Portside

Wind, solar and other companies in the green sector would benefit in a big way from a Green New Deal. A full-blown climate crisis is barreling at us like a wrecking ball off its chain. The question of whether we achieve a Green New Deal....

The resolution says funding will primarily come from the federal government, “using a combination of the Federal Reserve, a new public bank or system of regional and specialized public banks, public venture funds..."

The “Subway Scam” ads are the latest baloney from the Center for Union Facts, a corporate-backed nonprofit devoted to attacking unions. According to recent tax filings, its funders include hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, a major backer of the Trump presidential campaign and Breitbart News.

The companies’ management of the toll road drew criticism over everything from emergency management to toll increases. In September 2008, for instance, the state ordered a suspension of tolls so residents could evacuate a flood zone, and, as a result, the state had to pay the consortium nearly $450,000 in foregone revenue.

“This is a real tragedy, and it’s one that’s backed up by sound statistics and sound science that lays out how important of a calamity it is."

This event, then, tied, in a sinister but clear way, Trump’s infrastructure plan with the racist, anti-Semitic, and neo-fascist members of Trump’s base movement .

Public-private partnerships may indeed provide the dollars that fearful politicians are unable to pry from the pockets of their tax-averse constituents. But P3s, as they are known in the infrastructure sector, are more complex than they appear. The idea that P3s allow infrastructure to be built for free is economic snake oil, P3s do not end up saving taxpayers money, especially when policymakers obscure the true costs and the risks.

The crisis at Oroville Dam should be a wake-up call to take these warnings seriously, though it’s hardly the first.

The problem with Flint, and the problem with many water delivery systems throughout the United States, is that lead pipes are time bombs.