When Green Turns Brown: Introduction

Post 1 in a series.

Here in our small town, Whitewater’s city manager, wastewater superintendent, and the business interests behind them would like a waste digester into which they would import waste from other cities. They contend that this would be a green, commercial success for Whitewater.

In fact, they boast that other cities would somehow envy our city’s position as a repository for their municipal waste.

(This is one reason that Whitewater City Manager Cameron Clapper’s recent effort to describe the two-million-dollar digester project – part of a twenty-million dollar wastewater upgrade – as merely an increase in efficiency is easily refuted. By his wastewater superintendent’s own, excited account, this project fundamentally transforms Whitewater into a waste-importer. To claim otherwise is inaccurate, to put the matter charitably.)

After this importation, they insist that we’ll have clean energy. In City Manager Cameron Clapper’s words, trucking others’ filth in and out Whitewater would be “probably the greenest process we have in the city.”

That’s unlikely.

I’ve followed the progress of this project, read the available (but tellingly incomplete) information the city and vendors have put forward, and watched as local big-business insiders have none-too-subtly pushed for the project.

There’s a great deal here to consider: the fiscal, economic, environmental & health aspects of the plan, and the signs of local cronyism behind the project.

There are myriad questions that this city government hasn’t answered, presentations for over a year notwithstanding, and more than a few claims that are dubious to the point of absurdity. There’s been almost no serious public scrutiny of the project, least of all from Whitewater’s city manager or wastewater superintendent.

(All of the presenters on behalf of this project, both from the city and vendors, have shown a strong confidence that they can get what they want. That may be true, of course. The harder task, however, is to get what one wants, when it’s good to want it, while avoiding what no one wants.)

Having read what’s available, I’d say there’s a strong chance that the project will be useful as an example for communities beyond our own. It’s not simply a local matter. Friendly people inside and outside the city have convinced me that there’s use in a longer written work, and a documentary account of this project.

This wouldn’t have occurred to me, but their suggestions have proved persuasive.

Beginning on these pages, but ending elsewhere, I will publish the results of an examination into this project, under the title, WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN.

Here’s a general plan:

1. I will publish here each Monday (and other days if necessary). Each post in this series will have a category tag and a small logo for easy identification.

2. I will publish my notes, questions, memoranda, etc., openly on these pages. Those advocating this project have withheld much (as I will demonstrate); I will, by contrast, publish openly.

This is not because I consider my work better than others’; it’s not. It’s because I am confident that relying on a open method of inquiry is a better method, as markets are better at allocation than command economies, or as open government is better than a closed regime.

The advantage lies not in the man, but in the method.

3. In our small town, a project like some of these wastewater improvements, along with subsequent, needed changes to our water system, will cost tens of millions, and require years.

Critically, unlike erecting a single building and advancing numbers of jobs supposedly gained, this project’s effects on the community will only grow over time. Long tail consequences may be present here in a way they haven’t been for other projects, even expensive ones.

4. I cannot say how long this series will last, but I’d roughly estimate at least a year, with time after that to complete a written account and accompanying documentary. (I’ll rely on others’ guidance in that regard; I’ve never undertaken a project like this.)

5. Candidly, I didn’t expect to undertake a project like this, about a small city’s program to import waste for supposed commercial gain. This is the city administration’s idea; it would never have occurred to me even two years ago that anyone in Whitewater would push for this project.

6. The city administration wants a completed local project, but those goals are more narrow than my inquiry. They want to be done, presumably, and have their project to show the city.

I’d rather take whatever time is necessary, and consider several aspects of this project, and show my results to the city and others beyond. My approach is especially suited to a project like this, because its consequences will build over time.

In this effort, I’ll make three promises:

First, I will write and speak openly about the whole review: my questions, the results of my inquiries, what leaves me uncertain, and thoughts on where the inquiry will lead. While proponents likely want to sell a plan, showing some parts and concealing others, I’ll advance my ideas and views openly through the whole of this.

I am convinced that an open presentation of ideas will prove superior to marketing, selling, plotting, and positioning, etc.

Second, I will approach this topic in an orderly way. That was, after all, the theme of a post from January 2014 entitled, Steps for Blogging on a Policy or Proposal.

Some posts in the series will skip from topic to topic, but this project will progress with an underlying method.

Third, I’ll do my best to use varied media and means to support an inquiry: posts, video clips, short-form video documentaries, audio clips, an ongoing journal of the inquiry, with formal requests and actions, all as needed. These several means won’t begin at the same time, but will come along as I move through an inquiry.

Some of these are new for me; others are familiar. I’ll post here, but use other media (beyond FREE WHITEWATER’s sister blogs) to convey a common message to different audiences.

I’ll unite all of these media about the topic under a common logo, so that they will be easy to identify.

Much has been withheld from public review, but a fair amount about this importation plan has been slowly published online. By the city’s account, that information should be enough to form a judgment. (City government cannot simultaneously contend that they’ve been adequately transparent and yet haven’t offered enough for others’ critical inquiry.)

This project is notable because it’s not simply about processing local waste, but about much more: importation of waste from other places, into this small place, and how a few may profit from that importation at the expense of many others.

WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN: Mondays @ 10 AM, here on FREE WHITEWATER.

Next Monday: Preliminary Questions about the Digester Proposal.