Breaking: O’Mara Heads for the Exits
The News-Journal reports that Colin O’Mara will leave his post as DNREC Secretary in the Markell Administration in July to head up the National Wildlife Federation.
I think O’Mara was as effective as Markell allowed him to be, which was not as effective as O’Mara could have been had he been given free rein. Or is it reign?
Well said.
Midas touch in reverse. Every thing he touched turned to crap.
This million dollars to help fish survive in Mirror Lake and the nonsense about cleaning up the 94% of filthy Delaware waterways really sends the wrong signal. They should have have made Mirror Lake a national monument of how big business in cooperation with big government can totally screw up the environment forever. They should have renamed it the Lake of Fire and display all the Fortune 500 logos and last 100 years of Delaware leadership that made this fiasco possible. They should populate this lake with solar battery powered fish. I’d call it the Fisker Fish – a totally useless and wacky eco-nut endeavor spawned with tax payer loot. Might as well plant a few solar waving sunflowers they usually carry at the dollar store just to enhance the artificial atmosphere.
Delaware waterways will always be tainted – We should be buying untainted Pennsylvania springs before they are fracked out of existence. That would be a win -win solution to help preserve vital water resources and financially help clean rural area communities to resist the $$$ temptation of fly by night fracking ventures. What would Ben Franklin say? An ounce of prevention is worth $Billions in Frackin-Fisker-Bloom cure.
Look for this to continue, though most of the cabinet members are in their final jobs before retirement. Also look for Jennifer Ranji to be rewarded for her loyal service with a judgeship before it’s all over.
My one wish would be that Shailen Bhatt stays on at DelDOT under a new Democratic administration, be it Denn or Biden or Carney. He really represents an outsidery technocratic streak in Delaware government that we haven’t seen too much of, and he’s done a great job cleaning up that cesspool.
Classiccom
You missed your morning meds. The bitterness is overwhelming.
I hope Jennifer Ranji gets the kids department together before she gets that judgeship.
Back to El’s pun… Considering we are about to tax water for heaven’s sakes, might we question “free rain”, as well?
O’Mara was the only member of the Markell cabinet with any real ingenuity and he most certainly was the only member who had an ounce of spirit to go beyond “business as usual” in Delaware. Those attributes combined did help to bring a sorely needed new viewpoint to the administration. That said (as El pointed out) he could have been more effective had Markell allowed him to be.
I saw O’Mara and Bhatt yesterday at the Walkable Bikeable Delaware Summit. It will be a shame to break up this comedy duo. They really seem to work well together and have been excellent on bringing Delaware’s non-motorized infrastructure up to speed.
Incidentally, Delaware was named the 4th most bike-friendly state (up from #5 last year and number 31 when Markell was sworn in).
If the only accomplishment as the States highest ranking environmental official is bike paths, when the state is #2 in brown sites, and Allen Harim and Rehoboth wish to pump questionable discharge into our waters and the Clean Water Initiative, introduced 5 years into office, amounted to little more than a press event, then its time to move on.
He was a disappointment.
Mr. O’Mara issued a coastal zone act permit to Bloom that is bogus and bordering on the insane. He is taking this wildlife job to get away from his role in the CZA permit he approved FRAUDULENTLY. This clown has done more to undo the landmark Delaware CZA legislation than you can imagine. The BLOOMDOGGLE and his role is being peeled apart like a gangrene onion. Solid sulfur waste is hidden and Mr. O’Mara knew this and abetted this. He helped hide the hazardous waste for his friends at Bloom. They and their operatives in the nation’s capital helped him land this new job. They need him to hide out in Yellowstone for a while, the yellow solid waste that contains sulfur can be hidden there. He is a disgrace. Period. Lindsay Leveen The Green Machine winner of first prize in 2013 for serious column from the NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION for exposing the greenwashing Bloomdoggle in Delaware.
–
Then read this award winning blog
http://www.greenexplored.com/2014/04/green-machine-alleges-fraud-allegation.html
Mr. or Ms. Leveen: I confess I’m puzzled. I did a search on ‘National Newspapers Association’, and nothing turned up…except a similarly-named ‘National Newspaper Association’. I checked out their listed awards-winners, and your name did not appear.
Could you please refer me to the appropriate website? Not doubting your veracity, but I just couldn’t find anything to verify your assertion. BTW, just a suggestion, in the future if you send a letter to the AG’s office, you might want to lay off terms like “Dealware” and “Bloom Coffins”. Makes people not take you seriously.
El Communiste Yes I did win the award in July 2013 for my article in the Tiburon Ark Newspaper for busting the greenwashing in Deal Away or Del Unaware or however one spells the most corrupt state in the union.
http://nnaweb.org/pub/doc/BNC-2013-Winners-by-Newspaper.pdf
Now Mr El Communiste eat crow with a little sulfur there in deal away
Oh, I also see in your bio that you’ve been a consultant to Duke Energy. Aren’t they in some deep doo-doo in North Carolina? Let me check….why, yes, yes they are, as are the politicians they allegedly bought:
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-coal-ash-20140220,0,3738665.story#axzz30bZF6HDR
Do you like those North Carolina regulators better than Delaware’s, O Green Machine?
BTW, I am not familiar with this Andrew Breitbart fellow with whom you’ve associated. Could you please fill me in on him?
Mr. El Communiste
I consulted to Duke Louis Dreyfus. You probably consulted to Enron or your cousin’s utility.
Mr. El Communiste Andrew B was Adriana Huffington’s brain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Breitbart
Mr. El Communiste
Are you hiding now? Or did you crawl back into a test tube and dissolve?
Wait a minute. You worked for Breitbart? The guy who called Ted Kennedy a ‘pile of human excrement’ upon his death, did you not? The guy who had an ‘epiphany’ while watching the Clarence Thomas hearings and became a right-wing windbag? I read up on this guy. He’s as right-wing as you can get. Oh, and talk about misrepresenting the guy as ‘Huffington’s brain’. Well, I will just quote from the article to which you linked:
“Breitbart described himself as “Matt Drudge’s bitch”[13] and selected and posted links to other news wire sources. Later Matt Drudge introduced him to Arianna Huffington (when she was still a Republican)[9] and Breitbart subsequently assisted her in creating The Huffington Post.
Am I wrong here? We read here at Delaware Liberal. BTW, You’ve been an industry guy for quite some time. Hardly parses with your reporter persona, now does it?
As to Duke Power, from your bio:
“This company was a joint venture between Duke Power the large US electric utility and Louis Dreyfus the large global commodities trader. His (your) work related to a strategic plan that was successfully executed.”
When you said that this was an award-winning piece of journalism. I assumed, and I admit I was wrong, that it was something important. After all, you represented yourself as:
“Lindsay Leveen The Green Machine winner of first prize in 2013 for serious column from the NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION for exposing the greenwashing Bloomdoggle in Delaware.”
So, despite the fact that you misspelled the name of the group from which you won an award, I still checked under the major prizewinners, the McKinney, Amos, and Phillips Prizes. The ones listed on the home page of their website. You were not among them. You are listed amongst the 34 pages of winners of small community newspapers throughout the country. There you are on page 4. “Best Serious Column, Non-daily Division, circ. less than 3,000. Some place called Tiburon, CA. Somehow, I was unable to suss out that the prize that you claimed was for a non-daily newspaper with a subscription under 3,000. You made it seem more…grandiose than that. Oh well, hopefully, your grandstanding here will earn you a wider readership. BTW, a column is not, by any definition, news. But, as an award-winning journalist, you knew that.
BTW, re: ‘El Communiste’. Been called worse by better reporters. Or should I say, real reporters.
Next!
Hi Mr. El Communisto
Glad that the red party is paying you to research me. I was not paid nor worked for Breitbart I just posted that 884 May Be Bloom’s Fatal Number. Yeah simple as that Mr. El Communisto. We need a green party who follow the laws of thermo not some red party that only takes May Day off.
By the way what is your real name and why do you have a nom de plume? Maybe you are really the CEO of BLOOMDOGGLE Inc.????
Everybody on this blog knows my name. It’s Steve Tanzer.
I think it’s official. You’re a nut. Go somewhere else. Gotta train my thoughts on something important. Like fantasy baseball.
OK you are Steve Tanzer and a google search yielded that you are wine critic. Probably an expert in red wine. The point of this discussion is to show that Mr. Omara issued a CZA permit for a project that has hazardous solid waste with sulfur and that the permitted quantity of natural gas is 6.6 million btu per mwh. Delmarva as Bloom’s agent has collected more money for natural gas than permitted. You can rant about Breitbart, Duke, my awards, etc. etc. But Colin O’Mara hid 7 tons a years of Sulfur Dioxide from you and helped Al Gore, John Doerr and Colin Powell steal money from the poor. Yippee for the man who will now be protecting wolves and coyotes
Nice research. Sorry, I’m not THAT Steve Tanzer. There’s also a classical flute player in Philly. Not that guy either. Although my daughter plays flute, and is damn good at it.
And you’re still a nut.
OK you know nothing about wine and knw nothing about thermodynamics and the BLOOMDOGGLE but you seem to know a lot about mental health, Duke Power, Breitbart, The National Newspapers Association, Me, and things that are not screwing you. Bloom and Delmarva are screwing you. O’Mara was the man who allowed the rape to happen. He destroyed the sanctity of the Coasta Zone. Carry on living with your eyes closed and blame the folks that point out who is screwing you and think you are liberal. You are not liberal you are lost. I am actually very liberal. I care fore the Coastal Zone and do not wish solid waste with sulfur to be accumulated there. I care for the air and do not want massive quantities of CO2 to enter the air. I actually care for the customers of DELMARVA that are being ripped off. You just love greenwashers, I do not. I am happy to be a nut it is far better than being a numb nut.
Mr Tanzer how come you did not tell the folks that I wrote a text book on fuel cells and that is how I knew from day 1 that Bloom was a BLOOMDOGGLE and O’Mara was a fake greenie.. I guess you are a numb nut you did not respond. I love being nuts but numb I am not. Did you become a numb nut by being tasered? From now on can I call you Steve Tasered??? Thermodynamically a Taser releases quite a bit of energy in a short period of time. A Bloom Coffin releases a lot of CO2 and accumulates solid sulfur waste in a short period of time. Have you thought of strapping yourself to one of those Bloom Boxes and see is it will reverse the numbing effect of a the Taser? The sulfur will do you good. So what if the Bloom Box has H2S you can simply hold your right nostril closed and smell the ripoff with your left. It will smell like a Blooming Rose to a numb nut.
WTH…
Allow me to introduce Don Ayotte’s slightly more coherent and literate younger sibling!
I say good riddance to C.O. He may have been supportive of some warm and fuzzy initiatives that were/are popular. He did nothing to clean up his own house. DNREC is still the same cesspool of under paid, under achieving, due to lack of monies, Lord of the flies culture the state has to offer. We should hope and dream that the next head honcho will focus on cleaning up the entire Dept. from an administrative standpoint and cut some dead wood, and get that beast working for the citizens, not against them.
Thanks, waterpirate, for bringing the post back on topic. Don’t think anyone who posted here said that O’Mara outperformed expectations. Almost all of us were disappointed to some extent.
Just don’t think we were prepared for the allegedly green equivalent of the Ultimate Warrior. Although sometimes his syntax more closely resembles that of the Incredible Hulk.
Delaware appears to have been a stepping stone to his ultimate objective, a player amoungst the ” beltway bandits”. The citizens of
Delaware were his collateral damage along the way. I hope for a non political motivated individual to fill that position and take care of us and the State of Delaware, not themselves. DNREC has a boat load of issues, the most pressing IMHO is it’s lack of transparency, hidden agendas, and complete lack of caring about it’s impact on the population, and the proffesionals thatit regulates. DNREC is the dinosaur of all DE agency’s were back room deals are still done, political influence is rampant, and people are lied to and ignored.
That’s not fair. The guy implemented universal recycling, no easy feat. He also cast the deciding vote against fracking around the Delaware River Basin.
I think he was a real good DNREC Secretary. Wish Markell would have enabled him to tackle industrial pollution more. Jobs were more important. But Markell brought him here, one of his best hires.
Think he deserves better on his way out.
“Wish Markell would have enabled him to tackle industrial pollution more.”
Yeah, we all wish O’Mara would have done his job, too. O’Mara could have done that on his own without Markell. Enforcing the law should not require Markell’s blessing.
SUSSEXANON you are so right!!!! EL NUMB NUTS is so left. O’Mara let Bloom hide tons of solid waste with sulfur in the coastal zone. Soon he will be called to a court of law to answer for this. O’Mara gave his completeness report on the Bloomdoggle and approved only 6.6 million BTU PER MWH. BLOOM and DELMARVA will also face the law on that for charging as much as 7.19 MMBTU PER MWH. The people of deal away or del unaware or lefty land where numb nuts can talk junk got screwed by a crooked or dumb Mr. O’Mara. HE IS NOW EXITING LEFT!!! His patrons in DC and in your state made sure he had another job AS THE EXCREMENT STARTS TO HIT THE AIR EXTRACTION DEVICE. El Numb Nuts I suggest you simply read the facts about the BLOOMDOGGLE. O’Mara was the architect of the BLOOMDOGGLE unless Governor Magic Markell or Vice President Joe Biden was pulling old Col’s strings. It could well be that Magic Jack and Sleepy Joe played a big hand in the BLOOMDOGGLE. El Numb Nuts I suspect you will need some major athletic support on the left side there in Deal Away Del Unaware which has been a one party state like Cuba for so long.
As I wrote initially, O’Mara was as good as Markell let him be. Rogue secretaries do not last long. They serve at the pleasure of the governor. If Markell wanted that Delaware City facility to spew pollution, it was gonna spew pollution.
Blame Markell if you want.
He did not live up to expectations.
If enforcing the law is going rogue, then rogue he should be. Which is probably why he is leaving before the chicken plant, Rehoboth outfall, bloom energy and every other enviro problem adds to the long line of toxic Delaware problems.
Lindsay Leveen, you can stand down from the name calling or go elsewhere. There won’t be another warning.
Cassandra Mr. Tanzer first called me “a nut”. Where is his warning???? He questioned my Veracity on the award I won for exposing the BLOOMDOGGLE in the first state, then he demeaned the award. He accused me of working for Breitbart. I suggest you give Mr. Tanzer a red card. I just got a yellow card from you in the rules of Soccer. How come liberals can name call but folks who actually understand how you all got raped by BLOOM (Al Gore, John Doerr, Colin Powell) Colin O’Mara, and Jack Markell cannot call a fraud a fraud and greenwashing GREENWASHING? Please apply the rules equally just like your DE DOJ should be investigating O’Mara and Markell but now I had to call the Feds in to apply the rule of law in your One Party state. You should be kissing my feet for exposing the BLOOMDOGGLE and how the poor have been screwed out of $45 million of subsidies to the 0.001% in the name of reliable, efficient, green power, that is in fact unreliable, inefficient, and gangrene. O’Mara pulled this fake on you with the help of Markell and probably the Vice President of the United States. Ceasar Rodney must be turning over in his grave while you make a mockery of coastal zone act that I for one think is landmark excellent legislation to protect the environment that real guardian of your state who happened to belong to the Green Old Party brought into being. O’Mara committed crimes against nature and people ! For all I care you can be a one party blog but the truth will come out. As for Mr. Tanzer tell him he had to get his Big Sister to help bully the Green Machine who can smell thermodynamic fraud from 3,000 miles away. I am here in California and I can smell the tons of Sulfur Mr. O’Mra helped hide for Mr. Gore Mr. Doerr and Mr. Powell. You can fuel some of the people some of the time but you cannot fuel all of the people all of the time!!!
Hey Cassandra if you hear a lie from Bloom Energy and O’Mara enough times and you believe it are you a Democrat? Who the hell are you to warn me when you have a tag that so outrageous to call folks who belong to the GOP liars???
O.K. so I let my personal feelings slip out a little bit. I will wear that hat. The recycling initiative, and getting yard waste away from recycling at the landfill and into the private sector in Sussex HAS resulted in beter disposal at a cheaper cost. Howecer I do still stand by my statements that DNREC is the worst agency in the state. Still refuseing to change or update itself. Political bull$hit aside for a momment. What DE needs in these key leadership positions are: leaders with administrative experiance to run these agencies in the state more effeciantly and better geared toward helping, not hindering the people of DE.
WP: I gotcha. Just wanted to point out that, in my time working for the General Assembly and since I left, I think we’ve had only two decent DNREC secretaries: Toby Clark, who served under Mike Castle, and O’Mara. I DO think that Castle gave Clark more free rein than Markell did O’Mara. Man, Toby Clark was great. No surprise that Carper threw him over for a guy with ties to the oil industry, Christophe Tolou.
But I think O’Mara was a better administrator than you give him credit for. Statewide recycling could have been a clusterbleep if not properly administered and phased in.
As to the ‘hindering of the people of DE’, a lot of Sussex County farmers would agree with you. I don’t. Some regard ‘hindering’ to mean ‘not letting me do what I want, regardless of the environmental consequences’. I don’t want that.
I’d call O’Mara a qualified success. No more, no less.
I am not that short sighted nor petty. My concept of not hindering the public, does not include un fettered polution or no regulation. I hold O’Mara responsible, from a administrative perspective of allowing the mess that is DNREC to continue as usual. Leadership IS responsible for the agency that it agrees to head, whether it created the mess or not, he agreed to head it. I would be as critical of all the rest of the heads of DNREC, both prior and in the future if they do not fix anything.
So yea, he was O.K. but turned a blind eye to the rest of it, as have others. That equals not helping, but hindering all citizens of DE that required services from any office inside DNREC, be it a dock permit, septic,well, sand dune police, wetlands demarcation, or barking dogs.
Smelling the sulfur salts from 3,000 miles away has any other Sec of the DNREC ever given a $3 million a month subsidy to cronies that will continue for 20 years? Has any other Sec of the DNREC let his cronies add copious amounts of CO2 and VOCs to the air while building up solid waste containing sulfur in “sulfur tanks” in the Coastal Zone? If O’Mara is better than these guys they must have been “unqualified successes” who never went to Oxford University. This clown will soon see his day in court and the next Sec of the DNREC will need to not operate under a microscope and not in a smoke and sulfur filled room with the likes of Al Gore John Doerr and Colin Powell. The next AG of Deal Away will also have to stop hiring sex maniacs and start hiring folks who bring justice to Del Unaware. I can see why the political operatives get away with it. The folks who worked in the “general assembly” were blind in the right eye and were on Nova Cane the new sugar sweetened red cool aid.
Did they run out of lithium 3,000 miles away?
Sorry for the bitterness but I don’t think anyone can reasonably expect a state that produced Agent Orange to destroy countries and harm 94% of its own waterways- The same people who helped destroy millions of lives are going to suddenly wave a magic wand to insure our survival? More likely Delaware will also harm 94% of the remaining 6 per cent of its remaining safe waterways in the next 100 years. Trusting half century old nuke plants is totally insane, but that’s not even on the DNREC radar. .
Check out what “Better Living Through Chemistry” has done to this second generation Agent Orange victim :
http://www.agentorangespeaker.com/default.html
http://spingolaspeaks.wordpress.com/
(MP3 download of Heather Bowser interview)
https://copy.com/ApFF08zRaG9CCKyg
I think O’Mara’s departure would be a good opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade. With today’s highly politicized job parameters, what mere mortal can take on the most giant corporate and government beasts ? The DNREC job description should have dragon slayer experience required.
“EPA Approves Agent Orange for GMO Crops ”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot8IV65GLJA