The climate will soon collapse. Humanity faces the greatest trial it ever has, coming in the wake of the long peace after World War II.
You will turn the polluting ship of the U.S. state and lead the way forward, or you will be fired for trying.
The river was aflame, red fire licking at what was once called water. Fire roared up like the wrath of a nature left scorned and soiled, the tiniest seed of the great upheaval to come from the toll that humanity has extracted from mother Earth. The city nearby is a place of sirens and uniforms, emergency services pulling up en masse with barely enough gear to keep the dark chemical fires from licking away at the buildings on the shoreline.
From afar it's almost beautiful, the river's course carrying the slowly moving fires atop chemical sludge as the futile efforts of humanity fail to deal with it. There are faint flashes of uniforms, of ladders, the silvery trails of water launched from high pressure hoses – nothing works.
Instead, people watch. Windows are home to eyes and in some cases cameras, artists in the area write songs and stories, the newspapers write of industrial accidents and call for calm. The songs and the stories say one thing, the news another, and the government tacking a course towards calm and the status quo.
For that one incident, it held.
The fragile status quo of industry and the state acting in concert against a growing popular movement was broken when the silence came. The birds failed to sing for more than one summer, the red darting forms of sparrows and the varicolored forms of songbirds absent from the long summers of the decade.
Instead, they found eggshells. In the shells were the crumpled tiny forms dead from exposure and broken shelters, eggshells thinned by a diet of pesticide and insecticide leaving a wealth of stillborn songs.
This time the books and the songs and the scientists scored a bitterly contested victory. The books and the songs and the scientists managed to eke out an environmental agency, although it was a hampered one. Climate change was not on the table, mitigation was. Regulation was not on the table, cleanup was. While the new Environmental Protection Agency was to have an independent governing body and a mandate enshrined in Congressional legislation, the Presidency controlled the cabinet and its oversight authority - and more importantly the EPA's purse strings. Successive directors were appointed with the qualifications required by the foundational acts of the agency and a lack of political tact, desperately attempting to chart a course away from what many in the scientific community viewed as near certain catastrophe.
They were not entirely successful.
When did you fall into the hot seat of the EPA, to manage to secure a degree of control over America's runaway emissions habit?
Name?
[]Write In
Gender identity?
[]Write In
Pick one: [] 2000: A new millennium, a new President, a promised economic boom. The United States is a global behemoth, self-confident and cocksure in its status. The U.S. scientific establishment is one of the finest in the world, trusted by many, and both of the incoming Presidents seem to hew to its recommendations – at least on paper. In practice, though, they say different things.
-[] The Gore Presidency: The new Democratic administration of Al Gore will have a hard road to walk, considering the narrow victory that was won purely from a refusal to concede in Florida. While the Presidency will thus have to work with bipartisan legislation, they're more than willing to let the EPA off the leash… This is easy mode. A cooperative initial Presidency, decent initial funding and time to fix the worst of it.
-[] The Bush Presidency: President George W. Bush was elected in 2000, and followed through on his mandate almost immediately. Wider drilling rights, more oil being tapped, more subsidies for the majors, and a Vice President Cheney who had deep links to the oil industry. The EPA? Let them deal with school education and cleaning up the Superfund sites, that'll do for them. This is the hard-ish scenario. An uncooperative Presidency, a myriad of commitments, and inadequate funding.
[]2025: January 2025, after the 2024 election, a time of awareness of what was coming. The world in general was poised for impact after more than two decades of failing to address climate change, although with the United States still home to a substantial chunk of climate deniers things are not as easy as they seem. The beefed-up EPA will have problems in future…Moderate: Very hard climate mitigation and emission control tasks but popular and Presidential support initially.
Pick an origin: []The Scientist: With enough expertise, you can call bullshit on some of the pork projects and make sure the others are productive – while also coming in on time and under budget. A pity you have more scruples than to work for LockMart, you'd make more money there. +10 to all technical project dice.
[]The Politician: You came in through local politics, earned the required degree for the EPA through some fly-by-night college, and managed to corral enough grassroots support for climate legislation that you wound up dumped in the EPA. If you had federal connections, you could accomplish more than you can now, but you were pre-empted by the President. +10 to all political actions.
[]The Ex-Senator: A doctorate was a carefully covered up fact in your political career, often not alluded to and quietly ignored. When running the EPA you'd long since forgotten what you learned – but the connections you made in the Senate more than made up for that. After all, with enough federal money and Congressional support you can do damn near anything and buy the expertise you needed. +10 federal influence per turn.
Pick a secondary origin: []Scientific Hobby: You read about and learned about the climate after you'd read that book about the sparrows, after that eerie silence outside the house made you wake up trying to listen for what wasn't there anymore. You're not a true 'scientist', but your circle of connections and your knowledge base are in some places comparable. +5 to all technical project dice.
[]Lobbying: You didn't work for LockMart, but you did work for Schlumberger for a while on the Hill. They're more reasonable than Exxon, but not by much – they do, however, make for a useful set of connections. And the other connections you made on the Hill aren't that bad either. +5 to all political dice.
[]Politics: You've been a federal bureaucrat for quite some time now, and that's resulted in a deep well of connections across the civil service and among the staffers on the Hill. You're not someone who can lobby Congress easily, but you are someone who is very hard to fire. +5 federal influence per turn.
AN: Political dice are policy, technical dice are mitigation, adaptation, R&D and so on, federal influence is spent on unpopular policy, spent to exist as a department, spent to not be fired and so on. Similar to Five Year Plan Quest. Votes may begin. Please vote by plan.
This is being written as a relatively optimistic quest after two weeks' depression and whatnot. I can't deal with much and I'm probably not doing much narrative for now, hence the 5YP scheme.
You are Jake Harper, and you're tired. Tired and hungover with too much hair of the dog last night. It was a hell of a thing the last few days to stop Al from conceding, to keep the fight going, but goddamn if it hadn't paid off yesterday. Past the Bush Governor holding the count, past the Brooks Brothers suits throwing up a fuss, past everything that Karl Rove managed to scare up at the last minute.
Gore was in. President.
And you? You're part of the Administration now. Ex-Senator, holding a worthless doctorate from a degree mill that churns them out by the thousand. The halls of the Reagan federal building are gray and austere, the ghost of old Ronnie Raygun's budget cuts haunting these halls. You get a few nods from some of the staff who came in this early in the morning, eight A.M. the day after the longest election finally ended. You nod back, and they don't start a conversation.
Fair's fair. You're the new boss, they want to know if you're like the old boss or not. Clinton ignored the EPA for most of his tenure, but Gore...Gore has said different.
"Sir." You get another nod, a vague wave of the security guard's hand towards his cap as if in salute when you reach the Director's office. The door opens to the key you managed to get your hands on, creaking and grumbling like the tired old man the entire Reagan Federal Building seems to be. Your office is a plain one, with most of your predecessor's things taken out already and most of the briefing papers, documents, and information stored away.
There's a portrait of Slick Willy the outgoing President above the Director's chair, one that you give a tip of the head to. He'll be out by the evening, when the federal movers bring your things inside. On the table – the bare, polished wooden desk that's probably an antique – is nothing except a folded piece of paper addressed to The New Director.
You open it. It doesn't say much. A bit about the EPA. A bit about how important you'll be. How much more you'll be handling than the organization originally thought. The usual bumf about how Nixon's original EPA was a landmark.
It ends with Good luck. You'll need it.
You smile sourly, hands almost automatically tucking the note into your suit jacket's pockets. You're from Georgia, you already know you'll need it.
Pick up to two additional areas of responsibility. You may choose to take 'None' and play the historical EPA:
[]None: The historical option. Incompatible with any other choice.
[]National Laboratory Administration: Some of the DoE National Labs – the ones that were slated to be privatized towards the end of the Cold War – were partially handed over to an EPA that had been expanded and begun to recover in the Bush Presidency. The Republicans see this as a way to keep the defense research establishment intact, but most within the EPA seek to turn swords to plowshares. With luck, the other departments who have a stake will be understanding. More initial research dice, free due to a federal research funding pool. You will have federal research mandates as well. You will begin with partial/joint control of Idaho National Lab, Los Alamos' Nuclear Cleanup Center, Sandia National Labs' Environmental Research Center.
[]National Education Administration: The EPA was handed the mandate of educating the nation's youth on the topic of the environment and spreading awareness of the importance of conservation. Handed off as a sop to the eco-activists and intended to be no more than teaching about Theodore Roosevelt, it allowed the Department of Education to demand funds from the EPA. It does, however, leave you with an effective and quite large public-relations and outreach arm. Begin with additional free dice for public relations and a separate PR mandate.
[]National Green Energy Policy: This was a sop to the ag activists and the ones that thought biofuels were either the future of energy or the amazing new market for corn. While the focus is still on biofuels, there's enough subsidy funding left over for regional offices to start handing out grants to firms working on solar panels, geothermal power, tidal power and other such things. In addition to this, involving the private sector allows the environmental lobby to grow more teeth on Capitol Hill – we might not like the way things are but we may as well use them. Begin with additional free dice for corporate actions and a separate corporate/subsidy mandate. Along with the bonuses though, along with the increased beefiness of the EPA, there came an increased responsibility. A large amount of that was simply following through on environmental cleanup duties inherited from earlier administrations, but other things were also promised by a Democratic administration that had a budget surplus to play with. Things like regulation enforcement rather than Reaganite 'cooperative inspection', a green energy and emissions mandate, an implicit subsidy for American built cars through the use of emissions technology regulations and EPA vehicle inspections, and more.
Pick at least two: If []None was taken above you need not pick any. Note that they come with slight boosts in resourcing if taken:
[]Superfunding: There are Superfund sites all across America, implicit acknowledgements that the EPA was unable to fund the rapid cleanup of those areas. They're disproportionately in the Rust Belt and in flyover country, and Gore has already promised funding to get them cleaned and for the cleanup jobs to go to locals. Pork, to be sure – but you're not one to gainsay more funding. You will have a moderate amount more funding but must clean up three major Superfund sites or make significant progress on them by the end of Turn 4.
[]`Green' Energy Mandate: This is a promise made internationally as well as at home, that the President would fund the use of American biofuels and American solar instead of shipping in Saudi gas. American oil majors are grumbling at the precedent, but they're also split – with some of them dipping a toe into the biofuel processing space they're not a unified lobbying force. Of course, corn-based biofuels aren't exactly the most green of things, but at least the nation is making steps in the right direction. You will have to reach a certain percentage of renewable energy by Turn 4 or make significant progress towards that. Despite not being emissions neutral, corn biofuel is counted towards that total. You will have more funding and more energy related options.
[]What Comes In: Something recently proposed by some carmakers is the use of EPA inspections to verify emissions regulation compliance. The Presidency plans to use this to ensure environmental compliance with as much of U.S. consumption as possible, beginning with cars – and if that just so happens to give the Detroit boys a breathing space, well and good. You will have to act as an inspection and emissions oversight organ for imports, making you unpopular abroad and having to lose more political influence every turn at home as certain multinationals lobby against it. You will have more funding and more support from nativists.
[]Privatization: Most of the EPA's intellectual property can be used by private industry. Whether they can make effective use of it is another matter, but Congress has been on a privatization kick lately – you can have some more money if you set up IP transfer pipelines and work more with contractors rather than federal employees. Pensions cost money, after all. You will have to transfer R&D to industry and have to fund industrial research to a certain extent using R&D dice, you will have contractor options for department actions that will have to be taken to keep federal influence dipping too low. You will have a little more funding and more lobbyist support.
Agency Status: Intact: There isn't a credible challenge being mounted to the existence of the EPA as yet, although there is a lot of noise from Congress and the occasional Republican Governor about EPA interference. At the state level, though, we can see state EPAs being gutted and systematically defunded.
Director: Jake Harper, Fmr. Senator for Georgia: Former Senator for Georgia, Director Harper is a career politician with little idea of what his department's on the ground scientific responsibilities are. That, though, is why God made executive summaries – Harper's decades of experience on the Hill allow him to wrangle Congress and the Presidency behind the EPA's agenda. At least, to some extent. Hopefully.
...Environmental policy isn't the easiest of things to get the population, the politicians, and the plutocrats behind. He'll need some luck.
Federal Government Popularity: 70/100: This governs the reelection chances of Al Gore, as best as you can tell. There might be factors in play that you don't know about. But this determines the probability of being elected again come 2004. At present, the terrorist attacks on the United States have led to a substantial rally-round-the-flag effect. For now, Gore is popular enough. For now.
Federal Influence: 40
Federal Influence Lost Per Turn: 10 - 10 (Ex-Senator) - 5: -5 (5 Gained): The EPA is not a popular department in Congress, and maintaining its funding lines and programs in the face of Republican opposition has taken more federal political capital than most people like to talk about.
Carbon Concentration: 373ppm (Updated Annually)
Temperature Rise: +0.5C global average, above global average in 1880. So far. (Updated Annually) Emissions Trend: America: Rising
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Turn 1: 2001, January-June: The New American Century
Turn 1: 2001, January-June: The New American Century
Sunrise over the Capitol brings protests as well as cheering crowds. You're here as one of the many, many officials in what an extreme fringe have termed an illegitimate Presidency, but you know damn well that it was legal and clear. Even as your car wends its way through Washington to the Reagan Federal Building and the offices of the EPA, you can see the litter left behind by Gore's inaugural crowd two days ago. Some of it's still here, testament to the bedrock of support that the Democratic Party had leaned on this time around.
Michigan. Iowa, this time around. The Northeast. Superfund sites dotting the landscape of the derelict remains of the Rust Belt, in states that pulled for Gore. Muttering about how California and the West haven't done much sharing in the dotcom boom while shafting everyone else on the bust, the Midwest and the Northeast hankering after those infotech dollars and federal research funding.
Elections. You smile a little as your finger taps your briefcase and your driver turns his head to glare at a bright red Corvette that swerves too damn close to your car. It all comes down to elections, even environmental policy.
Gore wants to win '04, and help the Earth while doing it. To satisfy Slick Willy's new post-New-Deal Frankenstein of a party that's been cobbled together with pork, habit, and high-flown rhetoric.
That, at least yesterday, was what Gore had told you in a rushed meeting in the White House. Win us Iowa and the Corn Belt, keep the Rust Belt and we win '04.
So...pork. More pork than a Georgia hog fair, and you've seen too damn many of those in your time as Senator.
You've been told to meet a bill coming through Congress on biofuels and green energy, clean up the Superfund sites in the Northeast with American labor and American suppliers, and make damn sure that everyone knows this is Gore's government doing it.
The EPA doesn't have much funding as it is. This won't be easy.
You're startled out of your thoughts by the car pulling into a reserved parking space, and your first step into the EPA's parking garage as formal Director comes with the remains of someone's milkshake on your shoe. Goddamn vandals leaving their crap all over the place.
This better not be an omen.
You have a Budget of 100. You have a minimum of three dice per category. You need not use all dice. You may buy more dice with your budget. You will gain between 5 and 10 federal influence for completed Superfund cleanup stages.
Your Mandate status is as follows:
Green Energy:
-Solar: Satisfied: There is negligible installed solar capacity and nobody cares. -Wind: Satisfied: There is negligible installed wind capacity and nobody cares. -Biofuels: Large Deficit: Corn to ethanol is the pipeline that people want, and it makes them feel better imagining it's green. -Hydro: Not your department, but the DoE's and the Army Corps of Engineers'. That said, some of the dams need maintenance and updates. You can handle that, at least tangentially. If you can convince them. Privatization Status: Near Total: There is very little of this that is directly government controlled, barring the subsidies doled out by federal funding. At present, the corporate stakeholders are very happy – but might just need an audit. -Overall: Large deficit: Not all of the requirement can come from biofuels, thankfully. You can do at least some direct good here.
Superfund Sites: Cleaned 0/5
Public Opinion Is:
-Climate Change: Doubtful: A lot of people are willing to think that the climate might be changing, but surely humanity isn't the one doing it? We have a bare majority of America firmly onside, and most of that bare majority doesn't turn out to vote very much. -Fossil Fuels: Divided: Some of the U.S. - a minority – want to slash fossil fuel emissions. The rest of the states are apathetic save for those like Texas, Louisiana and Alaska. There? Drill, baby, drill. -The EPA: Ambivalent: Most of America thinks that Reagan's measures were good – that is, what use environmental protection if that leads to poverty? We need growth first, says America. As long as the EPA follows the earlier line, most of America is tepidly willing to let it exist.
Congressional Opinion Is:
-Republican: Opposed/Apathetic: You're the EPA Director for a Democratic administration. You're the enemy, at least formally speaking. Some of the opposition might cross the aisle, but not for something as insignificant as the EPA. -Democratic: Tepidly Supportive: As long as you don't undermine the Reagan – or rather, the Clinton – consensus on climate policy, they're backing you. They can support Gore's plans for now, they understand the value of pork in elections.
Administration Opinion Is: Apathetic: Your budget isn't worth fighting over, not even with the national labs rolled into it. You're a small fish in a big pond, and the big fish are fighting over other things right now.
Cleanup Actions:
[]Mobil Chemical/NJ Zinc Superfund Site: Stage I (0/100): Mineral Point Zinc Company originally developed the site in 1905 as a primary zinc smelter. In addition, the site has at various times been the location of sulfuric acid manufacturing, paint pigment production, ammonium phosphate fertilizer manufacturing, refining and recovery of secondary metals from zinc ore (e.g., cadmium), secondary zinc smelting and zinc dust production. Between 1905 and 1989, portions of the site were owned and operated by New Jersey Zinc Company, Mobil Oil Corporation, Gulf & Western Industries, Horsehead Industries, and the Zinc Corporation of America. In 1990, the facility ceased operation. Through various corporate mergers, acquisitions and the bankruptcy of Horsehead, responsibility for the site has fallen to Viacom International Incorporated/CBS and the ExxonMobil Corporation. These two companies have formed an entity known as "The DePue Group," which collectively represents the potentially responsible parties (PRPs) for the site. In 1995, the DePue Group entered into an interim consent order with Illinois EPA and the Illinois Attorney General's Office (IAGO) for investigation of the site and evaluation of possible remedial actions. This is a major Superfund site in Illinois, with contamination from zinc smelter slag, paint plant waste, phosphogypsum contamination, metal discharge to groundwater, elevated heavy metal concentrations, etc.
Stage I: Progress 0/100: Building a work plan, soil sampling, remedial investigations for Lake DePue, hydrogeologic investigation. Costs 10 Budget per die.
[]Portland Harbor Superfund Site: Stage I (0/100): Proposed for addition in January, Portland Harbor Superfund Site includes an in-river and an upland portion of the lower Willamette River, contaminated from decades of industrial use along the Willamette River. Water and sediment at the Portland Harbor Site are contaminated with many hazardous substances, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxins/furans, pesticides and heavy metals. Since the area is home to Portland, OR and its hundreds of thousands of people, it's something of a PR priority. Major riverine decon site, focusing on the former industrial zones that dumped into the Willamette River. Initial work in Stage I consists of hydrological surveys, soil samples, plant inspection for those in operation, building a work plan. Oregon EPA is funding a portion of this, letting you allocate 10 Budget per die.
[]Continuing Hanford: Stabilizing Nuclear Waste: 0/200: This is the last of the major Superfund sites requiring additional funding allocation, as the other minor sites are proceeding as per the plans of the previous administration. The Hanford site – originally added in the 1980s - is riddled with nuclear waste, heavy metal contamination and the detritus of a major U.S. nuclear enrichment facility that had the waste disposal standards of the 1940s. There are two hundred million liters of high level radioactive waste in underground tanks that need stabilizing immediately, and continuing decon work on top of that to avoid groundwater and riverine contamination. 10 Budget per die.
[]Minor Site Decon: There are dozens of minor Superfund sites not half the size of the big three above, and all of them need more money. Accelerating their cleanup allows the new administration to claim an effective environmental policy, and most Americans are in favor of cleanup anyways. 5 Budget per die. Pick one zone to focus on below:
-[]Deep South: Stage I 0/200: Riddled with decades of lax environmental policy and governance, the sites in the South have yet to be cleaned and are underfunded to boot. This will take time and effort, especially with Gore's mandate for using local labor and contractors.
-[]Rust Belt: Stage I 0/100: Minor sites in the Midwest are mostly stable but need decon work, and we can attend to the most urgent ones first. Thankfully. There are too damn many waste dumping sites in America's industrial heartland.
-[-]West: California and the Pacific Coast have enough money and you have cash already allocated there. No need for more, not in this political environment.
-[]Northeast/Mid-Atlantic: Stage I 0/100: Primarily focusing on old mining, chemical and steel zones that are long since closed and have long since allowed their runoff to contaminate local groundwater reserves, this is a long, long task.
-[]Southwest: Stage I 0/300: Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and other states dependent on resource extraction have had a toxic legacy left to the current generation. Again, in the face of an uncooperative local government and a toothless state EPA you have a long road ahead.
-[]Midwest/Rockies:Stage I 0/300: This encompasses everything from Montana to Colorado and the Corn Belt since there's so few people there and so little state environmental funding. Again, a long task from the sheer number of pesticide, mining, chemical, arms and nuclear facilities here. Not to mention the closed military bases.
PR Actions
[]Publicize Your Work: Use some cash to tap into ad agencies and the like, to make sure the public knows what your agency is up to and what you've done for the nation. Of course, this makes failure more humiliating but can magnify success. Costs one die and 10 budget, increases PR value of a success/completion and costs opinion in the event of failure events or if no option is completed this turn.
[]Expand the Environmental Education Arm: Overhauling Management 0/50: While on paper the EE arm is something that does not teach facts that 'bias the opinion of those in education', in practice most grants tend to be applied for by those who aren't climate deniers. Thankfully. Since this program has been shielded by a federal mandate since 1990, nobody can object if you start overhauling its management and expanding its budget to allow for a more effective education arm that hits more of rural America. And also speaks more to the religious in America, considering that a worrying number of them are more and more outspoken in their opposition to environmental regulation. 5 Budget per die. Current stage: Overhauling management and expanding it.
[][Congressional Proposal] EPA Scholarships: Some of the EPA's work funding students who apply for grants can be turned to scholarships, or so goes one proposal. While this will draw ire in Congress, it'll also mean that the intensely competitive American college application system can be made to work for you – you pay for one student full-ride, and another thousand will do the legwork of learning while applying for the same scholarship. Requires one die, cannot allocate more than one, DC30 to pass, costs 20 federal influence, costs 20 Budget. Large impact on PR.
Energy/Environmental Policy: You have two additional dice in this category.
[]Biofuel Subsidy Network: Stage I: 0/100: With the Gore Administration deciding to ramp up subsidies for first-generation biofuels, that leaves you to set up the infrastructure to dole out the grants. That means collaborating with every agricultural corporation in the U.S. indirectly through the underfunded medium of state EPAs to get it done. And hope that you can set up the fueling station infrastructure and the refining chain as well…5 Budget per die, cost halved from Green Energy Mandate. Bonus federal influence on completion.
[]First-Gen Biofuelling: Stage I: 0/100: You have to set up the start of the refining and fueling chain for vehicles that use first-gen biofuels, and that takes time. As well as cooperation with the oil majors that supply the vast network of gas stations in America – without their assent it'll be hard to get this off the ground. 5 Budget per die. Bonus federal influence on completion. Oil corporation cooperation required for Stage I to be active. Stage II required for some degree of independence.
[]Biofuel Footprint Sourcing: 0/150: To show that the energy policy of the Administration isn't just for energy independence but also to be 'green', we'll need to assess the carbon footprint of the biofuels used and show that they hit the targets required. Conventional renewable fuels (corn starch ethanol) are required to reduce life-cycle emissions relative to life-cycle emissions from fossil fuels by at least 20 percent, biodiesel and advanced biofuels must reduce GHG emissions by 50 percent. Costs 10 Budget per die. Unglamorous.
[]Solar and Wind Subsidies: 0/50: Given that more small electronics firms are eyeing the solar and wind space, we might as well throw them more cash. And see about hiring the scientists to assess their proposals to ensure we don't get swindled. Costs 10 Budget per die.
[]Grid Overhauls: Stage I (Assessments): 0/100: The US power grid is a patchwork, and underfunded to boot. While the Department of Energy has the nominal responsibility to maintain it and modernize it in cooperation with private entities, the EPA has the responsibility to ensure the grid is 'green' in some sense. Parlaying that into grid assessments is a bit of a stretch, but cooperating with DoE to do it means they're not left out of the loop. Costs 10 Budget per die, cooperates with Department of Energy. Grid modernizations require a supportive Administration. Further actions down this path require federal influence.
R&D Actions: You have two additional dice here from the earlier choices in chargen.
[]Second Generation Biofuels: 0/300: Generating biofuels from cellulose rather than starchy substances like cornstarch and sorghum can allow mass biofuel production without much impact on the food supply. Making this piece of intellectual property quite useful for those outside America and its mass corn overproduction. Costs 5 Budget per die.
[]Subsidize Engine Efficiency R&D: 0/100: Some of the Detroit majors have been looking into hybrids and the like, although they're being woefully outcompeted in that space. Subsidizing them for research and development through the University of Michigan can change that somewhat – and win you friends. Costs 5 Budget per die.
[]Improved PV: 0/300: Solar at present is expensive and fragile, and more ruggedization and research is needed before even mass production can take the prices lower. That means investment, sadly – although you can funnel this through the labs owned by the EPA at least. Improves solar efficiency somewhat, 5 Budget per die.
Administration Actions: You have three dice, each die allocated once per action. Some actions can be taken multiple times.
[]Request More Staff: Spend some of your cash to get more contract staff for a particular task, boosting its performance somewhat. One more die in a particular category, costs five budget to convert over and above cost of allocating that die.
[]Schmoozing: You can always try to play Washington politics to some extent, although bear in mind that a screwup can hurt more than a success will help. DC variable, each sub-action can be taken once. Free actions. Bonus from chosen background. -[]The Administration: You serve at Gore's pleasure. Remember that. -[]Congress: Congress is a den of scum and villainy, but it is occasionally useful. -[]Public Figures: Targets talk shows, interviews and the like to sway public figures and thereby sway the public. Low returns, low risk. -[]Major Corporations: See about talking to 'corporate stakeholders' and what they might want for cooperation. Some of them can be convinced. --[]Write In Target (Optional)
[]Outreach: See if you can secure backing from another department for a project, or at least see what some of the other bits of the Administration want from you. Scratch their backs and they might offer something in return. Variable DC, no failure. This can unlock new projects, allowing your relatively limited department to punch above its jurisdiction. -[]DoD
-[]DoE
-[]Interior
-[]Health and Human Services
-[]State
-[]Education
AN: Please vote by plan. Metagaming is encouraged - remember what happened in 2001?
mouli: 3D100 → 212( (66 +55 +91) )
Completed Stage I
Assays/Redesign begun for Stage II
Choices Available for Stage II partnerships
Stage II begins at 112/200
Image taken from the EPA's current update on the Portland Harbor Superfund Site, and modified.
Superfund Site Progress Report: Portland Harbor/Willamette River EPA Point of Contact: Georgia Sakristos, EPA Project Manager. Contact: See Appendix-I
Additional Information on Orders and Status of Remedial Design and Initial Investigation
Unassigned Areas – EPA Initial Lead
Summary: EPA is in the planning stages of remedial design sampling. Baseline sampling is complete. The following remedial design planning tasks remain: Sediment Management Area Identification, Buried Contamination Stability Assessment, Site-Specific Data Management Strategy Development and Site-Specific Technology Assignment and Planning.
Working Parties: Currently EPA.
Informal Feedback: Conceptual design review (schedule and formal review process under development).
B1a
Summary: Remedial design work has begun. Pre-Design Investigation (PDI) work plan has been developed.
Working Parties: Currently EPA, BP Products North America Inc.
Informal Public Feedback Opportunity: Review completed remedial design plan.
Gasco/US Moorings/Navigation Channel
Summary: Remedial design work ongoing. All areas have completed Pre Design Investigation (PDI) sampling and are awaiting results. Currently working on Sufficiency Assessment report and Basis of Design report.
Working Parties: EPA, NW Natural
River Mile 7 West
Summary: Remedial design work ongoing. Pre-Design Investigation work plan complete and submitted, awaiting approval from City of Portland and State of Oregon.
Working Parties: EPA, Bayer Crop Science, Inc.
Willbridge Cove
Summary: Remedial design work ongoing, currently working on Pre-Design Investigation (PDI) work plan.
Working Parties: EPA, Bayer Crop Science, Inc.
River Mile 9 West
Summary: Remedial design work ongoing. Pre-Design Investigation work plan complete and submitted, awaiting approval from City of Portland and State of Oregon.
Working Parties: EPA, FMC Corporation.
Terminal 4
Summary: Remedial design work ongoing. Pre-Design Investigation work plan complete and approved. Phase 1 PDI sampling complete. Phase 1 PDI evaluation report submitted.
Working Parties: EPA, Port of Portland.
EPA Point of Contact: Jack Richfield, EPA Assistant Project Manager. Contact: Phone: See Appendix I.
All other unassigned zones have completed baseline sampling and site assessment, awaiting working party assignment from corporate stakeholders.
Status of Project: Upriver Reach Dioxin/Furan Sampling: The Upriver Reach is an approximately 12-mile stretch of the Willamette River upstream of the Portland Harbor Superfund Site, extending from roughly RM 16.6 to RM 28.4 (from about the Sellwood Bridge to above the Willamette Falls). The purpose of this sampling is to gather additional information about the background concentration of dioxins and furans in the Upriver Reach. EPA Region 10 and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality are partnering to perform this sampling work. Sampling will start in Fall 2001 at the earliest, awaiting allocation of personnel, funding and sampling equipment.
Pick one stage to do next:
[]Dioxin/Furan Sampling and Decontamination: Decontamination of the upper reaches of the Willamette isn't something that one can do in a few months, but enough setup work can be done to leave the rest of it to Oregon DEQ. Of course, that means federal funding isn't heading for the cleanup of the Willamette Superfund site proper, and said funding isn't heading towards signing on the corporate and local stakeholders in the area.
[]Local Stakeholder Working Parties: Focus project resources on remediation design and pre-design assessment involving corporate and local stakeholders, staking enough funding and federal attention on this area to get the locals to move fast. This means your personnel aren't going to be available to sample and assay the upper Willamette, though.
The EPA Director's office isn't as comfortable as some of the others, and you're damn sure it's because you're heading the EPA and not something like Defense or State with their antique office rooms and their antique furniture. Or Treasury. Damn, but Treasury has a nice office indeed.
You tap your fingers on what looks like some sort of IKEA armrest and stare the report, the project manager who brought it in, and tell her to take a seat. You shake your head looking at the stack of reports from across the Rust Belt that sit on your desk, "So tell me, Jolene. What does that-" You point at the stack, "-mean. In short. I've got a meeting at the White House in two hours. I need to know how the Rust Belt is going."
Jolene Russell nods briskly, expecting the request and sliding a sheet of paper across your desk to you. "The bottom line, Director, is that we're halfway done. If that. The area's too damn big for the personnel we were assigned. We need more decon teams, we need more specialists, and the state agencies are underfunded."
"And uncooperative." You finish the unstated other half of the statement with a wry grin, "I know what some of those states think about cleanup."
Russell shifts a little, doesn't say anything with the practiced ease of a federal civil servant, and sends you a reproachful look. In lieu of stating the obvious about the competence of, say, the Ohio EPA, she opens the folder she's carrying. Presumably the briefing itself. "In particular, we're stuck on soil decon and assessment, dealing with property owners, and having major issues with corporate stakeholders who can't afford to send in working parties and liaisons. That doesn't cover the other companies that don't exist anymore, meaning we have to work through county governments and state agencies. All in all, Director, we're barely halfway done with the first stages of cleaning this up."
You sigh and massage your temples, "Alright. Alright. So what do I tell Gore? More time?"
"Yessir." She smiles slightly when you groan a little, "Look at it this way, Director. We'll have a lot of the work done just in time for the midterms."
Draws the attention of one Alexander Jones who drags the spokesperson into a debate about whether the frogs are gay because of Superfund cleanup
"...The EPA has released an updated decontamination plan for the Willamette River, and the Oregon DEQ confirms that the EPA is on track to meet its targets for 2001. I think we can all be thankful for a cleaner, greener, healthier Portland..."
-From KPTV, February 2001
"...Federal spokesmen have confirmed the EPA's inability to clean up the Ohio State Superfund network, or even to begin to start to put a plan together. We need the EPA to stop playing at wastes of money like solar panels and windmills, and to start doing something constructive…"
-Fox News broadcast, March 2001
"...I'll tell you what those chemicals do, the chemicals that they...try to clean the water with. Since when was cleaning chemicals healthy? They're not. They're poisoning us. Diluting us. It's like drinking bleach from the river, and I pray that y'all in Portland don't drink that water. I've seen it with my own eyes, that water warping even the animals. The frogs turned homosexual, folks, from that stuff the EPA puts in the water…"
-From the radio broadcast InfoWars, June 2001
Report to the Director: Publicity Program and Outreach Initiative
This is an executive summary of the Publicity Program and Outreach Initiative that was begun under the Gore Administration in February 2001 to inform the public about the tasks undertaken by the Environmental Protection Agency, and to regularly inform the public on the status of the various major projects undertaken by the Agency. We note that the support staff and infrastructure for the Publicity Program draw mainly from Agency personnel who have conducted this task in the past for the EPA under the Clinton, Bush, and Reagan Administrations.
Publicity outreach was conducted along the same channels used for public information and feedback established under the Bush Administration, prioritizing local news channels and publications to inform local stakeholders of progress on projects close to home rather than a coordinated (and expensive) nationwide public information campaign. This unfortunately was insufficient to provide an unbiased viewpoint of the EPA's activities to the nation's public due to an adverse reaction from national radio broadcasters and talk shows, focusing on criticism of the EPA's research-heavy budget allocation and demanding more attention to cleanup of the Superfund site backlog…
-Build independent biofuel subsidy system using regional EPAs now that planning, assessment and grant machinery is in place
-Use Agriculture's farm subsidy system
This is the final stage of the subsidy machinery, after this comes the repeatable subsidy-adjustment and audit action to make sure administration of biofuel subsidies is clean.
Des Moines, Iowa
April, 2001
Iowa is a land of cornfields and farmland first and foremost, with the few tall buildings of Des Moines, Iowa, poking out above the rippling fields of corn almost apologetically as if interlopers in an alien landscape. The town – it can't really be called a city, not Des Moines, not to Will Jensen's mind – is similarly not the bustle and the glamor of New York or San Francisco. Not anything like that at all.
It's a place that the EPA's point man for renewable energy didn't expect to be, but needs must when Gore wants to win Iowa in 2002 for the midterms.
Unfortunately, it also means talking to a representative from DuPont, the old-fashioned suit and tie almost an anachronism for someone come from the West Coast and the dotcom boom. And the bust. Jensen grimaces a little when he remembers the bust.
The DuPont man's meeting room is a plain conference room with a smiling corncob on a wall poster talking about the environment just behind Jensen's seat. The representative from America's largest chemical company rises, smiles professionally and shakes the EPA representative by the hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Dr. Jensen. I'm Rupert Ames from DuPont. Sit down, let's talk. There was something to be decided about the biofuel processing program, I think?"
"Yes." Jensen eyes up the chemical company's representative for a minute, Ames' older lined face the sort of friendly senior-exec that one might expect from flyover country. "Now that the federal-level mechanism for disbursing the grants for corn biofuels is set up, we can start sending out funding. In response to deserving applications."
Ames nods once, gray eyes not betraying his thoughts. For a brief wild moment Jensen thinks the exec would make a hell of a poker player, before the DuPont man begins to speak. "We at DuPont would like to propose a partnership. To enhance the efficiency of the grant program. Given, of course, that state EPAs are underfunded and tend to be inefficient."
"I cannot comment on that." Jensen would like to keep his job, thank you very much.
Rupert just grins at that, "Well, doctor, we both know what the facts are on the ground. At the state level you'll have to rebuild things for regional EPAs, which means federal legislation. Or you can work through us. Through the Department of Agriculture's program, that is. Where major processors are already easily tapped."
"Agriculture isn't an easy area to tap. More cash into the farm programs ignores the small producers." Jensen's irritated now, the big processor's representative sitting before him all satisfied and smiling. "It might be more efficient for the EPA to cut out the middleman, so to speak. Auditing our grants with the sheer volume of cash that Agriculture pumps through the farm subsidies and the processors' subsidies would be harder, Mr. Ames."
"That's fair, doctor." Ames nods lugubriously, taking out a small stiff white rectangle from his pocket and leaving it on the table. "I can say, though, that DuPont as well as other food processors are sincere in this. We can lobby for the EPA to take advantage of the current farm subsidy system instead of having to build up something on its own. We already have the expertise for ethanol production. It's the rational, cost-effective approach."
The veiled threat also doesn't go unnoticed, the mention of cost-effectiveness for a department that's come under fire before as being unneeded.
Will Jensen nods curtly at the DuPont executive, and tells him to continue. He might as well hear the man out. It can't hurt to do that much, at least.
Pick one stage to begin next:
[]Use the Agriculture System: This routes the ethanol production grants and subsidies through the Department of Agriculture's farm subsidy system, thereby potentially allocating a disproportionate share to large agriculture producers and processors and ignoring those smaller or out-of-the-way producers to focus on scale. It's also somewhat more vulnerable to misallocation of funds than a fresh network.
[]Set Something Up: To keep control over the funding streams and give the Midwestern state agencies as well as regional EPA commands something to do, you might as well build up a separate subsidy apparatus. Of course, this means ensuring that farmers and producers are aware of the subsidy's availability, ensuring that the red tape is manageable, ensuring that the grant system is sane and that the big processors are on board with it. It won't be easy at all. But...while an integrated system with DoA is easier for the small applicant, this allows you to build up EPA branches and state agencies by throwing them a popular funding stream.
mouli: 1D100 → 55( (55) )
55/50
Completed, small scale subsidy/grant network set up for pilot projects and research
Minor muttering about 'money wasted on green projects' from Republicans in Congress
Idaho National Labs and the EPA's own Office of Technological Development have reported that the grant system for solar and wind projects has been set up and already seen applicants. Some of the smaller dollar-amounts have been awarded already, a few hundreds of thousands apiece for pilot solar and wind schemes in the West and the Southwest. Some more applications are being scrutinized, mainly academic and university-related ones for speculative research and building scale demonstrators. All in all, it's a small-scale success that won't be changing the world anytime soon, but will pay dividends down the line.
Hopefully.
"House Republicans criticize new EPA expansion of solar and wind energy research initiative, amid claims of grant allocations unfairly favoring California and the Northeast…"
"...The senior senator for Texas has recently stated that 'If we want energy independence, the answer's right here! Just drill, there isn't a need for this sort of wastage. We're not insane here in Texas, we can see that windmills won't power the nation!"
-Headlines from the Manchester Union-Leader, 2001
Stage I complete, Stage II locked: Requires DoE cooperation or a major grid issue in the United States.
Stage II: Proposes to Congress: Integrated national grid. At present federal influence cost: 30-40. A major blackout will allow for reduced costs and higher chance of success.
Triggered by California energy crisis: Grid modernization subsidies from the EPA
Computer controlled 'Smart' Grid Research Unlocked
Stage II unlocked: Funding allocation and work beginning on east-west grid interlinks with provision for renewables hookups. Costs 20 federal influence to start, 0/200.
Report to the Director's Office
Environmental Protection Agency: Grid Modernization Initiative
Abstract: This report aims to examine the results of the assessments conducted on the electricity grid for the United States and the potential methods for enhancing its performance while reducing environmental impact. The Grid Modernization Initiative has so far been conducted with the assent and cooperation of the U.S. Department of Energy as well as the assent and cooperation of local corporate stakeholders (detailed in full in Appendix-I). The grid examination is detailed in the report, with the finding in brief being the revelation of an urgent need for modernization of the US power grid. The majority of the power transmission infrastructure has been examined and found to date back to federally-funded grid improvements in the Carter and Reagan Administrations, and is showing its age. Wear and tear on transformers, transmission substations, generation stations, and urban power grids have meant a longer downtime for repairs and more exposure to extreme weather events such as tornadoes, wildfires and hurricanes. We also note the state of repair and upkeep for high-tension power lines in areas of high-wildfire prevalence potentially necessitating a federally funded improvement and hardening program. In addition to the previous, we see that the grid interlinks for the United States act as bottlenecks for load balancing, preventing the quick restoration of power balance in the event of a large blackout in either the eastern or the western integrated electrical grids. With less than 1GW of high-voltage DC transmission interlinks between the US Eastern and Western power grids, load balancing is difficult to contemplate. Especially in the circumstances of the current grid hardware setup and the current best practices of training and protocol. We therefore urge the Director to lobby the Department of Energy in modernizing the American power grid not simply to allow for a more flexible, ecologically friendly network but also to ensure that the United States does not risk a mass blackout or electrically triggered wildfire in the near future…
R&D
[]Subsidize Engine Efficiency R&D: 0/100: Some of the Detroit majors have been looking into hybrids and the like, although they're being woefully outcompeted in that space. Subsidizing them for research and development through the University of Michigan can change that somewhat – and win you friends. Costs 5 Budget per die.
Bouyed by a 'Buy American' campaign, the Ford Escape doesn't provide the same performance but meets sales targets handily. Ford has committed to the 'hippie car' market. GM has built the Hummer.
Research on engine efficiency in partnership with the EPA's automotive corporate stakeholders initialy focused on conventional emissions control measures as well as catalytic converters that were intended to show improved performance against the market baseline. This was to allow domestic carmakers – regarded as the EPA's automotive corporate stakeholders – to take advantage of the temporary lead and carve out a niche with the backing of US emissions regulations come 2002. The EPA's research teams at Idaho National Laboratory's Environmental Research Center, however, managed to pitch something entirely different to a skeptical audience at Ford Motor Company. The other corporate stakeholders in the program declined to fund it, but with the hinted entry of a Toyota hybrid into the US market, Ford was minded to listen to the researchers' proposal to develop a prototype hybrid drivetrain for a domestic hybrid.
The hybrid drivetrain's development was to be an improvement on existing Ford models and achieve comparable performance to the Japan release of the Toyota Prius, thereby allowing Ford with the aid of U.S. vehicle subsidies to compete in what many executives refer to as the 'hippie car' market. Research proceeded ahead of schedule with more than a little aid from other EPA-funded teams at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor as well as Ford Motor Company's R&D cell at Dearborn, and culminated in a prototype being scheduled for fabrication and test in August of 2001. Ford has in the meantime proceeded to design a vehicle around the drivetrain, at least in concept and simulation, and is prepared to rush the design through what process remains once the prototype proves itself in September.
General Motors has claimed that this research avenue is unfeasible in the long run and has requested EPA funding to develop a more efficient drivetrain and fuel injection system for the Hummer H.2 in order to 'conserve fuel and save the environment'. The EPA has yet to respond to this request.
Administration Actions
Rolled: mouli: 1D100 → 53( (53) )
Lackluster. DoE is noncommittal, wants to see what happens in California. Quiet hints about Justice having a stake.
Followup option available.
The Department of Energy is noncommittal when approached by the Director, by liaisons from the EPA, and stonewalls a request for information and cooperation when sent through the Gore Administration. Repeated requests for cooperation have been stonewalled by the Department of Energy with the reply being that grid modernization studies have been proceeding ahead of schedule and cooperation is not needed at the moment on other programs. Informally, some of the senior civil servants and the Secretary at the DoE have hinted at the Department of Justice having a 'stake' in power grid modernization and investment at the moment due to price fluctuations in the Californian energy markets, and requested the EPA bide its time until the DoJ has 'cleared' its 'stake'.
Rolled: Congress: mouli: 1D100 → 21( (21) )
Unfortunate meeting with the senior senator from South Carolina
Nothing gained
Continued in Interlude: The Devil come up from Dixie, Senior Senator from South Carolina
AN: Given that South Carolina came up in discussion, I might poke at that in the interlude somewhat. As well as have a vote on your character's motivation or background.
AN: Before you read: This was intended to show how some things have been rightly left in the ashes of history. Some people were made obsolete in their lifetime and lost the major battles they fought, and the world is better for that. Strom Thurmond is one such person. The intent is to show that the nation has left him behind.
If there is any offense taken to this snippet, let me know. I will rework the interlude with a less fraught topic.
The Devil Came Up From Dixie
[Trigger Warning: Mentions of lynching, racism, Strom Thurmond]
They still honor Benjamin Tillman down here, which is very much like honoring a malignant tumor. A statue of Tillman, who was known as 'Pitchfork Ben', is on prominent display outside the statehouse. Tillman served as governor and U.S. senator in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A mortal enemy of black people, he bragged that he and his followers had disenfranchised 'as many as we could', and he publicly defended the murder of blacks.
-Bob Herbert on South Carolina, in the New York Times
You're old. Your bones ache, just like they did on that Normandy morning back in '44. Normandy morning, back when the world made sense. Back before Truman. Before Lyndon's insanity cost the nation its sanity. It's been decades since then, more time than most can remember and far enough back that you've woven it into a personal legend. A veteran, a judge, a man of his word who stood for the south and all that was good in Dixie. Back before things stopped making sense. The world has changed, and one look at the color of Congress tells you that.
Once upon a time you were a terror, the arbiter of the Senate. You were Strom Thurmond, voice of the South, protector of a proud tradition.
Now? Now, as your knees ache and the chairs in the Senate's dining hall are too hard for you to sit comfortably on for a long time. Now, it takes a day for the President to even say a word if you send him a letter, and all you can do is pull in the head of Nixon's boondoggle for a talk.
Nixon….Nixon had some bright ideas. Some fire. He almost did the right thing. You can remember standing up for him, the same way he stood up for states' rights. The same way Ben Tillman stood up for you back when you were a stripling, ever since he taught you the value of a firm handshake among the right sort of person.
The waitress isn't the right sort. She takes your order slow, the way they all have since '68. Since Lyndon's insanity. She reminds you of Essie-
Not now. Not anymore.
What you did to Carrie Strom
You push the thoughts away. They buzz around you like flies. Like the nightmares, the same dreams of Willie Earle the noose the rope the flies and you sat there on the bench and acquitted that mob-
No.
Your hand is shaking. You force it down. You're tired, that's all. The Senate is tiring. It always has been.
You tell the waitress you'll just have water. You think there's a hint of pity in her eyes.
You hate it.
The boy from Georgia – Harper, the same one you made sure was ousted for someone better – comes in late. Ten minutes late, apologizing in the same goddamn D.C. accent that they all seem to pick up these days. You rasp out a reply. You remind him – your voice, the drawling tone of a Southern gentleman – reminds him of what he is and where he comes from.
His eyes are understanding. He seems to think this is some sort of formality. You're not sure if he's right or wrong. You hate him for it.
That's fine. You came prepared. You know the boy – Gore himself – all of them have plans for the South. The same federal government your grandfather told you about, that Tillman kept at arm's length, keeping the federal government away kept liberty alive.
You tell the boy Harper that this is what made America great. And you intend to keep it that way. There isn't the need for his Communist agency coming into the South. You'll make sure the Senate defunds it if he moves on drilling or on enforcing Carter's imbecility. Clean Air Act, as if American air wasn't clean enough already.
The waitress comes back with your order. It's the same goddamn mush you've always been having. For the last thirty years. Her eyes are carefully blank.
Maybe she heard you. You damn well hope so. Her hands are graceful as they arrange the table for you and for Harper, dark and elegant and young. You hate her for it.
Harper is the same. A fool, like all of them. He tells you what he has planned. All he wants is cleanup, he says. Keeping the South clean and healthy. You can live with that. Maybe.
You threaten him all the same. You would've called in more of Gore's cabinet if you could, what with this bullshit about corn fuel legislation coming in and threatening the South. Threatening Texas and Louisiana. Threatening South Carolina's petrochem plants. Your boys' jobs, potentially.
You tell Harper this and he smiles and nods. You get platitudes that taste like ash in your mouth. Your food doesn't taste of anything. The check comes late when you call for it, the waitress moving with careful self-control as if containing something. Always the same careful politeness and the same guarded eyes to your face.
As if you're not worth the effort anymore. Even Harper does it. Polite, noncommittal, always deferring to Gore. Who won't even meet you outside the Senate chamber. Who'll only deal with the Majority Leader.
It isn't your nation anymore. It left you behind.
Sometimes, you hate it for that.
I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation…
-Strom Thurmond, 1948
"A lie cannot live."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Essie Mae Washington-Williams (October 12, 1925 – February 4, 2013) was an American teacher, author, and writer. She is best known as the eldest child of Strom Thurmond, Governor of South Carolina (1947–1951) and longtime United States Senator, known for his pro-racial segregation policies. Of mixed race, she was born to Carrie Butler, a 16-year-old African-American girl who worked as a household servant. Thurmond probably committed statutory rape and given the power imbalance it was likely not wholly consensual.
The lynching of Willie Earle took place in Greenville, South Carolina on February 16, 1947 when Willie Earle, a 24-year-old black man, was arrested, taken from his jail cell and murdered. It is considered the last racially motivated lynching to occur in South Carolina. The subsequent trial gained much media attention, and was covered by Rebecca West for The New Yorker. The trial resulted in the acquittal of 31 white men who had been charged with Earle's murder. Strom Thurmond was one of the Southern politicians calling for the acquittal. He was also Governor of South Carolina at the time and probably influenced the outcome.
Again, if this is offensive let me know. I will take it down. My intent is not to offend.
Congress has seen better days. Right now, it's seeing an imploding scandal. The Department of Justice announced charges against the Republican speaker of the House, and in rather predictable consequence the Republican Party has risen up harder than some people wish the South would. You know as well as anyone else in the administration that Gore initially wanted to keep things quiet for now to avoid this, to avoid the accusation of wielding the Justice Department as a weapon – but some things aren't to be left unpunished.
Child molestation. You swallow again, thinking about the uproar in Congress and the chaos on the Hill that followed that particular revelation.
Upstanding Speaker of the House, accused of child molestation. Dennis Hastert, former teacher, being dragged into court.
Oh, the networks are screaming about it. They're talking about how this is the start of a Communist agenda and a Democratic Party coup. Fox News, the radio shock jocks, all of them. But with something this bad, most of the nation is just asking itself questions.
After all, this wasn't some random Congressman. This is the Speaker. Third in line for the Presidency.
You pour out another dram of bourbon. The Director's office in theory isn't a drinking hole, but you've been in Congress since the 70s and you know as well as anyone that the capital is full of alcoholics. Especially in the executive branch.
And now? You think you need the bourbon. Most of it's satisfaction – Hastert was a bastard in the Gingrich mold, someone who didn't give a shit about national unity and played party games on C-SPAN. Sure, you can feel good about that.
But the rest of it? Bringing this out now, in the first seven months of his term, Gore looks like he's weaponizing the Department of Justice. Even if that isn't the case. And apart from that – U.S. Speaker of the House, pulled up for child molestation. Internationally, domestically...that doesn't in any way look good.
Jesus Christ.
You need another drink.
You have a Budget of 100. You have a minimum of three dice per category. You need not use all dice. You will gain between 5 and 10 federal influence for completed Superfund cleanup stages.
Your Mandate status is as follows:
Green Energy:
-Solar: Satisfied: There is negligible installed solar capacity and nobody cares. Research is progressing mainly in the Southwest and California. -Wind: Satisfied: There is negligible installed wind capacity and nobody cares. Research is moving ahead in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest, albeit running into local opposition on the grounds of unsightly windmills lowering property values. -Biofuels: Large Deficit, Trending Upward: Corn to ethanol is the pipeline that people want, and it makes them feel better imagining it's green. You've set up the chain for subsidy disbursal at the federal level and have the protocols set up, now you just need to get things rolling regionally – and then start to get the gas station ethanol chain set up. At least with the biofuel act past Congress this'll be cheaper. -Hydro: Not your department, but the DoE's and the Army Corps of Engineers'. That said, some of the dams need maintenance and updates. You can handle that, at least tangentially. If you can convince them. Privatization Status: Near Total: There is very little of this that is directly government controlled, barring the subsidies doled out by federal funding. At present, the corporate stakeholders are somewhat happy – but probably need an audit. -Overall: Large deficit: Not all of the requirement can come from biofuels, thankfully. You can do at least some direct good here.
Public Opinion Is:
-Climate Change: Doubtful: A lot of people are willing to think that the climate might be changing, but surely humanity isn't the one doing it? We have a bare majority of America firmly onside, and most of that bare majority doesn't turn out to vote very much. -Fossil Fuels: Divided: Some of the U.S. - a minority – want to slash fossil fuel emissions. The rest of the states are apathetic save for those like Texas, Louisiana and Alaska. There? Drill, baby, drill. -The EPA: Ambivalent: Most of America thinks that Reagan's measures were good – that is, what use environmental protection if that leads to poverty? We need growth first, says America. As long as the EPA follows the earlier line, most of America is tepidly willing to let it exist.
Congressional Opinion Is:
-Republican: Uncertain/Divided: You're the EPA Director for a Democratic administration. You're the enemy, at least formally speaking. However – the Republicans in Congress are at present divided thanks to the Hastert Affair. Concerted legislative opposition to a federal department is not as bad as it used to be – they're busy tangling with the three-hundred-pound gorilla that is the Department of Justice. -Democratic: Tepidly Supportive: As long as you don't undermine the Reagan – or rather, the Clinton – consensus on climate policy, they're backing you. They can support Gore's plans for now, they understand the value of pork in elections.
Administration Opinion Is: Apathetic: Your budget isn't worth fighting over, not even with the national labs rolled into it. There are other more important PR matters to worry about – and the sharks in the Administration scent Republican blood in the water. Of course, now that you're doing publicizable cleanup work they're willing to let you have more freedom and more hires to get things done in the decontamination backlog. Cleanup Actions: Five dice total, Three base plus two from the Superfund mandate now unlocked by progress on the Portland site.
[]Mobil Chemical/NJ Zinc Superfund Site: Stage I (0/100): Mineral Point Zinc Company originally developed the site in 1905 as a primary zinc smelter. In addition, the site has at various times been the location of sulfuric acid manufacturing, paint pigment production, ammonium phosphate fertilizer manufacturing, refining and recovery of secondary metals from zinc ore (e.g., cadmium), secondary zinc smelting and zinc dust production. Between 1905 and 1989, portions of the site were owned and operated by New Jersey Zinc Company, Mobil Oil Corporation, Gulf & Western Industries, Horsehead Industries, and the Zinc Corporation of America. In 1990, the facility ceased operation. Through various corporate mergers, acquisitions and the bankruptcy of Horsehead, responsibility for the site has fallen to Viacom International Incorporated/CBS and the ExxonMobil Corporation. These two companies have formed an entity known as "The DePue Group," which collectively represents the potentially responsible parties (PRPs) for the site. In 1995, the DePue Group entered into an interim consent order with Illinois EPA and the Illinois Attorney General's Office (IAGO) for investigation of the site and evaluation of possible remedial actions. This is a major Superfund site in Illinois, with contamination from zinc smelter slag, paint plant waste, phosphogypsum contamination, metal discharge to groundwater, elevated heavy metal concentrations, etc.
Stage I: Progress 0/100: Building a work plan, soil sampling, remedial investigations for Lake DePue, hydrogeologic investigation. Costs 10 Budget per die.
[]Portland Harbor Superfund Site: Stage II (112/200): The initial stage of baseline sampling has been completed for the Superfund site on the Willamette, and stakeholder working parties have already been formed for a few of the zones of interest. With the other corporate and local stakeholders moving slowly and citing costs, a further infusion of cash and federal personnel is probably needed to get people like DuPont and the City of Oregon on board. Costs 5 Budget per die. Forms working parties with local stakeholders, sets up public-feedback system, begins remediation design.
[]Continuing Hanford: Urgently Stabilizing Nuclear Waste: 0/200: This is the last of the major Superfund sites requiring additional funding allocation, as the other minor sites are proceeding as per the plans of the previous administration. The Hanford site – originally added in the 1980s - is riddled with nuclear waste, heavy metal contamination and the detritus of a major U.S. nuclear enrichment facility that had the waste disposal standards of the 1940s. There are two hundred million liters of high level radioactive waste in underground tanks that need stabilization work at least begun immediately, and continuing decon work on top of that to avoid groundwater and riverine contamination. 10 Budget per die.
[]Minor Site Decon: There are dozens of minor Superfund sites not half the size of the big three above, and all of them need more money. Accelerating their cleanup allows the new administration to claim an effective environmental policy, and most Americans are in favor of cleanup anyways. 5 Budget per die. Pick one zone to focus on below:
-[]Deep South: Stage I 0/200: Riddled with decades of lax environmental policy and governance, the sites in the South have yet to be cleaned and are underfunded to boot. This will take time and effort, especially with Gore's mandate for using local labor and contractors.
-[]Rust Belt: Stage I 52/100: Minor sites in the Midwest are mostly stable but need decon work, and we can attend to the most urgent ones first. Thankfully. There are too damn many waste dumping sites in America's industrial heartland.
-[-]West: California and the Pacific Coast have enough money and you have cash already allocated there. No need for more, not in this political environment.
-[]Northeast/Mid-Atlantic: Stage I 0/100: Primarily focusing on old mining, chemical and steel zones that are long since closed and have long since allowed their runoff to contaminate local groundwater reserves, this is a long, long task.
-[]Southwest: Stage I 0/300: Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and other states dependent on resource extraction have had a toxic legacy left to the current generation. Again, in the face of an uncooperative local government and a toothless state EPA you have a long road ahead.
-[]Midwest/Rockies:Stage I 0/300: This encompasses everything from Montana to Colorado and the Corn Belt since there's so few people there and so little state environmental funding. Again, a long task from the sheer number of pesticide, mining, chemical, arms and nuclear facilities here. Not to mention the closed military bases. PR Actions: Three dice total.
[]Publicize Your Work: Use some cash to tap into ad agencies and the like, to make sure the public knows what your agency is up to and what you've done for the nation. Of course, this makes failure more humiliating but can magnify success. Costs one die and 10 budget, increases PR value of a success/completion and costs opinion in the event of failure events or if no option is completed this turn.
[]Expand the Environmental Education Arm: Overhauling Management 0/50: While on paper the EE arm is something that does not teach facts that 'bias the opinion of those in education', in practice most grants tend to be applied for by those who aren't climate deniers. Thankfully. Since this program has been shielded by a federal mandate since 1990, nobody can object if you start overhauling its management and expanding its budget to allow for a more effective education arm that hits more of rural America. And also speaks more to the religious in America, considering that a worrying number of them are more and more outspoken in their opposition to environmental regulation. 5 Budget per die. Current stage: Overhauling management and expanding it.
[][Congressional Proposal] EPA Scholarships: Some of the EPA's work funding students who apply for grants can be turned to scholarships, or so goes one proposal. While this will draw ire in Congress, it'll also mean that the intensely competitive American college application system can be made to work for you – you pay for one student full-ride, and another thousand will do the legwork of learning while applying for the same scholarship. Requires one die, cannot allocate more than one, DC20 to pass, costs 10 federal influence, costs 20 Budget. Large impact on PR.
[]Awareness Campaign: Biofuel Farm Subsidies (0/50): Begin a campaign of ads and public-information statements to ensure that farmers and small processors are aware of the EPA's new biofuel subsidy program. Setting up 'tutorial schemes' to assist them in filling out paperwork is also recommended, since most of America takes personal offense to the existence of federal paperwork. 5 Budget per die.
Energy/Environmental Policy: You have two additional dice in this category, totaling five dice before dice buys.
[]Biofuel Subsidy Network: Stage II: 55/250: With the Gore Administration deciding to ramp up subsidies for first-generation biofuels, that leaves you to set up the infrastructure to dole out the grants. That means collaborating – now that the federal stage is done – collaboration with the Department of Agriculture to set up a unified subsidy system and let the lobbyists make sure that gets written into law so that DoA can't pressure you later…5 Budget per die, opinion boost among food processors. Bonus federal influence on completion.
[]First-Gen Biofuelling: Stage I: 0/100: You have to set up the start of the refining and fueling chain for vehicles that use first-gen biofuels, and that takes time. As well as cooperation with the oil majors that supply the vast network of gas stations in America – without their assent it'll be hard to get this off the ground. 5 Budget per die. This is needed to set up the biofuel market and avoid overcapacity from the subsidies. Highly advised it be done. Bonus federal influence on completion. Oil corporation cooperation required for Stage I to be active. Stage II required for some degree of independence.
[]Biofuel Footprint Sourcing: 0/150: To show that the energy policy of the Administration isn't just for energy independence but also to be 'green', we'll need to assess the carbon footprint of the biofuels used and show that they hit the targets required. Conventional renewable fuels (corn starch ethanol) are required to reduce life-cycle emissions relative to life-cycle emissions from fossil fuels by at least 20 percent, biodiesel and advanced biofuels must reduce GHG emissions by 50 percent. Costs 5 Budget per die. Unglamorous.Needed for emissions control.
[-]Grid Overhauls: Stage II (Design): 0/300: The US power grid is a patchwork, and underfunded to boot. While the Department of Energy has the nominal responsibility to maintain it and modernize it in cooperation with private entities, the EPA has the responsibility to ensure the grid is 'green' in some sense. Given that we've been warned off for now by DoE, that means staying well away until whatever they're cooking up in California gets done. Costs 10 Budget per die, cooperates with Department of Energy. Grid modernizations require a supportive Administration. Further actions down this path require federal influence. Locked.
R&D Actions: You have two additional dice here from the earlier choices in chargen. Total 5 dice before buys.
[]Second Generation Biofuels: 0/300: Generating biofuels from cellulose rather than starchy substances like cornstarch and sorghum can allow mass biofuel production without much impact on the food supply. Making this piece of intellectual property quite useful for those outside America and its mass corn overproduction. Costs 5 Budget per die.
[]Carbon Footprint Mapping: Stage I (0/150): Given that carbon footprints are at present based on things like emissions values stated by manufacturers and don't really look into supply chains – not to mention leaving Big Ag alone – it might be a good idea to fund the research teams that propose to set up a framework for emissions footprint mapping. That also means setting up a computer system that can easily add emissions footprints, and that means time and money. Costs 5 Budget per die. Begins emissions footprint map project.
[]Improved PV: 0/300: Solar at present is expensive and fragile, and more ruggedization and research is needed before even mass production can take the prices lower. That means investment, sadly – although you can funnel this through the labs owned by the EPA at least. Improves solar efficiency somewhat, 5 Budget per die. Administration Actions: You have three dice, each die allocated once per action. Some actions can be taken multiple times.
[]Request More Staff: Spend some of your cash to get more contract staff for a particular task, boosting its performance somewhat. One more die in a particular category, costs five budget to convert over and above cost of allocating that die.
[]Schmoozing: You can always try to play Washington politics to some extent, although bear in mind that a screwup can hurt more than a success will help. DC variable, each sub-action can be taken once. Free actions. Bonus from chosen background. -[]The Administration: You serve at Gore's pleasure. Remember that. -[]Congress: Congress is a den of scum and villainy, but it is occasionally useful. -[]Public Figures: Targets talk shows, interviews and the like to sway public figures and thereby sway the public. Low returns, low risk. -[]Major Corporations: See about talking to 'corporate stakeholders' and what they might want for cooperation. Some of them can be convinced. --[]Write In Target (Optional)
[]Outreach: See if you can secure backing from another department for a project, or at least see what some of the other bits of the Administration want from you. Scratch their backs and they might offer something in return. Variable DC, no failure. This can unlock new projects, allowing your relatively limited department to punch above its jurisdiction. -[]DoD
-[]DoE
-[]Interior
-[]Health and Human Services
-[]State
-[]Education
AN: Winning votes were: Setting up local stakeholder working parties, and the DoA system.
[]Portland Harbor Superfund Site: Stage II (112/200): The initial stage of baseline sampling has been completed for the Superfund site on the Willamette, and stakeholder working parties have already been formed for a few of the zones of interest. With the other corporate and local stakeholders moving slowly and citing costs, a further infusion of cash and federal personnel is probably needed to get people like DuPont and the City of Oregon on board. Costs 5 Budget per die. Forms working parties with local stakeholders, sets up public-feedback system, begins remediation design.
This is intended to advise the Director on the new provisions for site security and contracting procedure under the US PATRIOT Act passed in the wake of recent events. The US PATRIOT Act has stipulated a procedure for financial disclosure, background checks and employee clearance as well as federal site security. This has had substantial impact on EPA contracting procedure due to increased scrutiny required for local labor contracting as well as increased oversight at the federal level for funding disbursement. Along with that, the US PATRIOT Act places an emphasis on site security in order to ensure national security and prevent terror attacks on federal facilities, requiring the EPA to submit Site Security Assessments annually for ongoing work at Superfund sites and EPA regional offices. The reports can be provided in conjunction with local law enforcement partners and federal law enforcement, but require a new bureaucratic command chain…
"So you tell me, Howard, what does this mean? What the hell does the bill mean when it talks about EPA provision of rapid response units for environmental crimes assessment?"
"Well, Director, they want some sort of turnkey expertise. One of the scenarios gamed out by the Pentagon was contamination and intentional poisoning or degradation of infrastructure."
"The Pentagon thinks that Al-Qaeda is poisoning our bodily fluids. Like that movie, the one with Slim Pickens."
"I can't say, sir."
"Call me Jake. Or Director. I'm not a sir. Anyways – turnkey?"
"Experts. Money. Labs."
"Fair enough. We can do that. We'll get funding for it?"
"So they say."
-Conversation between Director Jake Harper and Chief Counsel Ayanna Howard, EPA
Notice to the Director
Portland Superfund Site Assessment
This is a notice of briefing for Director Harper on the delays in progress for the Portland Harbor Superfund Site. Recent news has focused on the EPA budgeting ninety million dollars for site clearance in a single Superfund zone, with no progress made and $80m spent on what the public appears to consider as fripperies. The public relations arm of the Agency present this report as a briefing on a damage control and dialogue strategy to minimize the long term harm to the Agency from this perceived scandal. The scandal – the reporting on the scandal – neglects to state that the $80m earmarked for Terminal 4 initial decontamination for October was diverted to security assessment and pay for local law enforcement partners in order to ensure EPA compliance with the US PATRIOT Act…
There has been a scandal due to the news pouncing on a combination of low progress and spending on non-cleanup items mandated by the PATRIOT Act. You will now have security actions. You now have a larger budget.
[]Blame the PATRIOT Act: A conventional approach that blames the PATRIOT Act and the tightening of national security. This might or might not salve things, but will almost certainly require you to make visible movements towards tightening said security.
[]Blame the Budgeting: Mention that it's legally needed for security compliance, and hint at needing more money or regional assistance for fast progress since the EPA had to divert funding for security and expertise. This hints that the blame is on Congress and not on you, which endears you a little to the Administration but angers some Republicans. Not much, though. You're not significant enough.
[]Blame the Contractors: Local labor fucked up. You found twelve, count'em, twelve meth addicts and former felons on a government worksite. Blame that. It'll anger the Oregonians but satisfy everyone else – especially rural media that considers Portland borderline alien as it is.
[]Continuing Hanford: Urgently Stabilizing Nuclear Waste: 0/200: This is the last of the major Superfund sites requiring additional funding allocation, as the other minor sites are proceeding as per the plans of the previous administration. The Hanford site – originally added in the 1980s - is riddled with nuclear waste, heavy metal contamination and the detritus of a major U.S. nuclear enrichment facility that had the waste disposal standards of the 1940s. There are two hundred million liters of high level radioactive waste in underground tanks that need stabilization work at least begun immediately, and continuing decon work on top of that to avoid groundwater and riverine contamination. 10 Budget per die.
Rolled: mouli: 3D100 → 151( (71 +60 +20) )
Now 151/200
Hanford was the premier nuclear enrichment site for the United States since the Second World War – it was here that the uranium for the bombs dropped on Japan was enriched. It's a massive place with the nuclear waste buried under the riverbed in what used to be sealed canisters certified by the Army Corps of Engineers. The soil around Hanford is contaminated with heavy metals and poisonous, the trees around the site bearing fruit that eventually kills, as if in some sort of long-term vengeance for the Cold War's toll on nature. Hanford was first listed as a Superfund site in the 1980s, and since then the work has proceeded in cycles of decontamination, redesign, containment, and waste stabilization.
With the cancellation or indefinite delay of Yucca Mountain, the Department of Energy has instead recommended the stabilization in place of the Hanford nuclear waste deposits. Work has begun with the resealing of faulty canisters, the assessment of the stored waste, and work continues on the stabilization of the remainder. With the cooperation of the Washington DEQ and the EPA region for Pacific Northwest, we anticipate work to be on schedule. For a schedule of decades for full remediation.
"The EPA has confirmed that the Hanford nuclear site has been stabilized and that there is 'no danger at all' of waste leakage. Footage from EPA observation teams shows a thorough sealing of any possible leak, and we can all sit in relief at radiation not being a concern anymore…"
-From the Seattle Times, October 2001
"Who cares about Washington? Apart from those nuts in Eastern Washington?"
"Well, we thought-"
"We focus on natsec. We want to show Gore's weakness on 9/11. We don't need to hit the EPA right now. They didn't fuck up with nuclear waste, so there's no story big enough."
-Conversation in Fox News studios, November 2001
-[]Rust Belt: Stage I 52/100: Minor sites in the Midwest are mostly stable but need decon work, and we can attend to the most urgent ones first. Thankfully. There are too damn many waste dumping sites in America's industrial heartland.
Rolled: mouli: 1D100 → 5( (5) )
Now 57/100
See PR options above
"Governor Engler confirms that the EPA has tightened security around work sites, due to the need to comply with the US PATRIOT Act and avoid potential strikes on our environment using the dangerous chemicals in Superfund sites. This has resulted in delays in work at the Superfund cleanup sites…"
-CNN, November 2001
"Attacks using dangerous chemicals? What is this, Wile E. Coyote?"
"He's a politician, Dr. Staines."
"I can damn well see that, he isn't smart enough to earn a living at least."
-Conversation in Idaho National Labs, November 2001
Delays have cascaded across the Rust Belt due to the newly established security and background checking wing of the EPA prioritizing the nuclear cleanup at Hanford above the minor sites in the Rust Belt. While this means no screwups in nuclear waste cleanup, it means that the most progress that's made in the sites across the Rust Belt is the fine-tuning of remediation designs instead of any actual cleanup progress. On the other hand, we've managed to establish liaison ties with state and local police departments for site security, and in the case of the more dangerous areas we have also consulted with the regional FBI field offices. PATRIOT Act compliance is in full swing…
PR Actions
[]Expand the Environmental Education Arm: Overhauling Management 0/50: While on paper the EE arm is something that does not teach facts that 'bias the opinion of those in education', in practice most grants tend to be applied for by those who aren't climate deniers. Thankfully. Since this program has been shielded by a federal mandate since 1990, nobody can object if you start overhauling its management and expanding its budget to allow for a more effective education arm that hits more of rural America. And also speaks more to the religious in America, considering that a worrying number of them are more and more outspoken in their opposition to environmental regulation. 5 Budget per die. Current stage: Overhauling management and expanding it.
43/50, overflow rolls over to Stage II: Expansion to rural America
The Environmental Education arm of the EPA is one that's not supposed to teach facts that might bias one's opinion against theories that should be 'given equal weight', mostly because the EE arm was set up in the Reaganite era and has to cater to the Bible Belt. It's also one that historically has had trouble reaching rural Americans due to the differing syllabi in rural school districts, and due to management issues has had problems with grant distribution in areas that aren't able to write a good grant application – such as inner city schools. The expanded EE arm is able to ensure grant funding and supplemental payments for teachers in a wider range of environments, and is also tailored to teach rural students in a non-partisan manner that should allow some amount of penetration into rural areas. Once the regional machinery is set up.
[][Congressional Proposal] EPA Scholarships: Some of the EPA's work funding students who apply for grants can be turned to scholarships, or so goes one proposal. While this will draw ire in Congress, it'll also mean that the intensely competitive American college application system can be made to work for you – you pay for one student full-ride, and another thousand will do the legwork of learning while applying for the same scholarship. Requires one die, cannot allocate more than one, DC20 to pass, costs 10 federal influence, costs 20 Budget. Large impact on PR. mouli: 1D100 → 98( (98) )
Result: Large uptake due to rising costs of college, EPA Fellowships endowed at major universities to last without further federal influence or spending. EPA internship program established at Idaho National Labs. Student interest quite large.
Synergy: Education and State outreach, 9/11: Thinktank outreach for a fellowship program. Interlude unlocked.
Continued in Interlude: Environmental Security, Energy Security, National Security.
[]Awareness Campaign: Biofuel Farm Subsidies (0/50): Begin a campaign of ads and public-information statements to ensure that farmers and small processors are aware of the EPA's new biofuel subsidy program. Setting up 'tutorial schemes' to assist them in filling out paperwork is also recommended, since most of America takes personal offense to the existence of federal paperwork. 5 Budget per die.
Rolled: mouli: 1D100 → 30( (30) )
30/50. Paperwork is a snarl, red tape from regional EPAs and the state DEQs is a mess.
"I have to ask, what does the EPA mean with this? All of this paperwork? It makes no sense at all, and I'm being as charitable as I can here. This is bullshit. This isn't something that a working man can fill out without some lawyer helping him. This is pure Washington."
-Comments from Director Harper on the first draft of EPA subsidy application forms, August 2001
"This one's better, but it's still half bullshit. Get it right, folks. You want a hog farmer to fill one out in his spare time, because the food processors are gonna make things hard to get the actual money. I know hog farmers. This one's too complicated. Too much time."
-Comments from Director Harper on the second draft of EPA subsidy applications, September 2001
"Finally. After 9/11 I thought we'd get sidetracked. At least we have the paperwork pipeline done."
-Comments from Director Harper on the final draft of EPA subsidy application forms, December 2001. Environmental Policy
[]First-Gen Biofuelling: Stage I: 0/100: You have to set up the start of the refining and fueling chain for vehicles that use first-gen biofuels, and that takes time. As well as cooperation with the oil majors that supply the vast network of gas stations in America – without their assent it'll be hard to get this off the ground. 5 Budget per die. This is needed to set up the biofuel market and avoid overcapacity from the subsidies. Highly advised it be done. Bonus federal influence on completion. Oil corporation cooperation required for Stage I to be active. Stage II required for some degree of independence.
mouli: 3D100 → 115( (28 +71 +16) )
Finished, 115/100. Second stage locked for now. Required federal backing or oil corporation backing rather than cooperation.
Report to the Director
Biofuel Station Infrastructure
Abstract: This report is intended to advise Director Harper and the EPA about the results of Project Fueling, the effort to establish station infrastructure for vehicular utilization of subsidized biofuels. Project Fueling was not intended to establish a nationwide system of biofuel pumps at gas stations, but rather to lay out the regulatory framework for fuel mixes using biofuels, the use of tax breaks at the pump for the station owners as a way to easily administer utilization subsidies and lower the price of biofuels, and the trialling of a pilot program using corn ethanol mixes in the state of Iowa. As has been stated by Director Harper, the state of Iowa provides unique advatages for corn based ethanol projects…
"No, we just want to hold Iowa for 2002."
"Mm."
-Conversation between Director Harper and President Gore, 2001
Idaho National Labs has recently begun work on what are being called 'second generation' biofuels, namely low-footprint biofuels that draw on non-food biomass. The intent, according to the project leadership, is to ensure that biofuel production does not impact food production and to allow biofuel production to be conducted on marginal land. This in the long term makes biofuels a viable alternative to oil, at least in part. This sidesteps the food-vs-fuel argument advanced by certain states' farmers' lobbies as well as the national security question of food production and energy security, and has been deemed a priority following recent events and the passage of the US PATRIOT Act…
"More money?"
"Yes, Director."
"Goddamn, if I knew national security got Congress this erect I'd still be a Senator."
"Yes, Director."
"Dammit, that was a joke, Howard."
-Conversation between Director Harper and Chief Counsel Ayanna Howard, November 2001
Administration
Chosen target: Oil majors
Rolled: mouli: 1D100 → 30( (30) )
No real result
September reroll: 53
Energy-independence legislation spooks the oil majors. Noncommittal noises of cooperation are made. The winds are shifting a little.
The PATRIOT Act and the fall of the World Trade Center has spooked the major oil firms. For once, the energy lobby in the United States has a little less cohesion than earlier and is willing to be swayed in the face of what seems to be a sea change in government policy towards the oil-rich states of the Middle East. The oil companies are divided between those who have operations at home and in North America, those that rely on the Middle East, and those that rely on areas like Russia and the North Sea. Not to mention the oilfield services firms like Halliburton and Schlumberger, which have substantial Arab interests and substantial influence in Washington. They're divided and noncommittal, for now, thanks to this diversity.
That gives the national security complex time to control the narrative.
Education: 90
State: 95
As part of a concerted push in the U.S. for energy independence by oil-state Congressmen, hawks and environmentalists, the State Department wants the EPA onside for the use of 'environmental regulation compliance' and 'clean oil extraction' as a means of soft-power pressure similar to the establishment of liberal democracy. The use of calls for green energy allows Gore to pressure the Arab world and in particular the Saudis in a way that satisfies a Republican Congress that chafes just a little at its leadership's ties to the Saudi state. The oil majors are split between companies like ConocoPhillips who do most of their extraction at home, BP which has deep wells in the North Sea, and Exxon with its close ties to the Saudi dynasty.
Education in the meantime has taken account of Texas state legislation to teach the importance of domestic energy in schools, the expansion of the Enviro Education program and the Congressional push towards energy independence by expanded gas extraction, and wants a slice. Cooperation with the EPA on grants for student projects involving alternative energy is one such avenue.
Continued in Interlude: Environmental Security, Energy Security, National Security.
Environmental Security, Energy Security, National Security
Environmental Security, Energy Security, National Security
"Project MEDEA...intends to measure the impacts of the changing climate on the security of the United States by utilizing surveillance records held by the Intelligence Community (IC) and the Department of Defense (DoD). Begun in 1990, MEDEA has completed its initial stages as of December 2000, and we anticipate further funding in the wake of the 2000 election…"
-Internal memo, RAND Corporation, 2001
Washington D.C.
September 19th, 2001
The Ronald Reagan Federal Building is the same dismal place that Albert Sears remembers it being, and he isn't at all surprised. The end of history happened in 1991 and the non-military parts of the government got a bonanza – but the EPA got damn near nothing from that. Sears' own bunch at RAND got more than the EPA did in terms of funding increases. Or at least Sears thinks so. It's funny to think that. It gives Sears a nice friendly smile on his face when he checks in with the overworked receptionist and gets Director Harper's door number.
Harper himself is the same bland-senator-handsome-elderly that most retired Southern politicians are, with the same sort of noncommittal politeness that every lobbyist learns to expect when paying a visit. He's as polite as Sears can hope for in the one-hour appointment that Sears' staff at RAND had booked, waving the think-tank man into a chair and asking after his health. And then, as if switching off the pleasantries, Harper steeples his fingers on the table and asks more bluntly than Albert Sears expected, "So what brings the RAND man to the EPA? I'd have thought we're a bit beneath your notice."
Sears takes a moment before smiling politely at the jibe, well aware that the former senator in front of him probably resents the posting to some extent. The smart money at RAND is that Harper was pushed into the EPA as a sinecure of some kind, him having been ousted from Georgia at the end of the millennium – and so Albert Sears smiles politely with white veneers flashing in a dark face, seeking to defuse any resentment that might linger. "The EPA is the one agency in the administration that has been pushing for energy independence from the start of Gore's term. In the wake of recent events, we at RAND feel that the view has some weight."
"More weight than it had before, you mean." Harper's voice still has a trace of Georgia drawl, even here in Washington when taking pains to suppress it. It makes the comment seem amused, the senator's eyes betraying damn little to Albert Sears. "We at the EPA have been trying to get America off its addiction to Middle Eastern oil, Mr. Sears. We've pushed the biofuel program past Congress just for that, and the events of September 11th just vindicate that. We're not in it for more federal funding, we're in it for the good of America." The senator's spiel is something that Sears has heard before, in more than one senator's office before talks led nowhere. The same sort of polite stonewalling and noncommittal facade.
Of course, that just means that the lobbyist has to take out the stick as well as the carrot.
Sears smiles, "Of course, Director. But in the meantime, I'll note that most of the spending has been concentrated in states that might flip. Iowa, for instance. And the energy independence push has seen more funding go to Superfund sites than to energy development. There are holes in the EPA's strategy, and Congress wanted at one point to know why."
"I'm sure that the think-tanks have explanations for it, whether or not we at the EPA give one."
"Maybe." Sears nods when he sees Harper get the gist of it – nobody wants a fight now, and the EPA doesn't need to pontificate to someone who's been a long-term lobbyist on the Hill. "We at RAND have a proposal – to make sure that the government continues to make energy independence a priority and through that ensuring national security, we want a partnership."
Harper straightens in his chair, eyes intent and politician's facade cracking for a moment to reveal more than a little interest. "Tell me."
"You've got Congress interested in the idea of environmental science scholarships, get the EPA to pay college tuition for students who've done the right sort of project." Harper nods slowly, clearly waiting for the offer, and Sears continues with a self-satisfied note in his voice. The former senator is interested, at this point. Excellent. "Now, the Republican party's already screaming about the EPA funding hippies who don't do anything more than smoke pot and build a windmill. You know as well as I do, Director, that the national security side of energy independence is probably a better bet."
"So – what, a partnership? We pay for a RAND fellowship?" Harper's moving through possibilities, feeling out the lobbyist on the other side of the table, "We don't have the mandate or funding to manage that. Not favoring a private corporation that much."
"We don't suggest any such thing, Director." Sears takes a file from his briefcase, laying it on the Director's table, "Instead of that, we know that the current legislation is still working its way through the committees. All that we suggest is tying EPA scholarship funding more to the national security space and less to the hippies. Makes it easier to continue funding it."
"How would you do that?"
"Simply add in a proviso that the studies are to encourage U.S. energy independence and environmental security. Use the DoD's MEDEA program. Cast it as a natsec problem. And when the Congressional representatives ask where the graduates will work, just point at us." Sears grins, "A list of accredited national security consulting and policy think-tanks will do. We can pay the interns on our own dime, the researchers the same way. And when you tie yourself to DoD, it's a bit harder to move you."
Harper puts one hand on the folder, sliding it towards himself and looking at the contents without a glance at Albert Sears. His tone is entirely noncommittal, "I'll think about it. Thank you, Mr. Sears."
Sears smiles and whistles a little jingle on the way out. This one's in the bag, Sears is sure of it.
Pick one:
[]Go It Alone: Set up the EPA scholarships as planned, the funding locked in for eight years. This allows you to slant the direction of U.S. environmental education projects to some extent, and you're beholden to nobody.
[]Cooperation: Accept the RAND proposal, and thereby allow the Department of Defense to fund the scholarships in part, establishing a secure funding stream that ought to last anything barring a Second Depression. The catch is that the public-awareness angle will gravitate towards energy security and independence rather than pure climate-change awareness. The different means from this path might lead to the same end, though. Perhaps.
Your eyes ache. You've been seeing newspaper headlines and the news blaring at you nonstop since the attacks, and you've had people writing you from damn near every end of the political spectrum. Ranging from the nutjobs in the Midwest to the left wing of the Democratic Party, everyone under the sun wants some sort of response from every bit of the Administration.
That's mostly because Gore's response hasn't been exactly unalloyed good.
The television set behind you says Mass Shooting, the news anchor talks about 'nationalism' and 'mental illness', and Fox News is all too happy to run with more and more about 'radical Islam' instead of covering Dennis Goddamn Hastert.
Twenty people shot last week, one incident, all of it apparently driven by 'nationalism' and a fear of 'radical Islam' in the wake of 9/11. In the wake of the terror attack that left the Senate half-demolished, left the National Mall half on fire, and scarred New York City. Gore's response was to demand answers on public television, from the 'nations that funded these terrorists'. At least Congress has been unified there, probably because they came damn close to having their heads be taken off - all of a sudden, energy independence and Texas oil are popular with everyone.
Most of those terrorists were Saudis. Gore might've been rattled, might've been damned scared after being hauled out of the Senate minutes before impact, but you wish he'd had more balls or less brains. Because now that makes energy independence a priority, makes the Company head into Afghanistan – you're pretty sure that's somewhere near Iran – and makes the Secretary of State have a coronary.
Well, shit. In front of you is a press statement, in the drawer is Jim Beam, and you'll meet old Jimmy once you finish the PR work.
Goddamn 9/11.
You have a Budget of 120. You have a minimum of three dice per category. You need not use all dice. You will gain between 5 and 10 federal influence for completed Superfund cleanup stages. Your Mandate status is as follows:
Green Energy:
-Solar: Satisfied: There is negligible installed solar capacity and nobody cares. Research is progressing mainly in the Southwest and California. -Wind: Satisfied: There is negligible installed wind capacity and nobody cares. Research is moving ahead in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest, albeit running into local opposition on the grounds of unsightly windmills lowering property values. -Biofuels: Deficit, Trending Upward: Corn to ethanol is the pipeline that people want, and it makes them feel better imagining it's green. You've set up the chain for subsidy disbursal at the federal level and have the protocols set up, and you've got the start of the gas station ethanol chain set up. Now you just need to get the rest of it done – audits and sourcing oversight so someone doesn't scam the EPA for millions. -Hydro: Not your department, but the DoE's and the Army Corps of Engineers'. That said, some of the dams need maintenance and updates. You can handle that, at least tangentially. If you can convince them. Privatization Status: Near Total: There is very little of this that is directly government controlled, barring the subsidies doled out by federal funding. At present, the corporate stakeholders are somewhat happy – but probably need an audit. -Overall: Deficit: Not all of the requirement can come from biofuels, thankfully. You can do at least some direct good here.
Public Opinion Is:
-Climate Change: Doubtful: A lot of people are willing to think that the climate might be changing, but surely humanity isn't the one doing it? We have a bare majority of America firmly onside, and most of that bare majority doesn't turn out to vote very much. -Fossil Fuels: Divided: Some of the U.S. - a minority – want renewable energy independence. The rest of the states are apathetic save for those like Texas, Louisiana and Alaska. There? Drill, baby, drill – energy independence requires more gas from home, after all. -The EPA: Ambivalent: Most of America thinks that Reagan's measures were good – that is, what use environmental protection if that leads to poverty? We need growth first, says America. As long as the EPA follows the earlier line, most of America is tepidly willing to let it exist.
Congressional Opinion Is:
-Republican: Uncertain/Divided: You're the EPA Director for a Democratic administration. You're the enemy, at least formally speaking. Concerted legislative opposition to a federal department is not as bad as it used to be – Congress is busy tangling with the three-hundred-pound gorilla in the room that is national security and what Gore will do about Afghanistan. -Democratic: Tepidly Supportive: As long as you don't undermine the new consensus on energy independence – which is fairly damned fragile – they're alright. They can support Gore's plans for now, they understand the value of pork in elections.
Administration Opinion Is: Apathetic: Your budget isn't worth fighting over, not even with the national labs rolled into it. There are other more important PR matters to worry about, in the wake of the recent, ah, incidents.
Cleanup Actions: You have five dice total before purchases:
[]Mobil Chemical/NJ Zinc Superfund Site: Stage I (0/100): Mineral Point Zinc Company originally developed the site in 1905 as a primary zinc smelter. In addition, the site has at various times been the location of sulfuric acid manufacturing, paint pigment production, ammonium phosphate fertilizer manufacturing, refining and recovery of secondary metals from zinc ore (e.g., cadmium), secondary zinc smelting and zinc dust production. Between 1905 and 1989, portions of the site were owned and operated by New Jersey Zinc Company, Mobil Oil Corporation, Gulf & Western Industries, Horsehead Industries, and the Zinc Corporation of America. In 1990, the facility ceased operation. Through various corporate mergers, acquisitions and the bankruptcy of Horsehead, responsibility for the site has fallen to Viacom International Incorporated/CBS and the ExxonMobil Corporation. These two companies have formed an entity known as "The DePue Group," which collectively represents the potentially responsible parties (PRPs) for the site. In 1995, the DePue Group entered into an interim consent order with Illinois EPA and the Illinois Attorney General's Office (IAGO) for investigation of the site and evaluation of possible remedial actions. This is a major Superfund site in Illinois, with contamination from zinc smelter slag, paint plant waste, phosphogypsum contamination, metal discharge to groundwater, elevated heavy metal concentrations, etc.
Stage I: Progress 0/100: Building a work plan, soil sampling, remedial investigations for Lake DePue, hydrogeologic investigation. Costs 10 Budget per die.
[]Portland Harbor Superfund Site: Stage II (114/250): The initial stage of baseline sampling has been completed for the Superfund site on the Willamette, and stakeholder working parties have already been formed for a few of the zones of interest. With the other corporate and local stakeholders moving slowly and citing costs, a further infusion of cash and federal personnel is probably needed to get people like DuPont and the City of Oregon on board. Costs 5 Budget per die. Forms working parties with local stakeholders, sets up public-feedback system, begins remediation design. Forms site-security apparatus as per the PATRIOT Act.
[]Continuing Hanford: Urgently Stabilizing Nuclear Waste: 151/200: This is the last of the major Superfund sites requiring additional funding allocation, as the other minor sites are proceeding as per the plans of the previous administration. The Hanford site – originally added in the 1980s - is riddled with nuclear waste, heavy metal contamination and the detritus of a major U.S. nuclear enrichment facility that had the waste disposal standards of the 1940s. There are two hundred million liters of high level radioactive waste in underground tanks that need stabilization work at least begun immediately, and continuing decon work on top of that to avoid groundwater and riverine contamination. 10 Budget per die.
[]Minor Site Decon: There are dozens of minor Superfund sites not half the size of the big three above, and all of them need more money. Accelerating their cleanup allows the new administration to claim an effective environmental policy, and most Americans are in favor of cleanup anyways. 5 Budget per die. Pick one zone to focus on below:
-[]Deep South: Stage I 0/200: Riddled with decades of lax environmental policy and governance, the sites in the South have yet to be cleaned and are underfunded to boot. This will take time and effort, especially with Gore's mandate for using local labor and contractors.
-[]Rust Belt: Stage I 57/100: Minor sites in the Midwest are mostly stable but need decon work, and we can attend to the most urgent ones first. Thankfully. There are too damn many waste dumping sites in America's industrial heartland.
-[-]West: California and the Pacific Coast have enough money and you have cash already allocated there. No need for more, not in this political environment.
-[]Northeast/Mid-Atlantic: Stage I 0/100: Primarily focusing on old mining, chemical and steel zones that are long since closed and have long since allowed their runoff to contaminate local groundwater reserves, this is a long, long task.
-[]Southwest: Stage I 0/300: Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and other states dependent on resource extraction have had a toxic legacy left to the current generation. Again, in the face of an uncooperative local government and a toothless state EPA you have a long road ahead.
-[]Midwest/Rockies:Stage I 0/300: This encompasses everything from Montana to Colorado and the Corn Belt since there's so few people there and so little state environmental funding. Again, a long task from the sheer number of pesticide, mining, chemical, arms and nuclear facilities here. Not to mention the closed military bases. PR Actions
[]Publicize Your Work: Use some cash to tap into ad agencies and the like, to make sure the public knows what your agency is up to and what you've done for the nation. Of course, this makes failure more humiliating but can magnify success. Costs one die and 10 budget, increases PR value of a success/completion and costs opinion in the event of failure events or if no option is completed this turn.
[]Expand the Environmental Education Arm: Expansion to Rural America 0/50: While on paper the EE arm is something that does not teach facts that 'bias the opinion of those in education', in practice most grants tend to be applied for by those who aren't climate deniers. Thankfully. Since this program has been shielded by a federal mandate since 1990, nobody can object if you start overhauling its management and expanding its budget to allow for a more effective education arm that hits more of rural America. And also speaks more to the religious in America, considering that a worrying number of them are more and more outspoken in their opposition to environmental regulation. 5 Budget per die. Current stage: Overhauling management and expanding it.
[]Awareness Campaign: Biofuel Farm Subsidies (30/50): Begin a campaign of ads and public-information statements to ensure that farmers and small processors are aware of the EPA's new biofuel subsidy program. Setting up 'tutorial schemes' to assist them in filling out paperwork is also recommended, since most of America takes personal offense to the existence of federal paperwork. 5 Budget per die.
Energy/Environmental Policy: You have two additional dice in this category, totaling five dice before dice buys.
[]Biofuel Subsidy Network: Stage II: 55/250: With the Gore Administration deciding to ramp up subsidies for first-generation biofuels, that leaves you to set up the infrastructure to dole out the grants. That means collaborating – now that the federal stage is done – collaboration with the Department of Agriculture to set up a unified subsidy system and let the lobbyists make sure that gets written into law so that DoA can't pressure you later…5 Budget per die, opinion boost among food processors. Bonus federal influence on completion.
[]First-Gen Biofuelling: Stage II: 15/100: Now that we have the pilot program running in Iowa and the Corn Belt, we can start pitching this to the major gas station chains. Have their franchisees get a tax break based on sales from biofuel mixes, and that encourages them to market it. Requires 10 Federal Influence for tax breaks. 5 Budget per die. This is needed to expand the biofuel market and avoid overcapacity from the subsidies. Bonus federal influence on completion. Oil corporation cooperation required for Stage I to be active. Stage II required for some degree of independence.
[]Biofuel Footprint Sourcing: 0/150: To show that the energy policy of the Administration isn't just for energy independence but also to be 'green', we'll need to assess the carbon footprint of the biofuels used and show that they hit the targets required, as well as setting up inspection standards for producers and hiring the inspectors we need. Conventional renewable fuels (corn starch ethanol) are required to reduce life-cycle emissions relative to life-cycle emissions from fossil fuels by at least 20 percent, biodiesel and advanced biofuels must reduce GHG emissions by 50 percent. Costs 5 Budget per die. -5 Budget per turn. Unglamorous.Needed for emissions control. Needed for auditing subsidy chains effectively. Highly advised it be taken.
[]Grid Overhauls: Stage II (Design): 0/100: The US power grid is a patchwork, and underfunded to boot. While the Department of Energy has the nominal responsibility to maintain it and modernize it in cooperation with private entities, the EPA has the responsibility to ensure the grid is 'green' in some sense. National Security means that the state wants a more resilient power grid, and we want in on this before the DoE goes in solo – we can use the Clean Air Act as a lever here. Costs 10 Budget per die, cooperates with Department of Energy. Grid modernizations require a supportive Administration. Further actions down this path require federal influence.Focused at present on a resilient, distributed power grid, EPA jurisdiction is strictly to ensure emissions standards and renewables compatibility.
R&D Actions: You have two additional dice here from the earlier choices in chargen. Total 5 dice before buys.
[]Second Generation Biofuels: 119/300: Generating biofuels from cellulose rather than starchy substances like cornstarch and sorghum can allow mass biofuel production without much impact on the food supply. Making this piece of intellectual property quite useful for those outside America and its mass corn overproduction. Costs 5 Budget per die.
[]Carbon Footprint Mapping: Stage I (0/150): Given that carbon footprints are at present based on things like emissions values stated by manufacturers and don't really look into supply chains – not to mention leaving Big Ag alone – it might be a good idea to fund the research teams that propose to set up a framework for emissions footprint mapping. That also means setting up a computer system that can easily add emissions footprints, and that means time and money. Costs 5 Budget per die. Begins emissions footprint map project.
[]Improved PV: 0/300: Solar at present is expensive and fragile, and more ruggedization and research is needed before even mass production can take the prices lower. That means investment, sadly – although you can funnel this through the labs owned by the EPA at least. Improves solar efficiency somewhat, 5 Budget per die. Administration Actions: You have three dice, each die allocated once per action. Some actions can be taken multiple times.
[]Set Up a National Security Team (0/50): The natsec side of the EPA is something that gets more laughs than anything else, but you're required to have some sort of security assessment procedure, liaisons with law enforcement and the alphabet soup of intelligence agencies, and ensure that some maniac can't just poison the water table with Superfund waste. That means that you have to get some enforcement liaisons and the bureaucracy to support them set up and ready. Costs 10 budget per turn. Costs 5 budget per die allocated. Highly advised it be taken.
[]Request More Staff: Spend some of your cash to get more contract staff for a particular task, boosting its performance somewhat. One more die in a particular category, costs five budget to convert over and above cost of allocating that die.
[]Schmoozing: You can always try to play Washington politics to some extent, although bear in mind that a screwup can hurt more than a success will help. DC variable, each sub-action can be taken once. Free actions. Bonus from chosen background. -[]The Administration: You serve at Gore's pleasure. Remember that. -[]Congress: Congress is a den of scum and villainy, but it is occasionally useful. -[]Public Figures: Targets talk shows, interviews and the like to sway public figures and thereby sway the public. Low returns, low risk. -[]Major Corporations: See about talking to 'corporate stakeholders' and what they might want for cooperation. Some of them can be convinced. --[]Write In Target (Optional)
[]Outreach: See if you can secure backing from another department for a project, or at least see what some of the other bits of the Administration want from you. Scratch their backs and they might offer something in return. Variable DC, no failure. This can unlock new projects, allowing your relatively limited department to punch above its jurisdiction. -[]DoD
-[]DoE
-[]Interior
-[]Health and Human Services
-[]State
-[]Education
AN: Somewhat lackluster...but next turn is when things begin to get interesting. 2002 midterms and all that.
Oh, and voting is open. I forgot to click that little checkbox thingy.
