I recently got word from some mumblings in the statehouse that the pave-the-state forces will be going full on this session, and lo and behold, what's in today's Argus/Herald? Act 250 reform also a target:
Governor James Douglas ensured yet another session-long debate over permit reform Thursday when he blamed Act 250 for impeding economic growth in the state.
Job creation and economic development were keystones last summer and fall in Douglas' re-election campaign. Delivering on promises to reduce unemployment, increase stagnant wages and bolster corporate revenues, Douglas said Thursday, will require wholesale changes to the state's sweeping land-use and development law.
“The current system remains a labyrinth, fraught with unpredictability, which threatens job creation for years ahead – unless we are prepared to make substantive changes that will modernize the system,” Douglas said of Act 250 in his inaugural address.
Douglas' proposal seeks not only to expedite Act 250 proceedings but to fundamentally alter the criteria on which applications are judged. Rather than considering development proposals on their environmental impacts alone, Douglas wants the system to take into account their potential economic and social benefits as well.
Republicans… you can always count on 'em to exploit a crisis to do everything they can to manufacture a reason to undo good things, especially environmental protection. Like so much else they believe, it's a bunch of faith-based fiction. More below the jump.
There is so much wrong with all of this, where do we begin? There's arbitrary magical numbers, former development lobbyists getting cushy jobs in the administration, and outright lies.
Let's start with the numbers. It's often said that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes accepted as a truthful conventional wisdom (it certainly worked for Bush for a long time). And for those of us paying attention, we always hear from the VT GOP that Act 250 keeps away business, just like our tax rates make rich people leave the state (Jon Margolis has a lot on that “rich people leaving” nonsense here).
They repeat the lie often enough, and the lapdog press for the most part repeats it, ad nauseum, unquestioned. Just look at this nonsense:
Kevin Dorn, secretary of the agency of commerce and Community Development, said it's impossible to quantify the downward pressure Act 250 imposes on new development. He said though that a “mountain of anecdotal evidence” suggests would-be entrepreneurs are forgoing business plans for fear of getting entangled in Act 250 red tape.
“The labyrinth is there, and it's daunting to get through,” Dorn said. “… We have story after story of businesses or individuals saying it's just not worth it.”
So, in one sentence we have “it's impossible to quantify” and right afterwards, there's “plenty of anecdotal evidence”, which says to me he's pulling these imaginary numbers out of the darkness of his hindquarters. “Some people say” is not the same as “actual numbers”.
Now, putting aside for a minute the fact that the few people who have been denied permits are expectedly going to bitch and whine about it, let's look at some numbers. Real numbers, not mythical, made-up ones from the Republican stratosphere. As the article briefly mentions, Jake Brown from the VNRC pointed out that the actual amount of permits denied is exceptionally low. I've got those numbers sitting in front of me, from the state's own Vermont Natural Resources Board Report from 2007 (which, apparently, Douglas couldn't bother to read, as it was probably in his wastebasket), and they pretty much knock dead this idea that Act 250 is a long, drawn-out process that denies a lot of development.
For 2007:
Number of applications: 428.
Number denied: four (0.9 percent)
Percent of Act 250 applications processed as minors or administrative amendments (no public hearing unless required): 83 percent
Median processing time at District Commission level: 35 days.
Percentage of permits issued w/in 60 days: 65 percent
Percentage issued within 120 days: 81 percent.
Estimated percent of Act 250 decisions appealed to the Environmental Court: 1-2 percent
Estimated 60 percent of all development in the state does not fall under Act 250.
So, of the 428 permits applied for, a whopping four (0.9 percent) were denied. Can you smell it? It's pretty thick. As to the “lengthy, drawn out process”, a full 81 percent were issued within 120 days, 65 percent within 60 days. The way Douglas and his toadies put it, you'd think people were waiting 4 years to get a permit. Pfft. And what's even more illustrative of the amount of bullshit Douglas is spewing, his very own words at his presser this morning likened the permitting process as a “culture of no”! A 99.1 percent approval rate in 2007 sounds much more like a “culture of yes”. But godless forbid if a reporter actually calls him on that fact.
What's more, often the rejected permittees alter their plans, and end up geting approved in many cases. I believe Okemo had wanted to put some new ski trails in an environmentally sensitive area a few years back… the permit was denied, they made some alterations, got their ski trails and we got the environmental protection. Sounds like win-win. What's more, it sounds like Jim Douglas is outright lying, and hoping you won't notice. Or perhaps that you're just too lazy to connect the dots.
As Douglas would have it, “economic and social consideratons” would get more weight, which sounds like if he's told it would create jobs, that should be good enough- the hell with endangered wildlife habitat and the like, those bears can just apply for all of those new jobs it will create. And those ursine slackers better not even think of applying for social services, as those are on the chopping block, as well.
To get all meta for a second here, a major problem with our culture is that when economics and environment clash, the economics win out more than not. What's so great about Act 250 is it levels increases the odds in favor of the environment, a rarity in our modern, make-money-at-all costs society. It needs to stay the way it is. To add insult to injury, Douglas throws in the whole “more self-regulating” nonsense that the GOP loves so much and almost always never works. C'mon, Jim, if you're going to wage war on the environment, could you at least be a bit more original about it? People that hate government should not be running things.
There are two other things that need mentioning here. Douglas often seems to be critical of the Agency of Natural Resources. Perhaps, like when he ignored the global warming advice of his own comission last year, he doesn't realize that it's an entity under his watch? Howzabout streamlining the management process over at ANR? Or is that not sensationalist enough?
Lastly, the cronyism in the Douglas administration is really getting out of hand, it's so Bushlike, and relevant to the issue at hand. Just look at the recent appointment of Tayt Brooks to the head of the housing section of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. Before June, Brooks was the lobbyist for the Homebuilders & Remodelers Association – their PAC arm, HomePAC, is a regular Douglas/GOP contributor. If you've got the patience to go through campaign finance reports here, here, here and here, you'll see that Douglas and the GOP gets a huge amount of money from them and other similar interests. And now the former head lobbyist has a cushy spot in the Douglas administration. Ve-eee-ry interesting. Methinks it's money well spent, as not only does one of their own have a nice, new job in DouglasCo, but they're getting Jim to renew his assault on their favorite target.
This session, I suspect, is going to be a heated, tumuluous one. The economy is in the tank, and Douglas, confident from his electoral victory (perhaps, with a sense that next time might not be so easy) sees this whole mess as something to exploit to the advantage of his business buddies. It's time to put the brakes on this, starting now. I'll be following up on this as it develops.
Some of you may have been following the Soapblox saga since yesterday here and nationally (I understand its even being picked up by a couple national media sources). Basically, the long and the short is that Soapblox is the system that suports nearly all the local netroots sites, GMD included. It's been built and run by basically one guy in his spare time, and for very little in return.