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Posted April 15 at 12:21 pm by Mike Seely

Today, Boeing issued a statement claiming what we claimed a month ago: that Airbus' military tanker is so big that it will require billions of dollars in taxpayer-financed retrofits to bases and airstrips worldwide, whereas Boeing's proposed KC-767 would have required a relative pittance in upgrades.

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Posted April 2 at 11:50 am by Mike Seely

At a Congressional hearing yesterday concerning the Air Force's controversial bypsassing of Boeing tankers in favor of a larger Airbus fleet, Reps. Jay Inslee of Washington and Dave Loebsack of Iowa zeroed in on a hidden cost SW probed a few weeks back: that the Airbus tanker is so big that it will require millions, if not billions, of dollars in taxpayer-funded retrofits to military bases worldwide. Here's Loebsack's testimony (Inslee's after the jump): "The aerial refueling tanker contract award must serve the interests of the American people and American national security. I repeat that. It must serve the interests of the American people and American national security," said Loebsack. "The awarding of the tanker contract to Northrop Grumman and EADS will force the Iowa Air National Guard to use scarce resources to construct new hangars in order to accommodate the larger size of the EADS planes. The estimated cost for the construction of the new hangars would be roughly $45 million. Moreover, the runways currently used by the Iowa Air National Guard are not able to withstand the weight of a fully loaded EADS tanker. Thus, new ramps and runways would have to be constructed. The total cost incurred by the Iowa Air National Guard to house the Northrop Grumman EADS plane would be roughly $50 million to $60 million."

Continue reading "Inslee on Tanker Flap: "Bigger Is Not Always Better""

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Posted Nov. 1, 2007 at 12:54 pm by Aimee Curl

So Rep. Jay Inslee, out for dinner with Al Gore in Seattle recently, says he was teasing him about underselling this whole global warming problem: "It's much worse than you told us," Inslee says he told the former VP. "Since his movie came out, the scenario has gone to the worse side of the spectrum. No one predicted the melting in the Arctic (covering an area six times the size of California) would be as bad as we saw this summer."

Inslee's in town this weekend to promote his own global warming opus Apollo's Fire at Town Hall. (He's also participating tomorrow in a field hearing of the newly-formed House global warming committee as part of the mayors' conference climate protection summit at the Edgewater.) He says the climate crisis is "now upon us."

"We need to start thinking in terms of urgent action instead of long-term committee formation," Inslee says. His Apollo project includes a proposal to cap carbon dioxide emissions and put in place a trading system for carbon credits. It would also require the use of more renewable energy sources, give manufacturers incentives to produce plug-in hybrid vehicles and cut subsidies for oil and coal. "As long as coal can use the atmosphere as its personal garbage dump, new technologies won't come to fruition. We've got to level the playing field," he says.

All sounds good, but there's always that little thing called Political Will. There's a compelling argument that things must get much worse on the planet (or in our pocketbooks) before habits/funding/regulations will actually change. I asked Jay if he needs a Democrat in the White House for his plan to have a chance. He says: "We need a thinking person in the White House," and adds that the book details some of his discussion with George Bush and Dick Cheney about his proposal. "People will be stunned by the reaction of these people to clear science."

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To Do List

Tuesday, May 13

Augusten Burroughs
Augusten Burroughs has become the rock star of the tell-all dysfunctional-f... More>>
Town Hall, Tue., May 13, 7:30pm

The Dirtbombs, Dan Sartain, Terrible Twos
Detroit's Dirtbombs are back with their first full-length in five years. Th... More>>
Neumo's, Tue., May 13, 8:00pm, $12 adv

Dorothy Rissman
Much to the chagrin of her Wallingford neighbors, Dorothy Rissman began dum... More>>
Fetherston Gallery, Daily from Mon., April 21 until Sat., May 24, 11:00am

87 more things to do today>>