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Occasionally something that you looked at many times, but have never seen, suddenly jumps out and changes your whole perspective. For example, I had always thought that as far as the Revolutionary War went, Delaware’s only claim to fame was that the new flag was first flown in battle on Delaware’s soil…….
Not so! Two hundred thirty-six years ago today, things were really jumping in these parts. It may seem like a long time ago to most of us, but in reality it is only a string of three ten year olds who each knew someone who was ninety. In the vernacular, that means that most of us know someone, who themselves knew someone who actually had spoken to someone, who was alive during the Revolutionary War!…… Whoa…….
August 25, 1777 close to 300 ships sailed up the Chesapeake Bay, anchored off off Elk Neck, Maryland, and began disembarking. That has been called the largest fleet ever assembled off either of the America’s coasts. To put that number into perspective, the famous Spanish Armada, consisted of a meager 130 Spanish ships. The most-oft talked about Battle of Trafalger, consisted of a combined total of some 60 ships. Modern historians can get a perspective by comparing those 300 ships to the 700 off of Dunkirk or the 900 off of Normandy…….
It must have been quite a sight to stand on the top Iron Hill and see over 300 tall masts sailing to defeat you. And on board those ships, were 15,000 solders disembarking to begin marching towards your capital city….That’s close to the total number of women living across Greater Newark in 2010.
Were we living 236 years ago, we would all be on edge! Anticipating a major battle on Delaware soil, 11,000 continental troops were moved into Delaware and bivouacked at what used to be known as Red Mill Neck, and now is near the Marshalltown bridge over top of Red Clay Creek.
The British moved in steps, out of Elkton to Gray’s hill, then up the road to Newark. One account said their line stretched from Glasgow to the bridge across the Christiana, where the I 95 and 896 interchange is today. They marched through the village of Newark, and then advanced parallel to today’s Kirkwood highway and camped at Milltown, just two miles from the American Camp in Newport. For one day, they stared each other down. The potential existed for a pitched battle to have occurred on Delaware soil. When no attempt was made by the British, Washington got scared that he was to be flanked to the north. Had General Howe chosen to do so, Washington and the Continental Army would have suffered a catastrophic defeat. At 2 am, the Continentals forced marched north to Chadd’s Ford, thereby occupying the high ground, and then on the following day, occurred the Battle of the Brandywine, the second to last major battle to be fought by Washington until Yorktown, four years latter.
Just a small footnote: it was in Delaware where General Pulaski, from Poland, met Washington while in Wilmington and was placed in charge of developing the calvary.
Although only a small skirmish actually occurred in this small state, with just a few things happening differently, a major conflagration could have happened that could have ended the war for the Americans.
Needless to say, it was relatively scary “in these parts” just 11 score and sixteen years ago.
Right Click for Full Image.
Photo courtesy of the Telegraph
George Bush was considered a good leader after we had just gotten socked by 17 people in four hijacked airliners, when he picked up a megaphone and set the war against terrorism in motion…
Fact: that war has diminished terrorism.
Today we are fighting in Afghanistan against Afghanistan people who think we and what we offer, are not the best thing for their future…
They have that right, just like you or I would have that right if an uncertain future were being imposed on us, as say 30 years ago, was portrayed in the movie Red Dawn…. But although the words terrorism get thrown about, …. most of us honestly think far less of terrorists now, than we did even during the most glorious days of the Clinton reign…..
I will say that is a success, one which can be measured by a quantified analysis of results. The US achieved success by diminishing global terrorism. Pretty unbelievable, based on the paradigm of the world we had 10 years ago….
But where I’m going with this,…. is that an event happened that impacted American prosperity, and everyone got together to overcome it…
Today, dead plant and animal material of 250 million years ago, is being forced out at high pressure into an underwater basin. Oil is washing up on shore; oil is creating a desert of life where once life thrived…
The equivalent of 9/11 would to not just simply go after BP, but to go after all of terrorism or in this case… dirty energy…. A real leader doesn’t solve a problem. He changes the paradigm….
What we need to do, is to leverage this unfortunate blemish upon the practices of the past, into a understanding and movement towards weaning ourselves off “dirty energy”….
“We cannot consign our children to this future. The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now. Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash American innovation and seize control of our own destiny. ”
The time to embrace a clean energy future is now……
Two years ago, Delaware was poised to be the first state to have off shore wind… Legislation was passed, signed… the investment firm was pumped up… and then…. Babcock and Brown… collapsed.
The tragedy in the Gulf ….like a boot camp bugle too early in the morning, means that at this moment… we need to jump up, and go forward with upgrading the plans and building a 600 MWh wind farm off the Delaware coast…
Since private investors can’t handle it… we need a government who can…
We set a very similar precedent seventy five years ago…
Between July 1933 and March 1939 the PWA funded and administered the construction of more than 34,000 projects including airports, electricity-generating dams, aircraft carriers, and bridges, as well as 70% of the new schools and 1/3 of the hospitals built between 1933-1939. Some of the most famous PWA projects are the Triborough Bridge and the Lincoln Tunnel in New York City, the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington, and the Key West Highway in Florida.The PWA also electrified the Pennsylvania Railroad between New York and Washington, DC. The PWA did not create as much affordable housing as supporters would have hoped, building only 25,000 units of in 4½ years.
Those necessary structures today, would not be there without the Publc Works Adminstration. Simply put… It’s goal was to spread big bucks, on big projects… There is some argument that these expenditure did little to alleviate the Great Depression. The geography of the problem was too great: the solutions too small.. Only with the outbreak of WWII and Roosevelt’s realization that deficit spending was now mandated, did this nation begin to work its way out of the Great Depression.
Now try to imagine getting into New York today without either the Lincoln Tunnel or the Tribourough Bridge… Try imagine Boeing in the Northwest developing without the cheap power off the Columbia River…. Try imagine the US developing the atomic bomb without Oak Ridge, a subsidiary of the TVA…. Try imagining the Empire State, without the public funded Niagara Power Project, which held the price of power consistently from 1961 to 1981…
In each case, the long term benefits to the community far outweighed the benefits caused by just the new jobs alone…
Therefore it is time for us to do the same with Wind and Solar…
Private investment is stalemated; the active engine of the economy is (like it or not), the federal government…
For as little as 2 billion, we could begin construction within a year. The dreams of developing a wind farm construction-center right here in New Castle County, would again take wing. The dreams of importing the brains of energy to set up homes in Delaware, would once again become reality…
$2 Billion spread over 20 years… averages out at $100 million a year… Getting a return on that investment with wind energy, would be fairly simple… Between jobs, economic growth, full governmental coffers, and very cheap electricity for all… we could easily show that investment to be worthwhile…. And not to mention, were we to clear a little of our air, who can guess how much of a medical saving each household would garner?
But dreams mean little without action.. Now is the time to begin the pursuit of landing a large government contract to begin off the coast of Rehoboth as soon as possible..
We all know it works. Evidence as been there in the above structures… all our lives… We just need to do it….
So…
Do it.
……. and if that happens…. this BP disaster will have been a good thing in the long run…..
The recalcitrance of Delmarva Power brings up an interesting conclusion. We need a counterbalancing force to maintain balance when one entity leans too far in the wrong direction.
What is a State Power Authority? (No, it’s not a Sen. Adams) New York state has had an active and successful power authority for many years. Proposals are being actively debated in state legislatures in Connecticut, Indiana, Illinois, and Rhode Island.
New York State provides a great example. That state’s Power Authority, was created to build the massive Niagara Falls (Mike, got pictures?) Power station which, would provide cheap, efficient, hydroelectric power for the entire western half of the state.
Like Delaware, it was the initial investment in the infrastructure that provide the major portion of the cost. Like wind, water going over the falls, is free. The state took over its portion of the risk for the right to control prices for its constituents.
With cheap power, came great jobs, as anyone who has driven across Western New York can attest, just from reading the logos of major company headquarters along the route. From Albany to Buffalo, all along the old Erie Canal route, good jobs are available because many companies decided to take advantage of reliable, cheap power.
Other famous power authorities include the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Bonneville Power Authority. Again many jobs followed cheap power into these previously economic barren areas….
Delaware could benefit from its own Power Authority. Here is how it could work.
A. Delaware’s General Assembly responds to the fact that Delmarva will not comply, and establishes the Delaware Power Authority.
B. The Delaware Power Authority, or DPA, could issue bonds backed by the “full faith and credit of the state.” Currently it would have little difficulty raising the funds necessary to assist in the building of a 600 MW wind-farm off the coast of Sussex County.
C. The State Power Authority could then sell directly to customers, along the lines of the municipal power authorities today, or it could sell at cost to Delmarva Power (or a corporate rival for those who like “market economics”), thereby driving DOWN the price of electrical energy for the benefit of all who choose to reside within this state’s boundaries. The lowest bid would be chosen.
D. The DPA (Delaware Power Authority) could step in and fill reliability needs that could not met by reasonable proposals being dictated by marketing conditions. The New York Power Authority in 2001 built 10 power generators around New York City, which are credited with staving off a major blackout in 2001. The NYPA was able to act quickly because of its emergency siting powers, far faster than a corporate entity could.
E. Using its state authority status, the DPA could empower the state Attorney General to arrest and charge any future Stockbridge-ian type of delay caused by petty intransigence.
Conclusion: A state base power authority can offer its citizens, a cost-based alternative to a single service utility which absence of strong regulation, has strong internal incentives to raise its prices.
Real life American examples:
The federal Tennessee Valley Authority was founded to fund the initial creation and testing of nuclear power
The federal Bonneville Power Administration was founded to fund the series of giant dams up and down the Columbia River.
The state run New York Power Authority was founded to fund the development of the massive Niagra Falls power station.
The Delaware Power Authority should soon be founded to fund the building of America’s first offshore wind farm just east off our southern coast.
Doing so would provide us all with cheap power and a solid economic future.
The Delaware Power Authority: It is a great idea that just needs to happen.
kavips 
