byte&chew

A tangled web

The past week or so have seen a flurry of letters to newspapers and comments on this and other blogs about the Laidlaw Energy project in Berlin. I've personally read several newspaper stories out of Ellicottville New York and I must admit that I'm beginning to see more and more similarities in the tone and style of the Laidlaw officials and supporters here in Berlin. I've often posted that the supporters of Laidlaw are "cult like" and have a complete disregard for factual information. For example, the wood availability studies put into question the available fuel source for Laidlaw, but instead of pointing directly at what they perceive as flawed data they suggest throwing the whole study out as "out of date". When anybody mentions the limited capacity of the transmission lines they don't challenge the data from ISO New England or PUC, they just suggest that they have a secret plan. When someone discovers that at a biomass plant in Maine that one of the principals of Laidlaw is involved with experimented with a variety of fuels from human waste to carpet trimmings, the issue is deflected by saying the town knew about it. The truth appears to be that the town was told after the fact and after residents blew the whistle.  The Laidlaw officials told Berlin's Mayor and Council that the existing boiler in Berlin can only burn clean wood chips, but a closer investigation  reveals that the type of boiler system being proposed lends itself to burn all forms of combustible materials and is the best type for burning garbage and construction debris. (Keep in mind the make or break issue is the cost of fuel) As I said before, a newspaper person in Ellicottville NY said that a popular saying in that town is; "How can you tell when officials from Laidlaw are lying? When their lips are moving". If Berlin is blessed with Laidlaw, I suggest that City officials begin looking for Environmental Engineering firms to hire to help set standards and to monitor stack emissions from the power plant. From everything I've learned about Laidlaw and its officials over the past couple years, it's obvious that they're not to be trusted. When asking Laidlaw officials about technical matters we better be prepared to have the expertise at hand to scrutinize the answers. Finally, we're subjecting ourselves to all of this for what? The promise of 40 jobs and tax payments, both of which are debatable and questionable. For example, New Hampshire law allows biomass plants to apply for tax abatement's. Do you really believe that Laidlaw will pay on their full assessment? (I have a bridge in NY for sale)  Why is the Laidlaw plant going to have 40 employees when there isn't another plant anywhere that has more than 20 to 25? (Gets those local laborers cheering at meetings) "A sucker is born every minute" a wise man once said and we're being suckered!

Wake up call

When I wrote my previous post where I urged the citizens of Berlin to attend the Council Meeting last Monday night, I expressed the opinion that I did not think anything substantive would come from the meeting. As it turned out, I believe my instincts were right, there were no new revelations just the reaffirmation that the top management team at Laidlaw should be called "promoters" rather than energy company officials. What was also important to note was the fact that the promoters were accompanied by a lawyer, a smart move on their part. What is not so smart is the fact that the City doesn't seem to have seen the wisdom of engaging  a top legal and technical team to advise them through the process of challenging Laidlaw's efforts. Almost every claim made by Laidlaw officials can be challenged and in most instances their statements were half truths or out and out falsehoods. What our very well intentioned elected officials lack is the training to hear the reality of the slippery legal meanings of words and statements. For example, when Laidlaw claims that they have "a letter of agreement with PSNH", most of us think in terms of having a legal document that has value. Wrong, it simply means that a conversation has taken place about the subject and that some broad understanding of the subject has been agreed to, period. It's not a contract, it does not bind anybody to do or deliver anything of substance. Bottom line, it's at best a declaration that a conversation has taken place about a particular subject. Another example was Mr. Bartoszek statement that Laidlaw has "looked at the environmental issues" at the mill site. Now what in hell does that mean? There's looking and there's LOOKING at the environmental issues! Did they conduct a legally recognized assessment of the conditions? Who did the looking, Mr. Bartoszek? Unfortunately the City continues to ask the wolf how many chickens are in the chicken coop. Now, who is going to do the wood study? Do we really believe that there's 50/50 chance that the Laidlaw paid study will declare that there isn't enough biomass?  For the City fathers to ask Laidlaw's lawyer to explain the rights of the City vis-a-vis the Site Evaluation Committee is declaring publicly that we have no idea of what we're doing. Don't believe for one minute that the  Laidlaw's lawyer didn't take notice of how well prepared the City may be to make battle over the technical issues. It's also no wonder that the Laidlaw proponents declared that the meeting was a great success for Laidlaw who had brought their cheerleaders to the meeting. Did you notice that the media didn't miss the fact that there was applause after the Laidlaw statements? Did anybody applaud the Mayor's or Councilor's statements?  There's no question in my mind that the City has missed several opportunities to either stop this project or show it for what it really is, a speculative attempt to turn a sows ear into a silk purse. If we're going to get into the "ring" with Laidlaw we better learn how to do battle and soon. If we need convincing ask the folks in Ellicottville New York.

Be there!

The events surrounding the efforts by Laidlaw Energy to convert the former pulp mill boiler to a biomass fueled power plant are coming to a head. On Monday February 9^th , company officials are scheduled to meet with Mayor and Council at their regular weekly Council meeting. To my knowledge, this is the first meeting with City Officials since Laidlaw announced it had closed on the mill property, purchasing the assets from North American Dismantling. The significance of this meeting should not be underestimated not for what will be decided at this meeting, but by the tone taken by the City. If this was my show (figure of speech), I would have the City Attorney and other experts that could advise M&C as to the validity of what is being said by Laidlaw. The more I and others who have looked at the facts surrounding the company the more we become skeptics. I encourage you to go to the previous post and check the comments where Jon Edwards has posted some very interesting developments at Laidlaw. It appears that the law firm that represented Laidlaw in Ellicottville NY petitioned the court and was granted permission to walk away from Laidlaw. It seems that Mr. Bartoszek and company didn’t pay their bills and have no means to pay them in the future. More than likely this will result in the $10 million suit against Ellicottville to be thrown out of court. Keep in mind that for the past several months many of the investors in Laidlaw have been bragging about using that $10M to further their cause in Berlin. This is a company that you don’t sit down and break bread with, these are not nice folks that have the best interest of the community in mind, regardless of what they or Barry Kelley tells you. That’s why I suggest that the City Attorney should have a front seat at City Hall. I strongly suggest that concerned citizens should attend the 6:30 meeting and see for themselves how slick Wall Street types behave. I believe that our community is in imminent danger from this company and the manner in which they are received Monday night could very well set the tone of the relationship going forward. I urge those of you who share my concern about the negative impact Laidlaw will have on Berlin to be at City Hall Monday night.