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?
