A Secret We Should Know: Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds

This blog is a departure from disability issues, but heat and power to our homes is important to EVERYONE on a fixed income, and should matter to those who can afford to pay their utility bills also. As a Raging Granny song says:

GOT GAS? Tune: "Marine Corps Hymn"

From the pristine Arctic wilderness, To the blue Arabian Seas,
We will trash the earth to pump the oil, Just to fuel our SUV's.
We can get ten miles per gallon When we keep our engines clean.
Since we addicts always need more oil, We’ll just call out the Marines.

We will pave the way for Texaco, For BP and Chevron, too
And for Exxon, Shell and Conoco But the cost is paid by you.
Now, some foreigners will lose their land
And their lives when we invade.
But we’ll get our gas to run our cars
And it's blood for oil we'll trade.

Most of the evils we commit as a modern nation are interlaced…

I was amused to see a conservative wanna be pundit on Utube yakking on about the evils of Obama’s spending while driving his monster SUV.

I have commented before on energy issues, and I think that alternative renewable sources of energy are just plain critical to our health and well-being. Like decent affordable health care, alternative energy is a must have for our survival, and the most obvious way to revive our economy. Maybe even our technological leadership, where I perceive we are lagging. Whatever happened to good old American ingenuity??? I’m convinced we still have it but have just been supporting all the old greedy pathways, like war and big pharma, instead of reallocating our resources to wiser uses. It’s high time to move on!

I first heard about this tiny couple of articles in the Recovery Act when I attended an Energy Town Hall at CNM last spring: After some conferencing and located the entire text of the bill, I was able to locate the relevant legislation, page 208 of the Recovery Act: The summary appears below:

PART II—INCREASED ALLOCATIONS OF NEW CLEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY BONDS AND QUALIFIED ENERGY CONSERVATION BONDS
Sec. 1111. Increased limitation on issuance of new clean renewable energy bonds.
Sec. 1112. Increased limitation on issuance of qualified energy conservation bonds.

PART III—ENERGY CONSERVATION INCENTIVES
Sec. 1121. Extension and modification of credit for nonbusiness energy property.
Sec. 1122. Modification of credit for residential energy efficient property.
Sec. 1123. Temporary increase in credit for alternative fuel vehicle refueling property.

The impact of this legislation on New Mexico was to allocate $23 million to float bonds for New Mexico businesses and residential property owners to install alternative energy components on their buildings or homes. Of this 5.8 Million has been allocated to Albuquerque. The legislation is designed to fund loans that can be repaid over twenty years through property taxes. I intend to be in the line to get one of the loans created by this legislation, just as soon as Albuquerque gets off its duff and passes Ordinance Bill #00-09-087 . The state legislature already passed enabling legislation to form “Renewable Energy Refinancing Districts” (S.B. 647 in July of 2009). The City Council deferred discussion of the ordinance at their October meeting, so now is the time to ask your Council member to ACT at their November meeting!

For some time now on the pages of this blog I have been harping about the need to provide loans to allow people such as myself, who live on a fixed income and therefore can’t benefit from tax credits, but nonetheless are “trying” to pay off their homes, so that we can install solar devices that can give us some protection against the rising cost of utilities. (See my March 14, 2009 Blog: HEAT ).

By all insights, New Mexico should lead the nation in solar utilization. Perhaps the huge sway of PNM (New Mexico's largest public utility) has stood in the way of getting us moving along the path to clean energy? Richardson certainly has not pursued green legislation with much fervor, just as he hasn’t supported the Health Security Act. We realize that there are few “deep pocket” political contributors in New Mexico, but it’s INSANE not to pursue more solar and wind power in New Mexico.

As I look out my windows I see sunny skies nearly every day! Join me in putting pressure on our Council to make solar loans more affordable for people on limited incomes! Dialing 311 will put you right through to the offices of your Council person. Express yourself!!! Or, better yet, attend the meeting of the City Council on November 2, when they are due to reopen the ordinance. It’s kinda fun to attend a City Council Meeting once in a while – sometimes we Grannies even use the Public Comments to sing at our Council people.

My contribution today to combat global warming is to urge you to act in whatever way you can to reduce our dependence on non-renewable energy and our use of fuels that pollute. Take a second look at that SUV if you own one. Find out about the many ways you can use solar or wind power instead of polluting energy sources! Discover the incentives to use alternative energy in your own state. Attend Energy and Climate Town Halls. Look into heat collectors if you can't afford solar panels or worry about the cost of the current panel technology. Do something besides give in to gloom and doom! Do something today, and the day after. For our grandchildren's sake!

This blog is written as part of a combined worldwide blogging effort. Blog Action Day! So , look around and see what others have to say, there are over 8937 bloggers from 148 countries who are writing today on topics related to global warming/alternative energy on this day!

Crawling Towards Independence

The Annual event called the SW Conference on Disability ended Friday here in Albuquerque. It sent me home “loaded for bear!” It’s always invigorating to meet together with others who share similar concerns and struggles.

How many of you have seen this picture? It was taken in 1990, when disabled activists took to the streets to protest the slow progress of the ADA.

Today, ADAPT is doing it again. Trying to get the Congress to take action on The Community Choice Act (CCA) (S. 683, HB1670). http://www.adapt.org/freeourpeople/cca09/report04.html This information is all news to me, though I have been an activist for most of my life.

While getting a lift in a “club car” from the Convention Hall to the parking lot I learned about this amazing New Mexican woman, Linda Pedro, who is an artist and quadriplegic and disability activist. She won a 1978 federal lawsuit, based on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which required her state to put a program in place that would support her decision to stay in the community and raise her son. She also invented the “Obamanos” slogan that was so helpful in turning this state for our President, or so I heard.

I also got a chance to make the acquaintance of Ellen Perry, a delightful young woman from Carrboro, NC, who has been working as a self-advocate for many years. She led a session on “How to Build a Self-Advocate Grassroots Organization: A Self Advocates Perspective.”

Her own organizing efforts in Carrboro have centered around efforts to assist on of their members in getting out of a nursing facility, and the group effort seems to have been strengthening and family building for everyone involved. Her presentation voiced concerns about true self-advocacy, and the need to speak for yourself if one wants to have an authentic voice.

Some of the discussion in this breakout panel was provocative, circling around an issue I find myself wondering about frequently as I engage in my life and my politics. “What is a self-advocate?” read one of her Powerpoint slides. Good question. “How to find other self-advocates?” is another I pose to myself daily.

A core issue for activism in a democracy is being willing to self-identify and to form empathetic (not charitable) alliances with others who have similar issues. To seek out allies and form effective self-advocacy organizations one must first feel an affinity for one’s self, embrace self-challenges rather than deny them.

Seniors in our society have had problems with this for eons, especially since aging has been viewed so prejudicially, generations put away and out of sight in nursing homes, relegated to the sidelines in the so-called “golden years.” We have the AIDS population to thank for bringing death and dying out of the closet. And the Gray Panthers and Raging Grannies, and even to some extent the AARP, for showing us that elders have passion, intelligence and commitment to spare. Many folks still live in denial and shame, listening to Fox news roll over them.

Many folks live in fear of change, afraid that what marginal security they perceive they possess will be taken from them if they raise a fuss. Many live invisibly, locked up in “secure” facilities, some of their own choosing because they have been taught to fear the “other” –the poor, the disabled, the young, the homeless, the Vet in a wheelchair or who suffers the reoccurring nightmare of PTSD.

If you are invisible and frightened, trust me, the only people who give a damn about your interests are those who want to exploit your fear. It’s time to come out of your homes and form friendly alliances with others who share your concerns, because history tells us that this is how change happens.

My step Dad went blind, very suddenly, in his later years. When he was living in San Jose, CA, my sister tried to persuade him to carry a white cane. His response was, “Hell, when it comes to that I’d rather carry a brick or two! (to throw at any car that might threaten him)” Mind you, he always was a bit of a renegade, and in this case be was likely taking his own spirit of self-determination a bit over the limit! But, I always chuckle at the spirit of his rejoinder.

It’s taken me 4 years to embrace my own disability to the point where I am willing to commit time and energy to working on disability issues. But, I am here now! Me, my blog, my tongue and my willingness to reach out, forge alliances and create new possibilities for employment accommodations here in New Mexico. Brick by brick!

My firm conviction is that this will be accomplished from the Grassroots. So…come find me, because I know you too are out there but I don’t know where you live and Social Security won’t tell me. Send me your email, give me a call, send up a smoke signal!

My personal goal is to form a grassroots organization to find more employment possibilities for the disabled in New Mexico – DAWN (Disability Accommodations Wanted Now), and to collect together enough individuals to go to the Roundhouse and the Governor’s office and some of the other bigger employment outfits in the State (like LANL and Presbyterian, UNM and Intel) and negotiate for more part-time or on-line employment slots. I’d also like to hear more about what you’d like to do! Change is a moving target.