Short Takes and Crazy Politics

Interior Sec. Ken Salazar

Slattery and Salazar Not on Same Page. Council Vice-President Dan Slattery and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar are clearly looking at different research on wind energy. While Slattery has been the Council’s leading “authority” on the deadly health risks of wind energy, Salazar was in Rhode Island yesterday promoting off-shore wind energy and asking for bidders to build turbines right off our coastline in federal waters. Fabrication for the turbines would likely take place at Quonset Point, providing a tremendous boost for the RI economy. And Slattery will probably have a heart attack over it.





Dan Slattery (left)



Two more things to give Dan Slattery agita. Work has started to build a 117-foot, 116KW wind turbine (Dan and Tom – note the dimensions and the wattage) at Fisherman’s Memorial State Park. There’s already a 100 foot turbine at Salty Brine State Beach. The state also plans a 10KW turbine at East Matunuck State Beach. The turbine at Salty Brine Beach is already outperforming energy production expectations. I guess Dan will have to stay away from those beaches to keep his eyeballs from falling out….The state is receiving another $6.5 million to promote alternative energy development from the federal government. Unfortunately, Charlestown is unlikely to see a nickel of that money since we are about to take a giant backwards step away from alternative energy.

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Kallie – watch out for your pets! Here’s a new alternative energy source that Charlestown’s Floridians might embrace (or reject): alligator fat. Popular Science reports that 15 million pounds of alligator fat, the unwanted byproduct of processing the critters into meat, gets dumped when it could be converted into biodiesel. This would also be a big boost to the economies of Louisiana and Florida where most of the US alligators are located (though there is one in the Woonasquatucket River). When Kallie Jurgens, CCA’s immediate past president, visits her home in Florida, maybe she could pick us up some gators. A little liposuction and we’ll have oil for the furnace!

Joe Larisa

Charlestown’s Indian Fighter Takes on New Fight. Injun Joe Larisa, Charlestown’s Town Solicitor for Indian Affairs (i.e. hired gun to oppose anything the Narragansett Tribe wants to do in town), has a new gig. The ethically-challenged former East Providence mayor has been hired by the RI Right to Life Committee to challenge Governor Chafee’s plan to establish a health benefits exchange program which would allow individuals and businesses to be able to shop for insurance. Anti-abortion groups are demanding that the exchange insurance providers be prohibited from offering abortion coverage.

Whaddya expect? It’s Johnston. The Town of Johnston proudly announced that it had picked TD Bank as the new manager for its $42 million municipal pension fund. The town noted with pride that TD Bank is “one of the nation’s largest banks” and sponsors both the Boston Celtics and the Boston Bruins. Why the sports sponsorships were such a big draw for Johnston is a mystery. Also, TD Bank is not one of this nation’s biggest banks – it’s actually a Canadian bank. And eyebrows in Canada and elsewhere were raised last year when the bank board awarded the CEO an 8% raise last year, bumping his salary up to $11.4 million. But, hey, how ‘bout them Bruins!

Author: Will Collette