IN JANUARY 1981 Volume VI I No.4 Toxic Wastes Syndrome Northwest Power Play Lovins'Bunnies $1.50 No Advertising
Page 2 RAIN January 1981 ATTENTION!! ATTENTION!! Due to some horrible screw-up with our computer mailing service, several subscribers have not been receiving their magazine. Others have been getting two or more copies. Please tell your friends that RAIN is alive and kicking. And let us know if you're having problems receiving the magazine. Thanks. Also, all you librarians and mailbox watchers might want to note that there will be a longer-than-usual delay between issues next time. This is not a mailing problem. Our combined February/March issue (Vol. VII, No. 5) will come out in late February. Nothing to worry about-just some time for us to work on other projects! -Rainmakers LETTERS Dear RAIN, I couldn't help but respond to your coverage of Tom Hayden's remarks in the November RAIN. Mr. Hayden's suggestions are meaningful, though it is unfortunate he is a politician first and solar activist second. As such he is in a perfect position to explain why the solar transition is not occurring. Tom Hayden, it can be remembered, is a top aide to Jerry Brown, the California governor who recently campaigned for president under a myriad of contraditory foreign policy platforms (depending at any particular time on what the media was leading voters to believe). Hayden vigorously campaigned against Ted Kennedy, the Senator with a solid human rights record and the only prosolar major candidate, even after Brown had obviously lost (not exactly an effort to build a solar coalition). Further, Brown's campaign accepted contributions from California agribusiness, and now Brown is avidly supporting Inappropriate Agriculture's quest to build a peripheral canal and waste even more huge amounts of water and energy. What's next? Photovoltaic cells on crop dusters? Personally, I think Mr. Hayden should stay in California and put his preachings into practice, instead of travelling around spreading fancy rhetoric that does not produce results. As far as indulging in California's successes, I wonder how far the Brown administration could have pushed A. T. if they weren't so intent on taking over the country. Comparing California's success to other states' plans is like saying the United States has a better government than the Soviet Union because we support less fascist dictators. Let us not ignore our failures. Fortunately, some of us have not become pro-A. T. during prime time and otherwise during the rest of the day. May your magazine maintain its purity. With love (and with a pencil that's on fire), Carlos Portela Eugene, OR Dear Rainpeople, Just to put in my 2 cents worth-I RAIN wouldn't be averse to discrete, appropriate advertising if it means RAIN can go on without raising subscription prices out of sight for us "living lightly" folks. I'm sure you can screen what you print so that it's not only A. T. but pertaining to Ecotopia (or is your readership now more national than regional?). Best wishes from a long-time Rain-friend, Marjorie Posner Blodgett, 0 R Dear RAIN, We would like to receive some practical ideas from RAIN readers on our "project." We are in the process of creating a selfreliant cooperative community we call "Ponderosa Village." We have many ideas-some well-formulated-but more inputs are certainly welcome. This is more than a dream-we already have over 1000 acres of beautiful land, mostly sloping toward the south, with pines, firs, oaks, and grassy meadows. The propJournal of Appropriate Technology RAIN is a national information access journal making connections for people seeking more simple and satisfying lifestyles, working to make their communities and regions economically self-reliant, building a society that is durable, just and ecologically sound. RAIN STAFF: Laura Stuchinsky, Mark Roseland, Carlotta Collette, John Ferrell, Kevin Bell. Linnea Gilson, Graphics and Layout. RAIN, Journal of Appropriate Technology, is published 10 times yearly by the Rain Umbrella, Inc., a non-profit corporation located at 2270 N.W. Irving, Portland, Oregon 97210, telephone 503/227-5110. Copyright© 1980 Rain Umbrella, Inc. No part may be reprinted without written permission. Typesetting: Irish Setter Printing: Times Litho Cover Photograph: Ancil Nance
erty is located in ;i stable agricultural-area in for some of the "villagers" and also draw south-central Washington state. potential residents to the village. · / What do we mean by "self-reliant"? Our We are planning this community in such plans include "villagers" who have the per- -. • a way that it can be started effectively , sonal philosophy that they will-to the great- by a small number of self-reliant participants, est extent feasible-meet their own needs for without having to wait for Jhe simultaneous energy and food, learn to repair andlor make cooperation of a large number of people to many of their material possessions, and be create a grandiose project. responsible for more of the judgements and Write or call and share with us in the decisions that control their daily lives. ampitious project of creating a self-reliant By "cooperative" we mean the possibflity cooperative village that can not only provide of shared library, workshops for crafts, fabri- an opportunity for people to live more satiscation, repairs, clinic, school-whatever the fying lives, but'can be based on a way of life "villagers" can organize. It can als9 mean that is more ·sustainable in the long run. It cooperation in business ventures: Land will be could become a "model" for others to learn individually owned, and living situations can from. take any legal form participants can arrange. • Larry and-Meg Letterman We would like to include a "learning cen- P.O: Box 4022 ter" for courses in various aspects of self- Mt. View, CA 94040 ·reliance, cooperation, and personal growth. 415/967-6551 Such a facility would provide employment ·SOLAR. The Second Passive Solar Catalog by David A. Bainbridge, 1980, 110 pp., $12.50 from: _ The'Passive Solar Institute P.O. Box722 Davis, CA 95616 Solar Gain: Winners ·of the Passive Solar Design Competition, 1980, 110 pp., $3.25 • from: Publications Unit California Energy Commission Suite 616 1111 Howe Avenue Sacramento, CA 95825 Here are two books on passive solar that every solar access group should have on its literature table. The Second.Passive Solar Catalog is an updated version of the catalog· put out by David Bainbridge and the Passive Solar Institute. It·includes an overview of passive solar fundame11tals, along with some good construction details. It also has an extensive list of suppliers and consultants, as - well as a section about women in passive so- . lar. Solar Gain discusses several different types of passive systems, as well as tech1 niques for siting and designing your house for maximum uttlization of energy. The section on wi,nnin,g designs should give any prospective owner/builder some good ideas to work from. -Gail Katz ACCESS ·Engineer's Guide to Solar Energy, by Yvonne Howell and Justin Bereny; 1979., 323 pp.., $32~50 postpaid, bulk discounts available from: Solar Energy Information Services -18 2nd-Avenue P.O. Box 204 San Mateo, CA 94~01 Very few of .the recent flood of solar design and engineering books,have been aimed at . the semi-professional who has passed beyond · the basic principles outlined in classics such as Mazria's Passive.Solar Energy Book or Anderson's Solar Home Book, but has not yet reached the level of sophistication re- . quired to untangle·the double integrals of hard core engineering texts such as Duffie and Beckman's Solar.Energy Thermal Processes. Howell and Bereny do a good job of filling that gap, with a rigorous, ciear survey of state of the art systems and desi'gD- tech- , niques. Ther~ is a massive amount of inf9rmation here, with lots of examples and very little fat. . _ This book was published just before the Passive Solar Design Manual was released, so it includes only a cursory explanation of Balcomb's groundbreakingSolar Load Ratio design technique. There is, however, an extensive and lucid presentation of the £-chart method for sizing active systems. All in all, Engineer's Guide to Solar Energy is Very good as either an intermediate-, level text or as a well-organized reference. It is alsq overpriced. If it cost half as much, I could recommend it with a clear conscience. As it is, I can-or{ly say that it's good if you can afford it. SEIS does pffer substantial bulk January 1981 RAIN Page 3 Dear Folks: Many thanks for your review.of Yanda and Fisher's The Food and Heat Producing Solar Greenhouse. •. Unfortunately there were two factual errors. First, the book has 208 (not 108) pages. So it is not s:uch a "chintzy"·book for the price! And speaking of price, it's $9. 25 •. mail order (includes postage and handling); $8.00 in stores.. Again, thanks for your informative journal and positive words about one of our books. Sincerely, Paul F. Abrai:ns John Mui,r Publications, Inc. discounts, thol.!-gh, If you can get together a ,,group order, this book is definitely worthwhile. -KB 2-?,V,,211 MTT~=-=-=-==ff!Q:l~~I From Secpnd Passive Solar Catalog
Page 4 RAIN January 1981 l CONSERVATION Insulating Window Shade, by.Ray Wolf, 1980, 86 pp., $14.95 from: Rodale PlansRodale Press· 33 East Minor Street Emmaus, PA 18049 At first glance, it appears that Rodale has come up with something that has been • needed for a long time-a clear, detailed set of instructions for a fairly sqphisticated, easily maintained, home-built insulating shade. The basic design is excellent, consisting of a MylarihJet sandwiched between two layers of quilted fabric attached to separate rollers to give an R value between 4 and 8 (depending on what fabric you use), and can be mounted either inside or outside the ~ndow casihg. The plans are geared towards someone who has had mini'mal exposure to energy conservation, carp1ntry, and sewing skills. When a friend of ours who is fairly competent in all three fields actually tried to build one, how.e.ver, she found that while the instructions are meticulously precise on some steps, they are frustratingly obscure on others, such as some of the sewing and pulley construction details. The pulley design in particular appears to be sound in principle, but flimsy in practice and in need of some • further design evolution. The materials section is mediocre at best.....- The designers made no effort to track down sources·of the various quilted fabrics, and failed to consider some of the cheaper and potentially just as effective alternatives to Mylar for the reflective vapor barr.ier. What's more, I suspect that two of the five quilted fabrics they tested will not work as well in real life as they did in the lab. One . material uses cotton batting,'a poor choice in high humidity situations. The other consists o( a thin foam batting sandwiched between two layers of light cotton. Wolf mentions in . passing that the foam may break down or melt in a hot clothes dryer, yet he strongly recommends this material as your best choice. This is disconcerting, because a low- • ered insulating shade behind a closed wi~dow on a sunny qay can easily reach the 150° or so operating temperatures of the average dryer'. Nevertheless, there are some good ideas here, and the plans are worth looking at if you are prepared to make a few modifications of your own. A slightly ~mproved •design could be an important step towards making an effective conservation technique accessible and affordable to almost anyone. That breakthrough, however, will probably not come from Rodale. It is clear that Rodale realizes they are on to a good thing, and they have chosen to take full advantage of it. At $14.95, it's-unlikely that it's going to reach the people who need it most. -KB Peasant Woman Victor De Wilde SCIENCE Women Look at Biology Looking at Women, edited by Ruth Hubbard, Mary Sue Henfin, and Barbara Fried, 1979, 268 pp., $8.95 from: Schenkman Publishing Co. Mt. Auburn Place Cambridge, MA 02138 As we rethink our history, our social roles, and our options it is importan_t that' we be ever wary of the wide areas of congruence between what are obviously ethno~and androcentric assumptions and what we have be·en taugnt are the.scientifically proven facts of our biqlogy. . Feminists have Ion~ been challengers of the myth of scientific o~jectivity in anth'ropology, psychology and the social sciences. Women Looking at Biology Looking at Women continues this critique with an examination of the natural s.ciences. Written with acuity, intelligence and considerable • research, each article in this collection demonstrates.the variety of ways i~ which the object chosen, the language used, and the •mannei;; in which research is done reinforce • the social patterns and preconceptions of the studiers-historically male. • The book is divided into two sections. The first, entitled "What is a Woman," covers theories from Darwinism to the current debate over sexual differences in brain asymmetry (whether the dominant use of onete side of the brain dete~mines personality traits). The authors demonstrate how unstat- ,ed biases are substantiated by selective use of data and by·weighted interpretations. "The circle is easy to construct. One starts with . the Victorian stereotype of the active male and the passive female, then looks at animals, algae, bacteria and people and calls all passive behavior feminine, active or goalori_erlted behavior masculine. And it works ! The Victorian stereotype is biologically determined, even algae behave.that way." The second section of the book, "Gaining Control," covers some of the efforts by which women have struggled for control of their bodies and their biology. "The Quirls of a Woman's Brain" is a fascinating account of the 19th century battles by women to gain equal educational opportunities and entrance into medical schools. Repeatedly, wo'men's physiology was held up as a limit to women's potential. Numerous publications wer,e written espousing the dangers in the strain of education on the delicate biology of womert._ A leading physician of that era, Dr. Horatio Storer, believed that women were monthly cripples, describing menstruation as "periodic infirmity" and "temporary insanity." It was his belief that women were in more need of medical aid themselves than they were capable of dispensing it to others. The concluding article of this section is a first-hand account of one woman's attempt to break into this male-dominated field. While she is often lauded for her perseverance in overcoming the obstacles she faced, the point she makes goes beyond her success. "None of us should have to face this type of offense.The main point is that we must change this mari's world and this m;n's sci- . ence." While most of the information presented here has received attention ir.t other publications', the breadth and quality of this collec- , tion is outstanding. An exhaustive 55-page •bibliography on Women, Science and Health, valuable in and of itself, completes • this book. Women Looking at Biology Looking at Women presents a challenge to us to develop the expertise to define our own options as individuals, as well as working to redefine the meaning of science and technol- l ogy in a manner that is "consonant with our ideas of human dignity, and the dignity.of nature free from exploitation." - LS .
ORGANIZING KLANWATCH Project The Southern Poverty Law Center 1001 South Hull Street Montgomery, AL 36101 Despite their ridiculous robes and insane • rhetoric, the K,u Klux Klan is no joke. A_militant group of Klansmen known as.the Invisible Empire, Knights of the :1(.KK and led by Bill Wilkinson of~ Springs,'Lo-~1isiana, is threateniq.g blacks and Jews throughout the South. Worse still is a secret Klan military,training camp hidden deep.in the vine-covered hills of northern Alabama where Klansmen in camouflaged military fatigues train with AR-14 semi-automatic , weapons (civilian versions of the Army's M16), run obstacle courses,,climb walkof cut logs, crawl beneath canopi~.~of barbed wj.re and swing on ropes across creeks. • The Klansmen call this military camp, shown to some local newsmen last winter, My Lai in honor of the Vietnam'village where .American soldiers massacred women and children. According to Terry Tuc;keri Commander-in-Chief of the Klan Specia Forces 1 his elite g_roup is preparing for a "race war." FromPla~n_ing for a Change KLANWATC.H is a new project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization involved in numerous cases to defend the rights of poor people. KLAN-· WATCH will document the activities of all known Klan groups in the nation. The same • re_c:;ord system used by the Wiesenthal Cen- . ter for the Study of the Holocaust to trace and locate Nazi war criminals will be employed by·the Center's investigators and attorneys. Special reports will be published and made available to the news media. • "Few in the nation outside the South really know the dangers we face from the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan," wrote Julian Bond recently in describing the KLANWATCH project·. Help these folks establish the nation's first and only Klan information center. The Kiah is for real. -MR From No Nukes to a People's Energy Movement: A Strategy for the 1980's,. by Pamela Haines and Bill Moyer, 1980, 8 pp., $.25 ea., $15.00 for 100, from: William Moyer 4713 Windsor Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19143 The Movement for a New Society (MNS) is pretty good,at cleariy defining some of the more effective trends on the American left. If you're not already directly involved in the January 1981 RAIN Page 5 move to create a viable alternative to a nuclear economy, or i~you are trying to get-the w9rd out on what's 'happening in-the "safe ¢ ergy movement/ this special edition of the MNS newsletter is an excellent introduction to the philosophical and political roots of the soft energy path in the United States, as well as a good survey of some of the strategies that are emerging. ~ KB • Playing Their Game Our Way: Using the Political Process to Meet Community Needs, by Gred Speeter, 1978, $6.00. . Planning, for a Change: A Citizens Guide to Creative Planning and Program Development, by Duane Dale and Nancy Mitiguy, 1978, $6.00 1 ·Power: A Repossession Manual: Organizing Strategies for Citizens, by Greg Speeter, 1978, $6.00 We Interrupt This Program . .. A' Citizens Guide to Using the Media for Social Change, by Robbie-Gordon, 1978, $6.00 The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Write Proposals, by Nancy Mitiguy, 1978, $6.00 • • all from: , Citizen Involvement Training Project 219 Hills House North · • · • Div. of Con:t. Ed. Amherst, MA 01003 For all of us who are struggling to.make ends meet while building effective participatory . organizations, here's·some grist for the mill. The Citizens Involvement Training Project has created a series of "how to" manuals for organizatio_ns to develop training programs designed to meet their particular interests and needs. While the focus is primarily on organizing citizen groups, the manuals cover a variety of information from the history of citizen involvement to a roleplay interyiew with-a potential funding source. Drawn from experience with hundreds of groups throughout Massachusetts, the manuals are qrganized to take a group through the steps • of planning and evaluation of programs, be they.media events or grantwriting. There is a plethora of questionnaires, worksheets and discussion questions to prod, prompt and provoke ideas Within a group: Planning for a Change, a manual that we used at a recent Rain Umbrella retreat, has a helpful guide that suggests where to turn for an activity that matches.the stage your group is at. The title of each manual is a fair indication of the material to be found there, with the exception of Playing the Game Our Way and How to Make Ci·~izen 'Involvement Work. Here the two seem to overlap sbme, the former focusing/more on public office ac,ountability while the latter concentrates ~ the power of citizen groups. Depending upon your particular need, the six manuals in this series (the sixth, Beyond Experts: A Guide to Citizen Group Training, is reviewed in RAIN VI:9:2) have something in them for everyone. They're certainly less expensive than paying a consultant! -LS
Page 6 RAIN January 1981 by Kevin Bell The squeeze play is on in the Pacific Northwest. Electrical utilities are predicting widespread power shortages within five years in a region that consumes twice as much electricity per capita as the.rest of the country. . • Ur,like most of the Uriited States, the Northwest has always been heavily depe11dent on a renewable resource for its electricity. Until recently, nearly all of the region's electricity came from its abundant hydropower resources. Now, the utilities are pushing EST I AM. ELECTRICITY THE FARMWIFE's HANDY ANNIE heavily for a massive regiona'l investment ir thermally generated ~~ . ..,C' ~1:: electricity that would cause major economic and environmental O ~ ~ti. ~ ~ dislocations. There is substanti.al evidence, however, that a strong Cl; -fo/6 effort to implement cost-effective conservation and small-scale Ii _ .,,...,.~l..1.. '- renewable energy would be fully capable of meeting the region's D'i :1~~ • future power needs. It is quite conceivable that the Pacific North- . Ru/../ . _ west could becpme the first r~gion in the country to make the com- :._Al'/s mitment to a renewable energy'fitture. The de.bate has entered a new phase with the recent passage of the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act (known as.the Northwest Power Bill), which among other things sets up a mechanism for huge federal subsidies of new generation and conservation resources. What follows is the first of a two-part series about a region in the midst of a historic decision. Part One examines the roots of the debate. Part Two will explore the reasons behind the utilities' com- · mitment to thermal power, sketch the renewable energy alternative and analyze the implications of the Northwest Power Bill. In·1932 only one rural home in ten had electricity, compared to over 70 percent.of urban and suburban homes. The Northwest power grid is somewhat different from the rest ·of the country. The dominant feature of the region is the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA)., a federal agency that distributes half and transmits most of _the electricity generated in the region. The rest of the grid consists of a half dozen Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs), a few medium sized municipal systems, and over 100 relatively tiny PublkUtility Districts (PUDs) and power cooperatives. A total of about 75% of the power in the Pacific Northwest is prci- . duced by public agencies, compared.to a natibnal average of about 25%. The reasons for the predominance bf public power in the region are i,nextricably linked with the formation of the highly centralized ''Give me my tools then fll speed your worl Early or late-I'll never shirk:' Co11r111y Gtntr11I l!.lutric Co. SLAVERY IS THE CORNERSTONE OF cfvILIZATION ... and progress is an eternal quest for the perfect slave. This fact-ignored by the slave merchants of Bagdad-is the basis of Mr. Stuart Chase's forecast in the accompanying text · of a hea,lthier industrial civilization reared on electric power. And the above portrait of Handy Annie is an attempt by our public utilities to bring the same point home to the public. Incidentally Gen• era! Electric, which pictures this Vishnu-like bondwoman, has generously given her a mate, many-armed Handy Andy, diligent doer of thirty dirty m_ale chores.
ER national power grid we have today. The roots go back to the creation of the early'power monopolies, a fascinating and surprisingly little known skeleton in the closet of American history, Electric Robber Barons It took a while for the idea of centralized·generation of electricity to catch on. The original idea was simply to m:ake and sell small scale generating equipment for local use. Thomas Edison expanded on the idea soqiewhat by developing equipmend or complete dis-. trict generating systems. Edison held all the patents for his system, and set out to establish total monopoly control over the industry through a series of exclusive contracts with district t,1tilities. His low voltage DC system, however, was quickly dated by the more efficient Westinghouse system of high voltage alternating current, invented by Edison's former employee, Nikolai Tesla. After a bitter 'seven-year battle, Edison was forced to fold, leaving a string of . smaffutilities.across the country. A third company (controlled by J.P. Moi:-gah), pirated·1some patents"from Westinghouse, developed its own AC system, bought out Edison in 1889, and went on to form the General Electric Company. While GE and Westinghouse were busy _selling equipment, Edison's newly unemployed secretary, a young Scottish immigrant by the name of Sam I~sull, moved to Chicago, got hired as the president of a small l~cal light company that used Edison equipment, and proceeded to invent the power monopoly. . . Electicity was still considered a novelty item at the time. Gas lighting·was cheaper and more reliable until the early part of the 20th century. Industry was still powered by steam, and if a company did decide to convert to electricity, it was cheaper for them to buy their own generator than it was to buy power from a utility. The first major use of electricity wasfor the electric light rail trolley lines that were rapidly becoming prevalent in Ameriqi's urban areas. The.trolley_lin~s, and.the generating equipment to run them, were municipally owned, establishing an early precedent for publicly owned power. The investor utilities that existed were mainly leftovers frorn the intense rivalry between Edison and Westinghouse,.and were tiny even by contemporary standards. But by speµding the first 15 ye~rs or so of his new career buying out every utility he·could get his hands on to form what is now · Commonwealth Edison, Insull was able to acquire a big enough demand for power to j u.stify expanding his generating capacity. Through a combination of argument, bribery, and corruption, he was then able to acquire'an exclusive contract to sell electricity to Chicago's trolley system, instantly creating a utility empire. Insull's economic arguments were largely based on the fact that electricity could not be easily stored. With different customers using electricity at different times of the day, the peaks and valleys of electrical use would smooth out somewhat, which meant that utilities could use a few generators that ran most of the time instead of a ,,Ji January 1981 RAIN Page 7 PLAY lot of generators that ran only some of the time: The result was a· more efficient system that needed less expensiye equipment and saved money. , ~ But for the large municipal and industrial customers that Insull needed in order to justify expansion of his utilities, the slight economic advantage gained by more efficient generating equipment was more than offset by the costs of•transmission and maintenance of the system. Insu.ll's solution was to sell power to large customers for less than what it would ·cost them to install their own generating capacity, which meant selling 'it for less than what it cost the utility to produce the power. Insull recovered·the capital cost of the sys·- . tern~as well as a tidy profit, by-chariging exorbitant rates to his residential and small commercial customers. In 1912, for,example, 1residential customers were paying over 12 cents/kWh, compared to industrial rates as low as 0.5 cents/kWh. ln effect, the residential customers were subsidizing the large industrial users, a praqice that continues to this day. Industry rushed to buy power from Insull, and the future of centralized utility power was assured. It is interesting to ponder what the alternative could have been. A more diverse electrical load could reduce the swings in electrical demand over the course of the day, but, not 'over the course of the year; which would mean that lot of generators still sit around mos_t of the time. An efficient way to store electricity would have made large, centralized generators unnecessary. But development of some of the promising storage technologies of the time, as with many other potentially d~ entralized technologies, came.to a grinding halt with the gr.owth of a large, ce'ntralized power system. As early'as 1902, the president of t~e National Ele~ric Light Association had stated: "Our earnings through the economy of operation have well-defined limits, but the-possibilities of increasing our earning~by developing dur markets have a much wider range." • Expansion of the system was the key to increasing profits, in large part.due to the peculiar regulatory legacy established by American railroads ·during the 19th century that allo~ed utilities to charge rates that would guarantee a set percentage of profit on their capital investment'. The more capital investment, the more profits. With smaller customers bearing the risks, ·the utilities w~re able to leverage money to continue building new generation capacity, ;needed or not. Using the time'honored tactics of political and fina;ncial IIlanipulation so successfully employed by the great robber barons, Sam Insull and J.P. Morgan •succeeded in gaining direct control of over half of the electricity generated in the United States by the/end of •the 1920s, and indus~rial generation of electricity had been essentially eliminated. Utilitjes launched a massive propaganda ~am- • paign, convincing pe0ple to use more electricity while'smearing proponents of pt,tblic power.as tools of the Socialist conspiracy. Consumptimt_-and profits-soared; cont.--'---
Page 8 RAIN January 1981 .Power Play cont. The Collapse and the Vision I~ didn't last. For one thing, utilities had little interest in providing power to the 35% or so of the population that still lived in mral areas. In the few areas ou,tside of cities w,here power was available, it was incredibly expensive. As a result; by 1932 only one rural home in ten had electricity, compared to over 70% of the homes in urb~n and suburban_areas. Utilities rapidly became a moving target for the agrarian reform movement that was sweeping the country during the '20s. Opposition to the power trust intensified as the nature and extent of utility concentration became clearer. In 1928, • the U.S. Congress began an eight..:year investigation of the financial practic_es and propaganda campaign of the power trust. President Hoover's attempts to impede the investigation raised a storm of controversy that was partially responsible for his defeat. The nationwide economic collapse that was the ~ain reason fo~Hoover's Aluminum production from bauxite is one of the most energy-intensive . · ind,ustrial processes known, requiring 12 tim~s as much energy as primary iron production ... much of that' • energy has·to be electricity. I defeat sent a shock wave through the financially overextended utility combines. Insull's empire collapsed, and insull fled the country to avoid prosecution, Franklin Roosevelt, hardly a radical, was elected on a platform that included a strong commitment to the breakup of the utility trust and establishment of a decentralized, consumer owned power grid. The power trust pushed electricity as the ultimate slave. But for many public power adyocates, the vision went far beyond: Decentralization, if and when it takes place, will break up the great conglomerations of people in sprawling, dirty, noisy sl!'ms and -brutalizing sweatshops, lift the swarming hordes out of te7:ements and sub.ways and streetcars, and put them back on the land. Electric power, a vast unseen ocean of electric power that will run'factory machines, light the countryside and bring relief from drudgery to the homes on the land, is for Roosevelt the seemingly ,certain instrument of this decentralization. It will transport people to • places where they can work naturally, live decen.tly, breathe-deeply and see the open sky. • .The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) was part of that vision. As a result of the intense furor.surrounding the formation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, BPA was somewhat weaker than its eastern counterpart. BPA was set up primarily as a power marketing and transmission agent for power generat~d .by ·the huge Federal dams being built on the Columbia, and was specifically forbidden to operate or invest in generating facilities of its own. Even so, its mandate was a giant step towards sodalism. BPA was actively involved in the push for public power in the Northwest, aiding in the takeover of private utilities and the formation of locally controlled public utility districts. _The resurgence of public power was particularly strong in Washington, a state with.a long history of progressive movements. A powerful coalition of union and rural groups pushed through legis- .lation making Washington one of the easiest places in the country to for,m a PUD. In Seatde, the municipal light company,finally took over the private utility it had been undercutting for years. IQUs had a firmer grip on Oregon and Idaho, which made formation of PUDs in those states considerably more difficult. Even there, however, a considerable number of PUDs were started, and the trend was clear. Public powerwas firmly established in the Northwest, with BPA giving first priority,to PUDs oper~ting on a strictly nonprofit basis, The Rise of the Rogues' Gallery The IOUs fought Roosevelt tooth and nail, blocking;legislation at every turn and issuing frantic warnings on the evils of,government interference. Their opportunity came when the United State.s began mobilizing for its eventual entry into World War II. In -order to maximize industrial efficiency; it was necessary for utilities to coordinate'and centralize their generating capacity to allow the power to be moved to where it was most needed. The nation's IOUs informed Roosevelt that they would not cooperate unless the Federal government backed off on its efforts to break up the utilities. Roosevelt was forced to concede. The public power movement was throttled as • the BPA changed its focus, becoming the backb·one of the regional transmission grid for the_wai effort, working closely with IOUs for the.fir~t time, and establishing a trend towards centralization of the. regional power system that has continued for 40 years: ( World War II irrevocably changed the face of the Pacific Northwest·. Its strategic position ~n-the Pacific Rim, ,ombined with an enormous surplus of cheap'hydroelectricity, made the Northwe3't an excellent location for tnany of the nation's war industries, particularly the aluminum industry. . , Aluminum production from bauxite is one·of the most energy intensive industrial processes known, requiring 12 times as much r • . •1J,..,J By the 1950s, ·the BPA had ahandoned its pub-/ic power mandate and was beginning to.build itself ~n empire. , . . . energy as primary iron production. Hecause the final separatfon of aluminum is an electrochemical process, much of that energy has to be electricity. Alcoa, the nation's one aluminum company (aluminum remains one of the most concentrated industries in the world), and the U.S..government built 5 smelters in the Northwest during the war. When the war ended, the government sold their plants to Reynolds Tobacco and Kaiser Chemic:al corporations, instantly creating an industry that today produces one-third of the aluminum in the country and gobbles up a quarter of the1region's electricity. The industrialization and massive population growth of World ~ War II continued into the '50s. With plenty of cheap hydro power for public and private utilities alike, the Northwest rapidlybecame one of the most electricity dependent areas in the world, with demand doubling every 10 years. By this time, the BPAhad abandoned its public power mandate, seeing itself more as a central authority for the region's utilities and actively promoting the • continued growth of energy intensive industry. BPAiWas·beginning to build itself an empire. A seemingly innocuous event occured in the late '50s that would later have an enormous impact on the region. BecausePUDs operated on a non-profit basis and got most of their power from dams owned by the U.S. government, most of them had no capital and , very little collateral for building power facilities of their own. In 1957, 21 Washington public utilities formed the Washington Public '
Power Supply System (WPPSS, pronounced "whoops"), to provide a mechanism for PUDs to pool their resources for new generation. WPPSS was a bush league operation, run on a low budget by • managers that were generally from tiny utility districts with little to no experience with major construction projects. Their first proj-,. ect was a 27 megawatt dam, built for about 14 million dollars. WPPSS then turned its attention to a joint project with some regional IOUs, retrofitting a .steam turbine to one of the military plutonium breeder reactors on the Hanford Reservation in Washington, managing to raise the $65 million needed for their sh~re•of the project. The reactor was not particularly reliable, but when it worked it produced up to 860 megawatts of power, making it by far the largest nuclear plant in the world at the time. Flushed with success, enthralled with the prospect of a·nuclear Northw_est, WPPSS picked up their central offices in Seattle, moved to H~nford, and proceeded to become one of the rriost s~cretive organizations in the region, firmly entrenched in theit commitment to nuclear power. The crunch began in the '60s. Armed only with graph paper and rulers, the utilities were expecting electrical demand to continue its f~ntastic grnwth rate indefinitely. Hydro resources were expected to be fully developed by the mid-'70s, with shortages expected by the mid-'80s ..BPA was already ending its firm power commit_!llents to the IOUs; although it continued to offer PUDs power at a flat rate until 1974. I~ the late '60s, BPA and the region's utilities • formulated their plans for the future of the Northwest electrical grid. For,them, the answer was ob.vious: coal and nuclear power. Romance Without Finance In 1970,1the regi,9n's utilities unveiled the Hydro Thermal Power Program (HTPP), which called for the con truction of one new major coal or nuclear plant a year, every year, for a total of 26 by the year 2000, nearly trip1ing the region's firm power supply. HTPP was the ultimate centralization of the regional grid, with BPA moving to the foreground as the dominant planning agency for the region. , The plants were supposed to b~ financed by a consortium of public and private utilities. This created quite a problem for most of the region's PUDs, since they didn't have any money to invest. BPA cam~ to the rescue, however, neatly sidestepping the provisions of the BPA charter prohibiting investment in generating facilities through a complicated bit of creative bookkeeping knowp as net billing. Under net billing, PUDs spent the money they would have normally used to bl¼y power from the BPA on building nuclear and coal plants instead. BPA gave them power for free, with the only limitation being that PUDs couldn't spend more than 87% of what the BPA power was worth on a new power plant. . Net billing had some pretty heavy implications. BPA was not only committing.the U.S.·government to an indirect subsidy of coal and nuclear power plants, but was agreeing to be the principal bearer of risk as well. No matter how much the plants eventually cost, and even if they never generate a single watt of power, BPA is committed t.o paying off the full cost of the plants. If the.BPA has to_/ raise its rates to cover its net billing obligations (for example, over half of BP N s recent doubling of wholesale power rates was to cover the failure of a single bond issue.for two net billed nuclear plants), every utility that buys power from BPA is committed to helping to pay fonhose plants., whether they invested in them or not. Construction began on the first phase of HTPP in the early '70s, including 3·coal and·5 nuclear plants. The plan began to fall apart almost immed,iately. C<;mstruction costs were higher than anyone had dreamed. IOUs found themselves financially overextended. Expected costs for plants tpat PµDs had invested in rapidly outstripped what PUDs were paying for BPA power, leaving BPA with no choice but to make the power more expensive. ln,1973, an InterJanuary 1981 RAIN -Page 9 Armed only with graph paper and rulers, the utilities were expecting electrical demand to continue its fantastic growth rate indefinitely. nal Revenue Service decision essentially eliminated BPA from investing in thermal plants not already covered by net billiµg, dealing a staggering blow to the future of HTPP. The program continued . for a while longer, with utilities announcing plans for another 5 • nuclear and 6 coal p1ants, to be completed by 1990. But by the mid-. '70s, HTPP had collapsed, with massive cost overruns anq construction delays draining the financial resources of the region's utilities. Meanwhile, as the implications of HTPP became clearer, Congressman Jim Weaver (D-Oregon) and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed separate lawsuits challenging different aspects of BPA's decision-making authqrity in HTPP and ·requiring a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement that would open HTPP to public scrutiny for the first time. , With HTPP stalled and power shortages expected within 10 years, utilities panicked. In 1976, BP A: announced that-it would not be able to meet its projected firm power commitments after Jun~,1983. Regional utilities began dropping dark hints about the future, combined with a high powered campaign against consumer interest and environmental groups opposing the continuation'of HTPP. (Probably the three most effective.spokesmen in this campaign have been the three most recent BPA administrators.) Ytilities then introduced the initial version of the recently-passed Northwest Regional Power Bill, launching a three year battle to allow BPA to directly • subsidize HTPP1 for both public and private utilities.DD Coming in Par} Two: The utility perspective, the renewable alternative, and the promise and peril of the Northwest Power Bill. ,, Tnc Troj,1n Nuclear Power Plant
I Page 10 RAIN January 1981 RESOURCES Future Survey Annual 1979, edited by Michael Marien, 1980, 256 pp., $25.00 (paperback) from: • World Future Society 4916 S. Elmo Avenue WashingJon, DC 20014 The World Future Society has compiled a 'guide to some of the recent literature of trends, forecasts and policy proposals, containing 1,603 abstracts of books and articles, mostly from the U.S., published between late 1978 and early 1980. "The writers come from traditional academic disciplines (largely economics, political science, and sociology, with a scattering of contributions from the natural and physical sciences, but virtually no representation from among scholars in the humanities), anp from professions·such as medicine, public ~ealth, engineering, journalism, education and law." The publications of the World Future Society,'with their fawning reverence for self- . ordained high-tech centrist "futurists" of the Herman Kahn Hk, do not generally rank high on my list. Especially at the price, this is a book you can do without. However, if,you have any sway with your local librarian, it would be a useful research tool to have in the neighborhood. -MR World Military and Social Expenditures 1980, edited by Ruth L. ~irard, 1980, 40 pp., $3.50 from: World Priorities P.O. Box1003 Leesburg, VA 22075 There's more relevant information in the forty pages of this booklet than there is in many of the massive texts I've seen discuss-: ing the implicationsof world-militarization. Much of what Sirard has to say deals with the huge increase in world weapons produc- . tion and acquisition. Most of the information is presented in charts and graphs for maximum impact. Some of the facts are startling. For example, did you know that the·costs of U.S. military equipment have risen 5 to 30 times faster than the general rate of inflation since World Wadi? Or that there have been over 150 interventions and wars in 83 countries since 1960? Perhaps most immediately relevant, there is an excellent summary of the considerable evidence that the U.S. military ,is consistently overestimating the siz·e and scope of Soviet military expenditures. Sivard also includes an extensive analysis of the dismal trend in economic and social indicators, along with a statistical appenqix of economic and military indicators for most countries. As we head into another cold war, it's important to keep the facts in p'erspective. This is a good place to start. -KB first half is a complete keyword subject inEnergy Statistics: A Guide to Information dex, giving the best available source of inforSources, by Sarojiri.i Balachandran, 1980, m,ation for each su~ject. The rest of the book 284 pp., $28.00 from: 1 lists and briefly dis~usses nearly 650 differGale Research Company ent statistical publications, categorized by Book Tower energy sou,rce. Bal~chandran includes a comDetroit, MI 48226 plete mailing list of publishers, as well as If you have any use at all for statistical information on energy, this is a good book to know about. The listing of data sources for solar is slim and somewhat dated, ~ut for any conventional energy source the information is thorough, current, and easy to find. The \. EDUCATION Feed, Need, _Greed: A High School Curricu-. lum by the Food and Nutrition Group, Boston Science for the People, 1980, 86 pp., $5.00 plus $.50 postage from: Science for the People 897 Main Stree~ Cambridge, MA 02139 Here's an excellent re~ource for the educawr •who wishes to bring a more comprehensive and critical perspective on food, population and resources into the classroom. Countering the pro-industry bias of most texts and consumer education materials, this curriculum guide is an exceptional tool for increasing the awareness of both students and teachers about the politics of.our food system. Feed, Need, Greed is divided into four sections-The Numbers Game (population and resources) ; The Lean and the Lumpy (hunger and food politics); Nutritional-Industrial Complex (advertising a'nd agribusicomprehensive author and subject cross indexes. This is not the kind of book you should run out and buy for yourself unless you are serious about energy research, but it is definitely a book your local library should have on its reference shelf. -KB ness); and Building a New World (community action). Each section can be used independently or "mixed and matched." Using a combination of methods-discussion questions, diagrams, fact sheets.and cartoons-to convey.information and ideas, the exercises provoke critical thinking and active participation. Students are encouraged to do research in their community, develop their Vocabulary, and to view the world around them more critically. Additional background notes, discussion questions and resources are listed for the teacher's aid while a glossary of term$ is included in the back for the student'. • ' Feed, Need, Greed is unique not only in the quality of information it presents, but in the style of education it advocates. The concluding chapter, "Building a Better World," takes a notable step in bridging the gap between study and activism by discussing ways in which students can utilize what they have gained on a personal, community', or national level. While the Guide will not be applicable to all environments (you may have to sneak it past the principal) and educational levels, it is an unusually valuable resource at a very affordable price, Education like this could help change the world as we know it. -LS
GOOD THINGS Back Then Tomorrow by Peter Blue Cloud (Aroniawenrate), with drawings by Bill Crosby, 1978, 80 pp., $3.00 from: Blackberry Press Box186 Brunswick, ME 04011 When I was very little my family and I spent a lot of weekend afternoons in the front yard of the Roy's Point Reservation General Store in Wisconsin. Pit LaPoint, who ran the store, was my father's best friend, and my mother had raised six of my older brothers and sisters on the small farm next to Pit's while my father was away on the boats. Those sunny afternoons on Pit's porch were filled with "fun poking" storytelling, many of which described the creation of things and their naming, the shared values of Menomini people, and the ways to teach these to children. All those tales and the gentle humor of them come to me now as I read Peter Blue Cloud's book. All the dried-up ethnographic studies in academia can't translate the sense of the people half as well as Back Then Tomorrow. -CC Earth Rites, Vols. I & II, edited by Sherry Mestel, 1980, 82 pp. (Vol. I), 121 pp. (Vol II), $3.00 ea plus $.75 postage from: Earth Rites/Mestel 398 8th Street Brooklyn, NY 11215 Former Catholics, I've been told, are always in search of new rituals to replace the ones performed, often daily, to insure spiritual security. True to that dictum, I've dabbled in parochial practices, touring religions like continents until finally fashioning for myself a sort of pantheism without Pan, a secular sanctity. These two volumes of Earth Rites emerge from similar journeys, composed by women who pursue a spiritualism based in the earth, the movement of the planets, and the patterns made by shadows. Volume I combines herbal remedies for self-healing with herbs useful for magic. Most of the medicinal recipes are the tried January 1981 RAIN Page 11 and true ones appearing in classical herbals both ancient and modern. The magic is minimal but I like what little there is. I am especially taken with amulets, gentle charms to balance the pragmatism we're so imbued with. Volume II describes the personal rituals of women who have created a spirituality that reflects both their politicization as feminists and their need to explore ancient womancentered mythologies. These range from solemn prayers to female deities (the name's changed but the pie's still in the sky) to more joyous songs and celebrations. Still, much of the book is too mournful for my tastes. I prefer foot-stomping incantations to boil high energies into potent brews-cathartic stuff that leaves you breathless and grinning. The chorus of one such chant from the book is an example: dance dance where ever you may be I am the lady of the dance said°she I live in you as you live in me and I'll see you all in the dance said she The combined books are the carriers of a tradition. They link us to our very distant past. I look forward to a Volume III-empowered, sensuous, lively and willful. A book that will glow.-CC AMULETS bright turquoise or purple cord-for focusing on or drawing sexual attraction and passion. use basil, damiana, jasmine flowers and saw palmetto berries. green cord-for positive growth, change, movement, and expansion in your life and relationshps. use clover, hyssop, pennyroyal and sage. Excerpted from Earth Rites ·i have been hand making herbal charms for myself and my friends for 3 years. i use a wide variety of herbs for different purposes, have used each of my charms at different times, and have found all to be powerful. i have experimented with combining color magik and herb magik to increase the effectiveness of the charms. the results have been very pleasing. when i make a charm to wear around the neck, i use a small red flannel bag stuffed with an herb or mixture of herbs tied up with a cord that color corresponds with the desired characteristics of the herb(s) . these are some of the charms i've made and used: blue cord-for peace of mind, tranquility, and keeping calm in stressful situations. use catnip, chamomile, betony, lavender, peppermint, violet. lavender or orange cord-for mental powers, clear mind, writing, communication, and seeing into the future. use dried celery leaves, lavender, orange peel, marjoram. pink cord-for love, romance, sensuality and drawing admiration to yourself from others. use elder flowers, jasmine flowers, rose buds, and lavender. red cord-for fighting and winning. use basil, gentian, myrrh gum, and nettle. silver cord-for safe travelling, reflecting back energy directed toward you (protection from attacks) and going with natural cycles, use orris root, poppyseed, rosemary, and sage. carrying a whole nutmeg absorbs bad vibrations and sends out good ones. this is useful in new situations.
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