like
incubators and micro-enterprise partnerships.
I
would work to remove the legal obstacles to wind development in western
North Carolina in appropriate locations, to unleash this prolific, job creating industry that has found success in so many
other parts of the world.
I
would promote industries that advance energy efficiency in homes, office
buildings and factories.
I
want North Carolina to become a leader in designing and building net
energy producing homes. The state can help this process by
simplifying its "net-metering" law, allowing a single
meter system in which the small home-energy producer receives the retail
value of excess energy production by running the meter backwards.
If elected I will introduce legislation to make this change in North
Carolina's current complex and impractical net-metering regulation.
If
elected I will introduce public policy changes to encourage the
development of new small-scale industries that re-use recycled materials
from the local waste stream to manufacture useful products that greatly
enhance the value of the materials, building economic strength in the
local community. Rather than shipping recycled materials hundreds
of miles away for pennies on the pound, small local industries, using
methane from old landfills as fuel, can transform plastics into lumber
for landscaping timbers, railroad ties and outdoor furniture;
glass into floor and patio tiles; aluminum into water wheels and solar
panel frames. The possibilities are endless, with plenty of room
for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Corporate
welfare is a drain on the economy and an unfair burden on the middle
class and working families. I would work to end tax incentives
that subsidize corporate polluters in an effort to attract them to set up shop in North
Carolina. If they want to come here, they should pay their fair
share of taxes like everyone else. Before setting up shop in North
Carolina, traditionally polluting industries should from this point
forward be required to design and build their own clean, renewable
energy systems to supply their industrial processes without polluting
our air or water.
A
decentralization of the energy industry will promote a healthier, more
de-centralized economy and political environment. I will work
toward this end, if elected to the North Carolina House of
Representatives.
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My
opponent, Representative Phil Haire, supports the construction of the
new Cliffside Coal-Burning Power Plant. He agrees with Duke Energy
spokespeople who assert this is the only way we can meet future energy
demand in North Carolina.
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A moratorium on new polluting power plant
construction
I support and am actively promoting a moratorium on all new coal and nuclear power
plants in North Carolina, including Duke Energy's planned Cliffside
expansion in Rutherford County.
The
giant 800 megawatt Cliffside coal-burning power plant would, if completed,
emit about 6 million tons of greenhouse gases every year for the next 50
years. It would compound the mercury contamination that is already
dangerously permeating our environment. The ash pile resulting from
burning coal at Cliffside will continue to build with high concentrations of
hydrogen chloride, hydrogen flouride, cadmium, barium, mercury, arsenic, lead,
dioxins and many other toxic chemicals and heavy metals, threatening to
contaminate the Broad River.
All
this can easily be avoided. Future
energy demand in North Carolina can be readily met through improvements in
energy efficiency, peak-power shifting, co-generation and the development of
our plentiful renewable energy resources. These options will provide
many more jobs and a healthier environment than more coal or nuclear power. We
don't need to sacrifice our children's lungs or their future for the sake of
increased utility industry profits.
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Prohibit Power Companies From Charging Ratepayers
for Construction Costs of New Polluting Power Plants Before They Go
Online.
I will continue to work to reverse the corporate welfare of the CWIP provisions in Senate Bill 3.
In
2007, a money-corrupted NC General Assembly, in passing Senate Bill 3, voted to end a
25-year ban on the utility industry's practice of charging electric
ratepayers for Construction Work in-Progress (CWIP) on new coal and
nuclear power plants. This provision unfairly removes the risk
from corporate shareholders and places it on the shoulders of ratepayers
when a power company decides to "invest" billions of dollars
in a new power plant to increase the volume of its energy sales.
As
a result of profiteering influence and the passage of Senate Bill 3 in
2007, the NC Utilities Commission has agreed to raise your electric
utility rates to pay for the construction of Duke Energy's new Cliffside
coal-burning power plant and other projects that will perpetuate an
inefficient, highly centralized, polluting power production and
distribution system in our region.
In
1982, the NC General Assembly voted to ban CWIP charges on ratepayers
when Progress Energy failed to complete construction on five of six
planned nuclear power plants at their Shearon Harris site in Wake
County. Progress Energy charged ratepayers hundreds of millions of
dollars for planning and construction costs for the uncompleted
plants. The plants were abandoned because Progress Energy had
vastly under-estimated the cost of construction, and because the power
company had grossly over-stated future energy demand in its
projections. History is now repeating itself as power demand is
decreasing and Cliffside is experiencing vast cost over-runs. Once
again you and I, the ratepayers and taxpayers are being forced to pay
the expenses when greedy corporate Boards make unwise decisions.
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In
2007, my opponent, Representative Phil Haire, voted to pass Senate Bill
3, ending the 25-year ban on charging ratepayers for
construction-work-in-progress (CWIP) on new coal and nuclear power
plants in North Carolina. |
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Restructure Utility Rates to Reward
Conservation and Investment in Energy Efficiency.
I support and will sponsor legislation
to create an "inverted" utility rate structure to provide an economic incentive for ratepayer investments in efficiency and independent renewable energy
systems.
This
re-structuring will also provide an economic dis-incentive for peak power
and wasteful energy usage. As an
individual, in 2008, I was an "intervenor" in the process
conducted by the North Carolina Utilities Commission to address this
issue. I submitted a comprehensive study to the commission on
rate-restructuring programs in other states that succeeded in achieving
considerable reductions in energy consumption. In the end,
however, the industry-influenced agency ignored all public input and
took no action.
Efficiency investments
and conservation efforts by ratepayers should be rewarded. Wasteful
energy habits should be discouraged. Lower income ratepayers should be
helped in their efforts to achieve greater energy efficiency for the
benefit of public health and the environment. Peak power shifting alone
will eliminate the need for the construction of any new power plants in
the foreseeable future.
A
well-designed utility rate structure can achieve all of these
objectives. If elected, this will be a key issue I bring into the
forum of debate within the General Assembly.
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My
opponent, Representative Phil Haire, has been informed thoroughly and
repeatedly, but has been silent and inactive on the issue of utility
rate-restructuring as a method of achieving meaningful energy
consumption reductions.
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Create an Independent Agency to Oversee Energy Efficiency
Measures in North Carolina.
I support and will co-sponsor legislation to create an independent agency
to manage efficiency and conservation programs in North Carolina.
As
a result of the ill-advised Senate Bill 3, passed in the 2007 North Carolina legislative
session, the utility companies themselves are in charge of administering
efficiency and conservation programs throughout the state. Of
course, these industries are in
the business of selling energy. They have an inherent conflict of
interest in promoting programs that would result in reduced energy
consumption, because their shareholders make more money by selling more
energy. Efficiency and conservation programs developed in other
states commissioning independent agencies for administration have been far
more successful than those administered by the industry itself.
North Carolina should follow this lead by creating an independent energy
efficiency agency to oversee all state-mandated efficiency programs.
There
is pending legislation in the NC General Assembly that would create a
program called "NC SAVES ENERGY". This program includes
the creation of an independent agency to administer the state's energy
efficiency measures. I will actively promote and work for the
passage of this legislation.
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My
opponent, Representative Phil Haire,
in
2007, voted for Senate Bill 3, giving the responsibility of
administering efficiency and conservation programs to the utility
industry, although this industry has an obvious conflict of interest in
helping their costumers use less energy. |
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Develop North Carolina's
Vast
Wind Energy Potential.
I will support and sponsor legislation to create guidelines for siting large-scale wind energy projects and
to remove legal obstacles to wind development in appropriate locations.
Large-scale
wind projects offer dynamic economic opportunities, especially in rural
communities. Struggling farmers and rural land-owners can collect
substantial leasing fees, between $2000-$5000 per turbine, per
year, for each turbine located on their property. Wind farm
construction and maintenance can create a substantial number of permanent, high-paying jobs in rural
communities near their location and in equipment manufacturing
facilities throughout the state. Local governments can collect a
steady stream of substantial revenues generated by power sales of local
wind farms.
Wind
energy is the fastest growing energy source in the world and is economically competitive with all other methods of producing
electricity. Wind is clean, safe and renewable, offering no air
pollution, no greenhouse gases, and no toxic wastes. North
Carolina has abundant wind resources in the western mountains and on the
coast. Wind development is an essential component of any energy plan that offers energy
independence from foreign and fossil fuels. Wind energy offers cleaner air and
water as it helps us avoid the worse consequences of climate change.
In
the western mountains there are dozens of appropriate sites for
large-scale wind development on private lands and on multi-use public
lands. I don't advocate for using national or state parks for wind
development. But, many national and state multi-use public lands in
North Carolina have been used for clear-cutting in lumber operations and
for the mining of numerous mineral deposits. These lands already have
roads and, in many cases, power lines running through them, making them
ideal for wind development with very little additional environmental
impact. After eliminating areas crucial for aviary migratory
paths, endangered species habitat continuity and other ecologically
sensitive tracts, there is still enough wind energy potential to replace
4-6 large coal-burning power plants in the western region.
On
the coast there is also vast potential for wind development. It's
considerably more expensive to build offshore wind farms than to build
land-based wind turbines. But, when considering the true costs of
burning coal, including impact on our health and the environment. all
wind energy is relatively cheap. Coastal wind development in North
Carolina is also an important element of any realistic plan to meet
future energy demand while striving for energy independence and
providing our children with a liveable world to inhabit.
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My
opponent, Representative Phil Haire, has stated his intention to vote
for a bill that would ban all wind development in western North
Carolina. |
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Re-Prioritize Fresh Water Resource Usage in North
Carolina.
Currently
80% of all fresh water withdrawals from our rivers and streams are
attributable to the process of cooling coal and nuclear power plants. This is
another important reason to begin the process of decentralizing our
power production system and transforming to renewable energy sources as
we phase out large polluting coal and nuclear power plants.
I
also advocate for inverting utility rates in municipal water systems
throughout the state to promote water conservation and efficient water
usage.
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My
opponent, Representative Phil Haire, seems unconscious of the fresh
water crisis we face, as he is promoting the construction of new power
plants. Existing power plants are already responsible for 80% of
fresh water withdrawals in our state and these new plants, if ever
completed will put a further strain on fresh water resources in North
Carolina. |
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TRANSPORTATION |
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No,
to the Sylva By-Pass |
Yes,
to State-wide Light Rail |
Automobile
Efficiency Standards |
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No, to the Sylva By-Pass
I am opposed to the
NC Department of Transportation's (DOT) plan to build a Southern-Loop By-Pass around
Sylva and Dillsboro.
We need to promote tourism by
directing traffic to historic downtown Sylva and
Dillsboro; It makes no sense to by-pass these business centers.
Squandering limited transportation funds on new road
construction in this day and age is foolishness. Looking toward the future
and limited global petroleum reserves, we need to focus on developing
comprehensive public transportation options, designing walkable
communities, bicycle lanes, sidewalks and greenways. Existing roads
should be improved. But, new roads invite more sprawl, more cars, more
health and environmental degradation.
The DOT needs to be overhauled with
public staff retrained to meet the needs of the 21st century. The
letters D-O-T stand for "Department of Transportation,"
not "Department of New Roads." Unfortunately
constructing new roads seems to be the only solution this agency
currently considers when planning for the future, at least in semi-rural
communities that are emerging.
New roads are a taxpayer subsidy to
the automobile industry we can no longer afford. Increasingly,
this solution fails to meet people's needs. In recent years we've
begun to experience the vulnerability of relying only on
automobile and gasoline-based transportation. When hurricanes
Katrina and Ike hit the gulf coast and cut off gasoline supplies to
western North Carolina, many people were stranded in their homes with no
way to get to the grocery store, the doctor's office or the post
office. There was no public transportation available and, since
we've designed our communities around automobile use, many homes were
simply too far away to walk for basic personal and household
needs. Wouldn't it be wise to learn the lessons of these hard
times? Successful planning looks to the future, not to the past for
solutions.
If elected, I will work toward
re-directing transportation funds into public transportation projects,
planning for walkable communities and the addition of sidewalks and
bicycle paths to existing roadways.
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My
opponent, Representative Phil Haire, supports the DOT in its effort to
build the Southern Loop By-Pass, despite overwhelming opposition
by public testimony of record in Jackson County.
He
says, in general, we need to begin looking toward public transportation
state-wide and nationwide, while moving away from new road construction.
But,
he says that we need this new road. |
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Yes, to State-Wide Light Rail
As your representative, I will introduce legislation directing the
Department of Transportation to develop plans for a state-wide light-rail system that connects the
entire state university system
with all the rural and urban communities in-between, in North Carolina.
This rail system will serve as the spine of a more
comprehensive statewide public transit system that can be "plugged
into" by local communities.
The economic advantage of building a statewide public
transit system is the economy of scale created by hundreds of miles of
track. This model of a system also allows multiple funding sources to
ease the burden on local communities. Funds will be derived from
the combined resources of the University system, local business
communities, local, state and federal governments.
Western North Carolina is no longer
the purely rural community it was a quarter of a century ago. This
region has continued to grow into a more urbanized community. In
the next 25-30 years our small towns will more than likely grow to
resemble small cities with all the changes and problems associated with
that density of population. Shouldn't we be planning for this
change of mode in living? A comprehensive public transportation
system needs to be an essential part of this planning process.
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My
opponent, Representative Phil Haire, voted in favor of a study
commission to determine the feasibility of expanding rail service in
North Carolina. But he has expressed that he believes public
transportation in rural areas is impractical and not worth pursuing. |
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Automobile Efficiency Standards
I will support legislation to maximize efficiency and emission control standards for all
new automobiles sold and operated in NC.
Historically car manufacturing companies
have not made dramatic improvement in efficiency and emission control
technology until faced with a mandate by state or federal law. This is
long overdue in North Carolina. Improvement
in automobile technology represents another strong economic opportunity
for our state. Alternative fuel, plug-in hybrid and battery
storage technologies are among the promising fields our state government
should pursue and promote to research firms and entrepreneurs. |
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EDUCATION |
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- Quality
of education will define the quality of life in North
Carolina. There is nothing more important than ensuring a basic
education of the highest quality in our state's public schools.
All young adults should have the opportunity to pursue a college
education.
- Teachers must be paid competitive salaries to bring NC public schools up to par with schools in other states. -North
Carolina teachers should have the right to collective bargaining to
achieve fair wages and benefits for the essential work they perform in
educating our children and young adults to prepare for their future.
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We need more teachers and classrooms to lower the number of students per
classroom.
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All children should be thoroughly schooled in civics to learn and
understand their rights and responsibilities on the local, state and
national levels as citizens of a free and
democratic society. |
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CIVIL RIGHTS and ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE |
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I
support the NAACP's 14 point program
and
am willing to sponsor or co-sponsor legislation
based on these principles.
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GOVERNMENT |
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Citizen
Initiatives |
Full-time
State Legislature |
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Citizen
Initiatives
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I will introduce legislation to create a legal petitioning process that
will allow citizens to initiate a referendum or advisory vote in North Carolina.
Twenty-three
other states have some form of citizen initiative processes in place
allowing citizens to advise the council of government, propose laws or make direct decisions on important
social, economic or environmental policies. The people of North
Carolina deserve this right as well.
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A
full-Time State Legislature
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I will promote a shift to a full-time state legislature to eliminate the aristocratic,
wealthy-can-only-afford-to-serve" style of government in NC.
Legislators
should receive full-time salaries and be expected to serve full-time
during their terms in office so they can focus on the business of
running the government without the distraction and conflict of interest
of other jobs or businesses of which to attend. North Carolina has
become a large, industrialized, modern state with large problems,
institutions, government policies and agencies to maintain and oversee.
Most
voters and constituents are under-served under the current part-time
system. Legislators are largely inaccessible, except to full-time
lobbyists paid by special interests to pedal influence.
Legislative sessions are short, providing little opportunity for worthy
causes to get a fair hearing. This system is tailored to
perpetuate the disproportionate influence of large corporations who
favor policies that will primarily increase their profits whether or not
they benefit the public at large. For real progress to be made on
pressing economic, social and environmental problems, the influence of
the profiteers has to be sharply reduced. We need to take back our
state government so that it is once again primarily serving the needs of
the people who live and work here. |
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HEALTH CARE |
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Universal
Health Care |
Prevention |
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Universal
Health Care
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I will promote a " single payer" universal health care system in NC.
Every
industrialized nation in the world, except ours, provides universal
health care for its people. Given the wealth and power of our
nation, there is no excuse for having a large, uninsured population. A
"single payer" system, variations of which are used throughout
the world, makes the most sense due to the principle of economy of
scale. Larger groups reduce the per capita risks and costs for
everyone who is insured in the pool. Therefore, if the entire
state becomes one large insured pool, the cost per person is minimized
considerably. Pharmaceutical
and insurance interests are lobbying hard to prevent government
officials from seriously considering a single-payer health insurance
system. That's why it's so important that voters have a choice to
vote for candidates who won't take campaign contributions from the
Political Action Committees or executive officers of these
industries. I will never take money from these special
interests. Lobbyists are welcome to talk with me, but they'll find
no favored treatment from my office. They can make appointments and wait
in line like everyone else. Single
payer systems have been refined in other nations over time to maximize
efficiency, services and choices, as they minimize costs. We can
learn and benefit from the experience of others by taking the best
aspects of existing healthcare systems around the world, including those
aspects that have been successful in our own country, and construct a
state-of-the-art, well-organized, efficient, cost-effective, caring
healthcare system in our own state. The
alternative to fixing the healthcare system is to do nothing and witness
the collapse of our economy accompanied by massive human
suffering. I can't and won't stand by idly while this is
happening. I will be a voice in government actively working for a
single-payer health care plan. |
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Prevention
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A focus on prevention is the most important policy change needed to
reduce health care costs and alleviate the health care crisis.
The basics involved in eating a healthy diet
and having adequate exercise needs to be taught to all children in the public
schools. But, also, school lunchrooms need to provide healthier
food choices for students.
Public schools need to once again teach the
basics of growing vegetables in home gardens to provide a fresh,
wholesome and nutritive component to all home meals. |
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Election
Reform |
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Electronic
Voting Machines |
Political
Action Committees (PACS) |
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Electronic voting machines should be banned.
Computers
are wonderful tools for business and personal use because they provide
efficiency in so many tasks. But,
efficiency is not the most important quality in determining the results
of an election. Verifiability and accuracy are the only truly important
qualities in voting processes.
Computers
can be manipulated in too many ways to be viewed as a safe, accurate,
untampered-with method of vote recording and tabulation. Proprietary software that
can only be read and understood by corporate manufacturers should not be
at the core of a process that once only involved citizen voters and
public election officials. There is evidence that national elections in
2000 and 2004, especially in Florida and Ohio, may have been manipulated
to change the results of elections. But, due to the inherent
nature of electronic voting and tabulation machines, there is no way to
prove or disprove this concern. It has been proven repeatedly by
advanced computer technicians that electronic voting machines can be
improperly manipulated without leaving behind evidence.
While
no voting system is perfect in its ability to prevent election fraud,
computerized voting for the first time in history makes it possible for
one or a small group of individuals to perpetrate massive manipulation
of entire state-wide or regional elections without detection.
Mechanical
voting machines or hand-counted ballots need to once again become the
predominant method of determining the results of elections. It doesn't
really matter if it takes hours or even days longer to arrive at
election results. The most important qualities of a voting system
are that it maintains honesty, accuracy and verifiability. |
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Corporate-based political action committees should be limited or
eliminated from the electoral process.
Profit-motivated
special interests should not have a major role in determining public
policy, especially on issues that affect public health and the
environment. Political candidacies need to become completely separated
from financial ties to corporate interests. I
favor a constitutional amendment that would reverse the legal status of
a corporation as a "person." Corporations are not
people. Corporations don't breathe, eat, or sleep. Corporations
don't have physical bodies that are dependent on the natural world for
survival. Corporations don't vote and they shouldn't be able to
disproportionately influence the electoral process with campaign
contributions. The recent Supreme Court decision unleashing the
power of corporations to influence elections must be reversed to
preserve the integrity our democratic system of government. |
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