Fractals of Change

Synergy

Yesterday Governor Jim Douglas announced that Vermont has submitted its claim for $21,999,000.00 in stimulus money for renewable energy projects. You can read that announcement at http://recovery.vermont.gov/news/22mRenewable. This is formula money – money that Vermont is entitled to under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) so long as we can spend it quickly enough and follow all the rules. But this money is also part of our coordinated plan – SmartVermont – which aims to use stimulus money to transform the Vermont economy and assure that we are in a good competitive position for the very competitive 21^st century.

Nothing subtle about this. We intend that our use of this $22 million plus another $7 million of state funds to develop small and medium scale renewable energy projects will help convince the federal Department of Energy that we ought to receive a healthy allocation of the $4.5 BILLION which is available nationwide for smart electrical grid projects. It takes a smart grid to make full use of electricity generated from sun and wind; the smart grid is more valuable if there are a variety of energy sources for it to coordinate. Vermont already has a number of renewable energy projects up and running and in process. We estimate that we can use $29 million of ARRA and state money to bring another $150 million worth of projects online which will generate more than 3 million megawatt hours of electricity over the next twenty years ; generating this electricity from natural gas would release 860 million pounds of CO2 .

On most nights Vermont has no carbon footprint for electrical generation; our power comes from HydroQuebec and Vermont Yankee. Moreover this offpeak power is cheap at wholesale, in comes cases – believe it or not - almost free because there's no easy way to shut down its production temporarily and it has to go somewhere. On the other hand the power for peak times is generated by burning natural gas in plants that are only used for hours a day if even that. This peak power is very expensive.

In an ideal world the sun would shine on our solar collectors and the wind would turn our turbines during times of high demand and save us from buying peak power and burning hydrocarbons to produce it. Unfortunately we don't live in that ideal world; the sun shines at random and the wind blows willfully. We need a smart electrical grid to help match supply and demand.

Among the projects that Vermont utilities will almost certainly seek ARRA smart grid funding for is electricity storage – essentially big high tech batteries. These are particularly effective when used with wind power. The wind blows when it will and charges the batteries ; the grid draws from the batteries before importing fossil-fueled power.

A smart grid is good at dispatching electricity to areas of demand from areas of surplus. Even a small state like Vermont can be half cloudy and half sunny on any given day. Methane in cow power digesters can be hoarded until extra electricity is needed. Water can accumulate behind dams while the wind blows and be released on still days.

A smart grid is used to manage demand as well as supply. When there's a surplus of power, low prices encourage consumers to dry their clothes, charge up their electric vehicles and appliances, and store up heat. When power is in short supply, higher prices and information about those higher prices encourage consumers to avoid electrical consumption.

In context yesterday's announcement of incentives for distributed generation of electricity from renewable sources means that Vermont will be ready to demonstrate all of the benefits of a smart grid for energy independence and reduction of CO2. We hope the Department of Energy will see it that way when they consider our applications for smart grid projects. If they do, we'll have a smart grid sooner than otherwise and get even more value from all of our generation and transmission capacity.

That's called synergy. We should know much more about how close we come to accomplishing this plan in the next few months.

 

Is Vermont Moving Fast Enough?

My last post complained that federal agencies are not moving quickly enough to make the rules and give out the money for competitive stimulus programs in crucial areas like broadband and energy. Getting these projects under way in the this year's construction season is going to be a problem.

So how well are we doing here in Vermont at putting ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act aka the stimulus bill) money to work?

We've done a good job of getting highway projects underway. It's taken us slightly longer to sort out the priorities for water projects but we're getting there. We can't make our own rules for alternative energy and energy efficiency and some economic development programs until both houses of the Legislature and the Governor agree on a budget (hopefully'll happen by the end of this week). With hindsight I wish that I had pushed for separate legislation to get some of these projects going faster; but it's not clear whether that could've happened or even that the Legislature should have looked at a budget for ARRA money out of context of the rest of the state budget.

The Douglas Administration has proposed that large amounts of the ARRA money which has been allocated to the state by the Department of Energy be spent for alternative energy and energy efficiency projects. The intent is to distribute this money through open processes –either competitive or first come, first served for eligible projects – depending on the anticipated demand for a particular program. The idea is to make sure that the most effective projects are the ones that get done.

We can't write the precise rules for these programs until we know what the Vermont legislature finally authorizes. But we know we have to get the rules written and the awards made quickly to take as much advantage as possible of this year's summer construction season, put people to work, and quickly start reaping the long term benefits of less dependence on imported fossil fuels. You should judge us by whether we meet these goals.

We in Vermont decided to go ahead and prepare for the competitive ARRA broadband, smart grid, education, and e-health awards even in the absence of final regulations from Washington. It'll probably turn out that we've "wasted" some of this work when we see the rules under which grants are to be awarded. We rushed to be ready to file applications for broadband and smart grid grants as early as the beginning on May; looks like we didn't have to move quite that quickly. On the other hand, since we know now how we'd like to proceed in these areas, we find ourselves well-positioned to comment on both proposed regulations and the proposed (but too slow!) schedule of awards.

States have an incentive to move very quickly once ARRA money has been granted. If the money is not spent quickly, it will be reclaimed by the feds and redistributed to speedier states. Our ambition is to have Vermont benefit from these reallocations. Our small size and the important fact that we already have projects in broadband, smart grid, and health information systems underway will help; some of our permitting and review processes could be a problem. Stay tuned.

The Most Sought After Money in the Stimulus Bill

Most of the money coming to states under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka ARRA aka the stimulus bill) is for very specific purposes and must go to very specific programs. Usually, but not always, there is also a maintenance of effort (MOE to us bureaucrats) requirement which assures that states don't just use the federal money in place of state money. However, there is a sliver of money ($17.17 million in Vermont out of a total of more than $800 million) which can be used for almost any government program and which can supplant the use of state funds. This is the most sought after money in the whole stimulus program. Because there is so much flexibility in using it, everyone has an argument as to why it should go to whatever project he or she is passionate about (or an advocate or lobbyist for).

Just so you can keep things straight, until last week this super-flexible money was called the discretionary 18.2% of SFSF (State Fiscal Stabilization Fund). It is now called the General Services Fund (GSF) so I'll use that name in this post.

When I started the job as Vermont's Chief Recovery Officer there had already been over $100 million of proposals received for the $17 million we have available here. The pile of proposals has continued to grow. This money is especially attractive to those who have not found any other program in the stimulus bill for which their project would be qualified but it also sought after by those who would otherwise have to compete for scarce funds in specific programs. Needless to say, more people are going to be more disappointed than happy over the eventual allocation of GSF.

So who decides how the GSF money is given out in Vermont?

The language of the federal law says "The Governor shall use 18.2 percent of the State's allocation [of SFSF] for public safety and other government services." (later regulations make clear that "and" should have been "or"). Some people have reasonably concluded from this language that the Governor of Vermont can unilaterally decide where the money goes which is probably why so many proposals have come directly to the Office of Economic Stimulus and Recovery. However, in Vermont federal grants whose amounts are known during the legislative session are appropriated by the Legislature through the budget process in the same way that money raised from taxes is appropriated to specific programs (some other states DO allow their governors to spend federal money unilaterally). The Governor can and does propose a budget; the Legislature generally has its own ideas about what the budget should be and can pass any budget the House and Senate agree on subject to veto by the Governor.

The short answer is that the budget process now underway will determine how the GSF money is spent in Vermont. The answer will be known in about a month when the budget bill is agreed on and the legislature can adjourn.

What is under discussion for use of the GSF money in Vermont?

Governor Jim Douglas proposed that all of the $17.17 million, which will be available over two years, be spent on economic development, most of it through the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) which will be able to use the stimulus money to attract additional private capital. The administration's estimate is that this allocation will result in up to $160 million of loans and equity being available to Vermont businesses including farms - literally "seed capital". The purpose is to grow the Vermont economy now and have a better tax base and jobs that last after the stimulus money has dried up. Full disclosure: I am a gubernatorial appointee and was involved in drawing up this plan.

The House Appropriations Committee proposed that half of the GSF money or $8.58 million be used for public safety. Since they didn't propose new public safety programs, the effect is to relieve pressure on the FY2010 budget – and there certainly is plenty of budget pressure given declining revenues and increased demand for social services. They didn't say how they propose spending the other half; that decision would be made in next year's budget.

The philosophical difference between these two proposals is whether the money should be used to reduce short-term pain (which is real) or aimed at creating economic growth now and in the longer term rather than relieving pressure on the budget. IMHO, the first alternative is dangerously close to eating the seed corn – always a temptation when it's winter and you're hungry. Civilizations which don't have the discipline to avoid eating the seed corn don't last.

What if I have an opinion on how GSF money should be spent?

If you have an opinion, now's the time to make it known; there is only about another month before a final decision is made in the form of the state budget. Usually final results are somewhere in the range between what the governor and the legislature propose; but we haven't even heard from the Senate yet so it is certainly possible that other ideas will be introduced.

A form for contacting the Governor is at http://governor.vermont.gov/contact.html and his hotline is at 800.649.6825. Contact information for legislators is at http://www.leg.state.vt.us/legdir/legdir2.htm. In the end this is your money and you certainly have a right to tell us how it should be spent.

Coming Up: Other ARRA sources if your project doesn't get GSF funding.

What’s a Smart Grid and Why Does It Matter?

We Vermonters have a huge opportunity to use federal stimulus funds to shape our near term energy future. The Vermont of three years from now will have both reduced its use of expensive and relatively dirty peak electricity AND begun to substantially reduce the use of oil in cars and homes. Energy policy is a key part of the SmartVermont plan announced Thursday by Governor Douglas and the Smart Grid is a key part of energy policy.

Whether you believe that the most important goal of an energy policy is reducing CO2 emissions, preventing the outflow of dollars from the State and nation for imported oil, or stopping the flow of petro dollars to unfriendly places, you are probably part of the huge consensus which believes that we need to reduce our use of fossil fuels both locally and nationally. It's even better, of course, if we reduce our use of fossil fuels by making alternatives cheaper rather than just by making fossil fuels more expensive; that's kinder to our pocketbooks and has a better chance of being a model for the rest of the world.

What's a Smart Grid?

 

The Smart Grid lets us do all these good things. But what's the Smart Grid?

Smart Grid infrastructure consists of electronic meters at each residence and business, an information network to carry data from the meters to the utilities in near real-time AND to bring information on the instantaneous price of electricity back to consumers; gadgets which help us automatically adjust our electrical use to prices in whatever way we want to do that; and lots of electronics and other devices in the electrical grid itself, which let the grid use the information on usage to adjust transmission and supply and accommodate the varying output from alternative energy sources.

Smart Grid benefits to consumers are lower overall rates and the chance to use very cheap way off-peak electricity for charging electric vehicles and appliances, generating and storing heat for later use, and adjustable activities like clothes washing and drying. Businesses have even greater opportunity to reduce energy costs. The benefits for the economy are less money spent on fossil fuel and a better return on alternative energy investments. The benefit for the environment is less use of fossil fuel to generate electricity. Lots of winners.

Smart Grid Economics

 

Of course electricity is not really an energy source the way a windmill or coal-fired generating plant or a hydro-electric dam is; electricity is a way of getting energy from where it's generated to where it's used. The cost of electricity depends on both what fuel was used to generate it and how much it cost to transmit it from source to point of use. Similarly the environmental impact of using electricity depends on how the electricity was initially generated. Here in Vermont two-thirds of our electricity is carbon-free from Hydro Quebec and Vermont Yankee; that's why we have the lowest carbon footprint per capita for electrical consumption of any state in the country. Off-peak almost all of our power comes from these sources; on-peak we buy expensive electricity largely generated by spooling up gas-fired facilities, which use expensive fuel and are an expensive resource because they are only needed for a few hours each day.

The following charts are from Vermont's 2005 power plan.  The chart immediately below shows how wholesale prices vary during two normal days:

   

Peak costs for power during the afternoon on both days was 60% higher than the daily lows.  On a bad day, the difference is much greater:

 

Obviously if we can shift some usage from peak to off-peak, the electricity we do use will cost us much less because less expensive fuels and more environmentally friendly generating fuels are used off-peak. Also, the total cost for building electrical facilities is reduced if we don't have to build extra generating plants and transmission lines solely to meet peak demand.

Smart Grid and SmartVermont

Part of the SmartVermont plan is to use federal stimulus money to accelerate activities already underway and get the Smart Grid in place much faster than we would have otherwise. We must compete for and win grants for:

• the speedy completion of our broadband network (a good thing in its own right and essential to carrying the information on which the SmartGrid depends),
• rolling out smart meters statewide
• making the improvements in the grid and in our electrical substations needed to make this all come together, and
• funding experiments to determine what rate structures are most useful to consumers.

To take further advantage of the Smart Grid, we are looking at possibilities of using stimulus money to accelerate the adoption of plug in hybrid or pure electrical vehicles– perhaps first by transit districts and others who may be eligible for stimulus funding for fleet expansion – and to help grow the use of geothermal heat (which uses an electrical compressor) and storage heat.

SmartVermont means using the different flows of federal money – broadband, energy, transit, economic development, diesel fuel avoidance etc. – synergistically to build an even better Vermont for the future. It won't be easy; there's lots of coordination required; we have to succeed in our competitive grant requests; and there will be slipups. But the results'll be worth the effort.

 

The Stimulus Czar Summit – Part 2

Most of the summit the Vice President sponsored in Washington last week consisted of half hour presentations from the agencies which will be awarding the money to us state "stimulus czars". These ranged from a boring reading of a list of numbers we could already find on a website to dynamic presentations with new information. There was never a case when the recovery czars didn't have a lot of questions over how a program would work; sometimes the agency people had answers and often they didn't.

Clearly a lot of thought has gone into how to get money out quickly. Often agencies are waiving complex requirements for the first tranche of money in a particular program and then requiring a lot more information for the second tranche when the recipients have had more time. This makes sense.

In many cases money is being distributed through existing programs using existing formulas. This is a fast process and it explains why we already know how much Vermont will receive for programs like home weatherization grants to low-income (200% of the poverty level) people. However, we in the states still have to be creative in these cases. Some programs are receiving ten times more money than they ever did before. Can we spend it as quickly as we were supposed to under the old rules? Should we broaden eligibility since there's more money? If we do, what happens when the money stops flowing from DC in a few years? Do we have enough people trained to do the work that the particular category of stimulus money supports? Not much guidance from Washington on these questions but we can work them out at the state level.

The most serious problem we saw was that there has been very little coordination between most of the federal agencies who are giving out money. Their definitions are not aligned. There is no clear way for us to make a request that spans multiple agencies even when that may make sense to do. Here in Vermont we want to assure that we build something lasting with this money by focusing many of the different stimulus streams on relatively few goals. We would expect preference to be given to applications which use the stimulus money well. But what if each of the agencies involved when we ask for a competitive grant for something like smart grid or broadband says "how can you be shovel-ready when you need approval from multiple agencies? What if the other agencies turn you down? Sorry, no money for you." We can't let lack of coordination in Washington (which the agencies say, with some justification, they haven't had time for) prevent us from coordination and smart use of the money.

Many states objected to the fact that, although the act is generous in allocating money for inspectors general at the federal level to audit how the money is spent, in most cases it allocates no administrative money to the states. This came to a head when Earl Delvaney, Chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability, told us that they really expected the states to do the primary auditing for monies granted to or though them and Washington would just audit the auditors. "How come you have the money and we have the work?" the stimulus czar from somewhere asked. Delvaney was frank is saying that, if he had known he was going to have the job he has, he would have lobbied for some different provisions – presumably money for state administration or at least audits. Here in Vermont we're absorbing the extra administrative expense at the state level by "borrowing" skilled people from various agencies.

The word "transparency" was used more than the word "jobs". Problem is that there isn't yet any guidance on some basic transparency questions. For example, we're supposed to report on a per program basis the number of jobs created or retained and these numbers need to hold up in an audit. But what counts as a job? It's not as simple a question as it seems. Suppose you're building a building and you hire some people to build trusses onsite; probably those are jobs. But what if you buy pre-built trusses? Do you count the jobs in the factory that went into making the trusses? The question has some urgency because we'll need to require contractors and sub-contractors to comply with reporting requirements so we can report accurately but we're signing contracts today before we know what it is we're reporting.

Feel free to ignore the whining above; we'll figure a way to make all this work. It's our job.

The first post on the stimulus czar summit is at http://blog.tomevslin.com/2009/03/the-stimulus-czar-summit-part-1.html.

 

The Stimulus Czar Summit – Part 1

Vice President Joe Biden invited the state "stimulus czars" to a Washington conference on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (The stimulus bill); according to the organizers, representatives from 49 states showed up (they didn't say which state didn't show). We really do want to find out as much as we can about this huge, unwieldy program including both what we can and can't do. We did learn some but not as much as we would've liked; we also made contacts with some of the federal agency people we'll be dealing with in the months to come.

"Transparency" was the mantra of the conference; every speaker used the word at least once; many coupled it with "accountability". In that spirit I'll post both the good and bad things about the conference on this blog. I also twittered some of my notes from the conference (it was open to press so not confidential); if you're interested, you can read them (in reverse order) at twitter.com/tevslin. In Vermont we will figure out how to use modern technology, including social media tools like twitter, to get information out.

Energy Secretary and Nobel laureate Steven Chu opened the conference. Chu said that the stimulus money which the Department of Energy awards will "create jobs which can't be outsourced, promote alternative energy, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and… oh, yes save the planet." He pledged that he agency would move quickly to get money out the door and they did, in fact, announce the almost immediate availability of the first $780 million installment of a total program of nearly $8 billion dollars for weatherization and state energy programs. Vermont's total receipts from these programs will be $38.8 million assuming that we demonstrate suitable progress in using the funds as intended (which we will). The weatherization program, which is administered through the states, provides assistance to low income families earning up to 200% of the poverty level for weatherizing their homes; the state energy program can be used for a variety of different energy efficiency projects. The current (pre-stimulus) Vermont weatherization program is described at http://www.helpforvt.org/weatherization. Information on the expanded program will be available soon.

Chu then introduced Vice President Biden. Biden has been positioned as the enforcer for transparency and accountability in the administration of the stimulus bill – "don't mess with Joe". He was suitably stern. Not only will no swimming pools be funded (it says that in the law), but he and the President will soon announce a whole bunch more things along the same line that cannot be paid for with stimulus funds. "Just because it's legal [not forbidden by the law itself], doesn't mean you can do it," he said. He continued that Congress has given the states a huge opportunity to administer large parts of this very ambitious program; if you [stimulus czars] don't do a good job, it'll be a long time before Congress entrusts the states with much responsibility again.

My personal guess is that if we don't all do a very good job on this – feds and state people alike – it'll be a long time before the taxpayers trust any of us with so much of their money again and, when they do, there'll be a new set of people who earn that trust.

We should have known something was up when the television cameras started to cluster around the edges of the small stage; there were more of them appearing every minute. Somebody came and whispered in the ear of Matt Rogers, Senior Adviser to the Secretary of Energy, who was then presenting. "I have a surprise guest to introduce: the President of the United States Barack Obama." We all stood, of course. The President came in quickly from the back of the room and took the podium. He only spoke for about five minutes but we got the message: he thinks this is important; there will be transparency; people will know where there money has gone and what results have been achieved.

"Use these precious dollars [which] taxpayers gave up to deliver short and long term results," the President said. "You've got a wonderful mission; seize this opportunity to put your shoulders to the wheel of history."

More about what we learned (and didn't learn) from the agencies is at http://blog.tomevslin.com/2009/03/the-stimulus-czar-summit-part-2.html.

Was the Economic Stimulus Bill a Good Idea?

Last Friday Governor Jim Douglas (R-VT) and Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT) cosponsored and appeared at a workshop for Vermonters on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka ARRA aka "the stimulus bill"); 700 people came and more would have if there had been more room available at Champlain College. There were lots of questions, of course; some of which there were answers for and others which'll have to wait for answers.

The question which sticks in my mind is one a woman asked me in the hall: "was the economic stimulus bill a good idea?"

The answer is that it's up to us to make it a good idea so we really don't know yet. Spending this much money this quickly is an opportunity. If we do a good job with most of it, the bill will have been a good idea. If the money is spent unwisely or ineffectually, it will have been a very bad idea. This is money that is adding to the national debt. Debt's OK if you use it to build assets; debt's not OK as a regular way to pay current expenses (that's why states like Vermont have to balance their budgets every year but can borrow for capital items). The misuse of debt clearly helped get the world economy where it is today. So it's crucial that we use this money borrowed from future taxpayers well.

Back in the Great Depression there was a very serious suggestion that Vermont apply for federal money to build the Green Mountain Parkway. This scenic skyway would link the mountain PEAKS of Vermont including Killington, Camel's Hump, and Mt. Mansfield. Obviously lots of jobs would be created as this road was built. Tourists would flock to Vermont so that they could drive skyway as they do the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. One of the two main proponents of the parkway was James Paddock Taylor, who was not only head of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce but also the man who had the idea for the Long Trail which had already been built but wasn't a big money maker. The Burlington Free Press was for the parkway; the Rutland Herald was against it. In the end, the parkway was defeated fairly narrowly in the legislature. Good thing even though it would have created lots of jobs.

On the other hand many of the fine trails visitors and Vermonters hike on today were built by The Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) during the depression. This is infrastructure which has lasted and still serves us well. There are many other projects from the depression era Works Progress Administration (WPA) which served well for many years, some of which are still around. And there was lots of money that was wasted.

The great economist John Maynard Keynes said that government could help cope with depressions by hiring people to dig holes and hiring other people to fill them up again. Doesn't really seem like a good idea, though. Once the money runs out all you have is debt and some recently disturbed dirt.

We do want to put people back to work; but we can do better than Keynes suggested. We have to hire people to build infrastructure that'll be a long term benefit and the basis for permanent jobs. We not only have to reduce the backlog of deferred maintenance on our existing systems at a time when workers and equipment are available and asphalt and steel are cheap; we also have to build the communication and smart energy infrastructure of the future. We need to do these things for economic, environmental, and strategic reasons. The stimulus money CAN be used to get us where we want to go. It can also be squandered.

The choice is ours. Was the stimulus bill a good idea? We'll see. The results depend on all of us.

Tom Evslin

The Challenge of Stimulus

Have spent the last week immersed in ARRA – the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus bill. You'll find the one meg PDF here if you want to help make sure I haven't missed anything. As Vermont's Chief Recovery Officer it's a part of my job to make sure we don't miss anything that we could reasonably use.

The short term part of the challenge is that we don't yet know what most of the bill means. Like most law, it leaves the fine detail to regulation writing in various federal agencies. Since there's been turnover at the top of all these agencies and some don't even have their new leaders yet let alone the second echelon, it's going to be tough to get sensible regulations out at warp speed. Until we have regulations, we don't know what the rules are for getting the money – but, once the rules are out, there'll be a mad scramble. In many cases there is no guarantee that a particular state will get anything. So we have to make some guesses and get prepared.

The more interesting part of the challenge is the long term impact. How do we use this short term flood of money (it'll stop in a couple of years) to make a long term difference for Vermont? How do we take umpteen different programs with umpteen different objectives and rules written by umpteen different agencies and combine them to produce a coherent result? It's not even that all the money comes to the State and we can disperse and send it according to our vision. Non-profits, for-profits, coops, towns, etc. etc. can also apply for many programs. We can attempt to coordinate; we can cajole; in some cases the bill says that the states will be consulted so we get some authority from that. But we are certainly not in full control.

This is the problem and the opportunity nationwide. We've got to take this money – almost a trillion dollars – and build the infrastructure for the future. Actually, not anywhere near a trillion dollars is available for infrastructure; much goes for tax relief; expanded unemployment insurance; help to the states with Medicaid and a bunch of counter-cyclical stuff, most of which is necessary to keep the patient alive while we're getting ready for rehabilitation.

With what is available for infrastructure, we've got to do smart stuff. We have to make sure that all Americans (although my job is just Vermonters) actually have broadband, not just the availability of broadband. Why? Because when we build applications like Smart Grid to save on energy bills or electronic medical records to improve health care, we need to know that everyone is going to be able to access those applications. If not, we end up building parallel systems for those who are still offline. Money for Smart Grid and electronic medical records is in the bill. So is money for broadband. We have to make sure that the communications layer is there when the applications come online and that the applications are built assuming the communications layer will be there.

Similarly we need to make sure job training money in the bill gives workers the skills they need not just for the two year stimulus program – although that is important – but also the skills they'll need for the jobs that'll be created when the new infrastructure is in place.

So back to my reading.

My New Gig

JAMES H. DOUGLAS

            GOVERNOR

 

State of Vermont

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

For Immediate Release:

March 2, 2009

 

Contact: 

Dennise Casey: 802.233.9436

Tom Evslin: 802.760.1226

 

 

Governor Announces New Office of Economic Stimulus & Recovery

 

Former VTrans Secretary & High-Tech Entrepreneur

Tom Evslin to Lead Intensified Effort

 

Establishes New Director of Accountability with Auditor’s Office

 

 

Montpelier, Vt. – Today Governor Jim Douglas announced the creation of the Office of Economic Stimulus and Recovery (ESR) to coordinate the State’s use of federal funds authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.   The Governor has tapped former Vermont Transportation Secretary and high tech entrepreneur Tom Evslin to head the Office as Chief Recovery Officer. The Office will be located in the Agency of Administration and report to Administration Secretary Neale Lunderville.

 

The Vermont Federal Recovery Office, which was established in January before the recovery bill became law, has been fully incorporated into ESR.  Jim Bush will continue to serve in a leadership role as Director of Physical Infrastructure, responsible for oversight and delivery of the nearly $200 million in new state and local infrastructure projects.

 

 “The scope of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act extends beyond the original intent of Medicaid and transportation funds,” said Governor Douglas.  “In turn, we have expanded the Federal Recovery Office into the Office of Economic Stimulus & Recovery to ensure the federal money flows into our economy quickly and with strict accountability measures in place.”

 

The Office of Economic Stimulus & Recovery will assist and coordinate efforts of State, community and private organizations to obtain funds for projects that not only alleviate the pain of the current recession but build the infrastructure necessary for Vermonters to succeed in the second decade of the 21^st century.

 

“The Office of Economic Stimulus & Recovery will work at entrepreneurial speed to make certain Vermont obtains all possible funds and gets maximum effect from tight coordination between programs,” said Evslin. “As much as possible, we need to use new technology to preserve Vermont values while building the foundation for a strong economy that can compete in a changing world.”

 

Accountability and transparency are key elements of the newly constituted Office. Working with Auditor of Accounts Tom Salmon, the Office will appoint a Director of Accountability from the Auditor’s staff to assure that federally funded projects are designed from the beginning to meet stringent requirements for audit and accountability.  The Director will serve as a direct link between the Auditor’s Office and Office of Economic Stimulus & Recovery.  “This important partnership is essential to ensure that Vermont exceeds the new federal standards for transparency, accountability and effectiveness,” said Auditor Salmon. “We want to ensure compliance and accountability right out of the gates.”

 

Evslin has agreed to lead the Office working at minimum wage – and has volunteered to return his entire salary to state coffers. “I’m thrilled and honored for the opportunity to help advance Vermont and position us for a strong economic recovery,” Evslin continued. 

 

The Office will be staffed by existing state employees on temporary assignment from agencies and departments. In addition to a Director of Physical Infrastructure and a Director of Accountability, the Office will include staff resources for Network Infrastructure, State Programs, Planning, and Community Partnerships.

Tom Evslin Bio

Tom Evslin was Secretary of the Agency of Transportation under former Vermont Governor Richard Snelling, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Vermont State Colleges, and is currently vice-chair of The Snelling Center, a non-profit dedicated to good governance in Vermont. Evslin’s civic career began as town moderator in Worcester, Vermont in the 1970s.

Evslin ran a software business in Vermont

for many years before going to work for Microsoft, where he was responsible for communication products.  Evslin went on to work at AT&T where he founded their first Internet business, WorldNet. In 1997 Tom and his wife, Mary Evslin, founded ITXC which was a pioneer in the use of the Internet for phone calls.  The company grew to be one of the world’s largest wholesale carriers of international calls. The company went public in 1999 and is now part of Indian telecommunications giant Tata Communications. Mary Evslin was the founding chair of the Vermont Telecommunications Authority. The Evslins live in Stowe, Vermont

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Dennise R. Casey

Deputy Chief of Staff

109 State Street

¨ The Pavilion ¨ Montpelier, VT 05609-0101

Telephone: 802.828.3333 ¨ Fax: 802.828.3339 ¨ TDD: 802.828.3345

 

Buy Local, Sell Global

It doesn't scale. We can't all buy locally and sell globally. The less politically correct sounding version is "beggar thy neighbor".

Last week when we were vacationing in very friendly Apalachicola, I was mildly offended by a banner one block off the tourist street advising everyone to buy local. "What, no Vermont maple syrup? No ski vacations?"

This Thursday the front page of the "what's happening"" supplement of the usually excellent Stowe Reporter , the section tourists presumably read to see what to do with the rest of their money when the ski day is over, is all about taking a "Stay-CATION" – that's a vacation taken from the convenience of your own home. I doubt if people'll just pack up and go home because the skiing's still pretty good. But Stowe'd be in a pretty pickle if all our visitors had decided to take stay-cations instead.

In Vermont neither our university nor our state colleges would be economically or educationally viable if they took only in-state students. We would be a very insular place if all our own kids were educated here in the State (and stayed). But there's constant pressure to limit State financial assistance to Vermonters who attend college in Vermont.

On a larger scale, undeterred by the example of the Smoot-Hawley tariff (a Republican idea) which some economists believe greatly deepened the great depression, pandering legislators are trying to sneak protectionists measures into almost every piece of bailout legislation.

Labor leaders are pushing to restrict immigrant visas. "We don't have enough jobs for our own people." If an immigrant does a job, she spends most of the money she earns here. If a job is outsourced, the money is really gone. Someone in India suggested, only partly tongue in cheek, that the US should expand the number of visas for foreign workers because the Indians who come here to work will buy houses and stabilize the housing market. They may also know how to spend without massive consumer credit.

But, people argue, if US taxpayer money is going to a company, should it then be used to pay foreign workers? Good question. The answer is in the premise of the question, however. US taxpayer money shouldn't be going to corporations as aid unless it's meant to help in the orderly dismembering of a corporation that's too big to fail on its own.

We are spending fortunes in US taxpayer dollars to bail out US corporations. Other countries are doing the same for their corporations. The bailouts preserve capacity but don't increase demand. To a large extent the bailouts by different countries to their own industries cancel each other out leaving taxpayers poorer and erasing current or future demand. Failure to recognize that the economy is global was catastrophic in 1930. It would be really dumb to double down on that mistake.

"Buy Local, Sell Global" makes no sense at all. In the context of a recession which could easily be deepened by a panic, it's a dangerous idea.