Last night, we had a great turnout at the PDD event for Sen. Coons. Unfortunately, at the same time, an important meeting was taking place down in Dover. The Public Service Commision was holding a hearing on Bloom Energy’s plan for turning the old Chrysler plant into a factory making fuel cells and “Bloom Boxes.” The hearing also concerned Delmarva’s plans to place two clusters of Bloom Boxes on two sites in New Castle County adjacent to Delmarva electrical substaions. These clusters themselves will generate approximately 30 megawatts of power for the electrical grid, which is enough to power approximately 25,000 homes.
And guess what? The hearing room was filled with 9/12 Teabaggers, who all probably said Bloom Boxes were Boxes full of Socialism, or some such tripe, and that global warming is a hoax, and they we should drill baby drill off Rehoboth. Yes, that is what our public officials on the Commissions heard last night. The News Journal was there last night. They won’t be coming to the meeting tonight in Wilmington, because they have their story: Bloom Boxes are evil.
So tonight and tomorrow, progressives get their second chance, not to sway public opinion through the News Journal, but to buck up our public officials that the plan does have support, and that some of their public, if not most of their public, wants renewable and alternative energy.
The meeting is tonight at 7 pm at the Carvel State Office Building Auditorium, Mezzanine Level, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington, Delaware. Tomorrow, our great Progressive neighbors in Sussex County get their chance, with a meeting at the Del Tech Community College, Owens Campus, Arts and Sciences Building, Theater, Georgetown, DE 19930.
And if can’t make either of these meetings, then you simply must send a written comment to the Commission supporting the Bloom Energy plan.
Email your comments by Friday, September 30, 2011 to Kevin Neilson, Regulatory Policy Administrator for the PSC at kevin.neilson@state.de.us
These battles are often won by who shows up and who speaks out. Conservatives will always show up and always speak out. It is what they do. They sit at home all day listening to Rush and Jensen and Colley and Hannity, and then they get emailed orders from the 9/12 Racists to show here or there. And they show up. And when they open their mouths, nothing but bile comes out.
If you don’t want them winning all the time, if you do want a better world, then you have to fight too.
Yes, you.
And yes, you have to get over yourself.
Is the Bloom Energy plan perfect? No.
Should be doing more for renewable and alternative energy? Fuck yeah
But isn’t this at least a step in the right direction? Absolutely.
If this plan is successful, wouldn’t it lead to more plans and more clusters of Bloom Boxes and other types of renewable and alternative energies being explored? Yes!
So what’s the problem?
Either show up at the meetings tonight and tomorrow, or email Mr. Neilson by Friday. You have no other choice. No, you don’t.
Last night, several of the questions asked of and comments to Senator Coons were along the lines of why can’t Democrats, Liberals and Progressives all be on the same page and speak with the same message and why can’t that message get through to the media and to the people. You know why? Because Democrats, Liberals and Progressives are never on the same page and we never speak with the same voice. Sometimes that is a good thing, for it shows that we all have intelligence and that we prefer not to have our opinions handed to us in a talking points memo.
But Conservatives do have their opinions handed to them in a talking points memo. And they all speak with the same voice.
So if you want to fight that and win, you have to put your pride and your purity aside.
This is going to be a theme that we are going to come back to in the coming year. But right now, pound out those emails. Woody Allen said 90% of life is just showing up.
So show the fuck up.