Spotlights | 2008 Archive
March
Mar. 10th — A Wind Power Primer: Emission reduction negligible for land-intensive, unreliable, noisy, ugly bird-killing turbinesKey facts: - Wind power is generated through large groups of massive industrial wind turbines, sometimes as tall as 50-story skyscrapers.
- Like the wind itself, wind power is intermittent and extremely unreliable. The wind must be strong enough, but not too strong, to generate power. So wind cannot be used for baseload generation nor to meet peak demand. For example, to avoid a blackout, a Texas grid manager recently had to cut off electricity to some customers, in large part due to a sudden drop in wind power.
- The National Academy of Sciences has reported that wind power would not significantly reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide or sulfur dioxide. Its impact on carbon dioxide emissions would be miniscule.
- Wind power would have no effect on energy independence. Electricity generation accounted for only 1.5 percent of all petroleum consumption in the United States. With respect to electricity, the U.S. already is energy independent.
- Wind power plants take up to 88 times more land than coal plants. To generate 1,000 MW of electricity would require acreage the size of Fayetteville, Raleigh, and Wilmington combined. Placed in the mountains, it would require 300 miles of ridgeline.
- Wind power plants have proven to be exceedingly deadly to wildlife, especially birds and bats, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office reports that recent efforts to mitigate bird and bat deaths have failed.
- The noise effects of wind power plants are potentially so severe to people that both the French National Academy of Medicine and the United Kingdom Noise Association recommended against building wind turbines within a mile of residences, at least until further research has been conducted.
- North Carolina’s legislature should develop a “Coast Law” to prohibit the construction of industrial wind turbines on the coast. Both the coast and the mountains should be protected from this unreliable form of electricity that would permanently ruin local landscapes, harm wildlife, and pose potential health risks to residents.
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[+/-] February
Feb. 28th — Job Training That Works: Public programs stagnate, while private and charitable training excelsKey facts: - Researchers have consistently found that government-provided job training and placement programs are wasteful, inefficient, and sometimes even counterproductive.
- Researchers have also consistently found that private providers of job training yield strong, positive results.
- State job training and placement programs in North Carolina span 13 departments and divisions and include 27 programs.
- Total state expenditures on job training and placement programs (including federal and local grants) were over $476.1 million in 2005-06; the state budget for 2008-09 includes over $49.2 million’s worth in state appropriations for job training and placement programs.
- State programs show only modest benefits in clients finding employment.
- Private training, from on-the-job training to charitable providers of training, has demonstrable benefits.
- Private charities, even though their clients included ex-offenders, former addicts, former drug pushers, and others considered “hard to employ,” show significantly higher placement rates than government programs.
Feb. 26th — Jail Diversion Programs: A step toward better mental health reformKey facts: - Sixteen percent of all jail and prison inmates have serious mental illness.
- One in every 10 police encounters involves a mentally ill individual.
- Mentally ill inmates cost more to detain and are detained longer than other inmates.
- Diverting mentally ill individuals into community-based care instead of jail and prison can improve health outcomes, reduce recidivism, maintain public safety, and reduce total system costs.
- The nationally recognized Sequential Intercept Model provides a good basis for establishing jail diversion priorities.
- Communities should start with crisis intervention teams or other pre-booking methods before implementing mental health courts or other post-booking interventions.
Feb. 20th — Dropout Prevention Grants: Good money for bad ideasKey facts: - Last year’s 5.24 percent dropout rate was a four-percent increase from the 2005-06 school year and was the highest rate in seven years. Only 70.3 percent of students in North Carolina graduate in five years.
- Over the last ten years, the North Carolina General Assembly has repeatedly tried to address the troubling dropout problem with no apparent success. The latest initiative, dropout prevention grants, will likely have little short-term or long-term effect on the dropout rate.
- Grants were awarded based on the strength of the grant proposal and the location of the schools served, rather than need and practicality. As a result, a majority of the dropout prevention grants went to school districts or individual schools that had a higher percentage of graduates than the state average, a lower percentage of dropouts than the state average, or both.
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[+/-] January
Jan. 31st — The Anaheim Solution: How N.C. cities can redevelop without using incentives or eminent domainKey facts:
- North Carolina cities and towns can spur redevelopment of their downtowns without using economic incentives or eminent domain to seize private property to give to private developers.
- The city of Anaheim, California, adopted policies that revitalized its downtown without using eminent domain powers or economic incentives. Under the leadership of Mayor Curt Pringle, Anaheim developed a plan that relied on reducing government regulations and stimulating private-sector investment.
- Anaheim’s efforts achieved results. Property values in the project area increased. New residential and commercial developments were built, and billions of dollars of private investment flowed into the area. This was all accomplished by getting government out of the way and allowing the private sector to lead the way.
- North Carolina’s community leaders can revitalize their cities and towns without the use of eminent domain powers. Anaheim demonstrates that it is possible to create economic growth in urban areas while respecting citizen’s property rights.
- “A Tale of Two Cities,” a 10-minute video produced by the Reason Foundation, contrasts Anaheim’s success with Los Angeles’s abusive use of eminent domain for redevelopment; it is viewable at http://reason.tv/video/show/58.html.
Jan. 24th — Annual Report on Teacher Pay: N.C. teacher compensation is more than $5,000 higher than the national averageKey facts:
- When adjusted for pension contributions, teacher experience, and cost of living, North Carolina’s adjusted teacher compensation is $55,731, which is $5,401 higher than the U.S. adjusted average compensation and $4,811 higher than the U.S. adjusted median.
- In a comparison of Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states, North Carolina’s adjusted teacher compensation is $3,683 higher than the SREB average and $4,679 higher than the SREB median compensation.
- Despite Governor Easley’s effort to increase teacher pay to the nominal national average, there is no evidence that reaching a predetermined salary level will produce a significant increase in teacher recruitment and retention or student performance.
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