{"id":11559,"date":"2009-03-01T03:58:50","date_gmt":"2009-03-01T07:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/?p=11559"},"modified":"2017-11-15T12:57:42","modified_gmt":"2017-11-15T16:57:42","slug":"obama-the-pickens-plan-and-the-potential-fire-next-time-by-deneen-borelli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2009\/03\/01\/obama-the-pickens-plan-and-the-potential-fire-next-time-by-deneen-borelli\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama, the Pickens Plan and the Potential Fire Next Time, by Deneen Borelli"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In July of 1967, Detroit and Newark were bathed in fire and blood.\u00a0 Anguished and hurt, people in poor and minority communities in these cities had had enough of crippling policies foisted on them by the ruling political establishment.\u00a0 They stood up and screamed for change. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the collective melees, 66 died, 1,914 were injured and around 8,500 people were arrested. <\/span><\/p>\n

It was an uprising against police brutality.\u00a0 It was an uprising against poverty.\u00a0 And it was an uprising against urban renewal and the government’s abuse of eminent domain. <\/span><\/p>\n

Meant to acquire land for public projects, eminent domain was used as a sledgehammer against blacks rather than a scalpel on behalf of the community.\u00a0 Neighborhoods were torn asunder so others didn’t have to see “slums.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Back then, this sort of urban renewal was derisively called “negro removal.”\u00a0 Today, it could be repeated by the “Pickens Plan.” <\/span><\/p>\n

You’ve probably seen T. Boone Pickens on television.\u00a0 He’s the Texas billionaire promising to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by building windmills.\u00a0 He pleads with us to take his word for it that his plan will work and that we should hurry to build wind turbines across middle America. <\/span><\/p>\n

But the devil is always in the details, and acting without caution risks repeating the injustices that sparked the 1967 riots. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Pickens Plan calls for wind farms in places such as Texas and the Dakotas, with power supplied to cities through a massive new network of power lines.\u00a0 Pickens wistfully compares this proposed power grid to the interstate highway system. <\/span><\/p>\n

That’s the problem. <\/span><\/p>\n

When the 46,000-mile interstate highway system was built to move the privileged between cities and to their new homes in the suburbs, planners paid little mind to the property rights of those living in the way of their idea of progress. <\/span><\/p>\n

Historian Raymond A. Mohl noted that roadbuilding in the early 1960s dislocated 33,000 people a year.\u00a0 By 1969, that number was up to 200,000 annually. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some saw these new roads as a tool to pave over black communities already in decline.\u00a0 In Detroit, it was Paradise Valley – also known as “Black Bottom.”\u00a0 In Newark, it was the Central Ward. <\/span><\/p>\n

New power lines for the Pickens Plan would run 12,650 miles.\u00a0 Where will those lines run?\u00a0 More than likely through communities that have the least political power to oppose them. <\/span><\/p>\n

Washington, D.C.’s poor Anacostia neighborhood certainly won’t to get the preferential treatment that residents of Middleburg, Virginia did.\u00a0 A newly-announced power line near there was designed to go around Civil War battlefields and the estates of horse country’s rich and famous. <\/span><\/p>\n

Pickens will also likely profit from his plan, despite his downplaying it, thanks to our tax dollars.\u00a0 Wind energy projects benefit from a federal subsidy known as the Production Tax Credit (PTC). <\/span><\/p>\n

Pickens’ Mesa Power company once hoped to spend $10 billion dollars on a 2,700-turbine wind farm in Texas.\u00a0 According to a report by the National Center for Public Policy Research, “Pickens’ firm stands to receive between $1.66 billion and about $3 billion in PTC payments alone over ten years, a significant portion of its original investment.” <\/span><\/p>\n

When oil prices fell, however, so did interest in the Pickens Plan.\u00a0 Mesa Power is now scaling back its wind farm proposal. <\/span><\/p>\n

But Pickens seems to have the ear of President Obama.\u00a0 In his February congressional address, Obama promoted wind power over the fossil fuels currently accounting for the overwhelming percentage of America’s energy production.\u00a0 This would give new and unnatural life to the Pickens Plan. <\/span><\/p>\n

It will be a true test of Obama’s administration as to whether it will look out for and protect the property rights of people in the communities that supported and prayed for him, or if he will risk more of the racial strife he says he wants to overcome to help big business interests. <\/span><\/p>\n

If Obama sides with Pickens, he won’t be delivering the kind of change that people voted for. <\/span><\/p>\n

#\u00a0 #\u00a0 # <\/span><\/p>\n

Deneen Borelli is a fellow for the Project 21 black leadership network.\u00a0 Comments may be sent to DBorelli@nationalcenter.org<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Published by The National Center for Public Policy Research. Reprints permitted provided source is credited. New Visions Commentaries reflect the views of their author, and not necessarily those of Project 21 or the National Center for Public Policy Research. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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In July of 1967, Detroit and Newark were bathed in fire and blood.\u00a0 Anguished and hurt, people in poor and minority communities in these cities had had enough of crippling policies foisted on them by the ruling political establishment.\u00a0 They stood up and screamed for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,60],"tags":[84],"yoast_head":"\nObama, the Pickens Plan and the Potential Fire Next Time, by Deneen Borelli - The National Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2009\/03\/01\/obama-the-pickens-plan-and-the-potential-fire-next-time-by-deneen-borelli\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The National Center\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2009\/03\/01\/obama-the-pickens-plan-and-the-potential-fire-next-time-by-deneen-borelli\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2009\/03\/01\/obama-the-pickens-plan-and-the-potential-fire-next-time-by-deneen-borelli\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The National Center\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b8ca6710c21895f6ce418b5cc391bb6f\"},\"headline\":\"Obama, the Pickens Plan and the Potential Fire Next Time, by Deneen Borelli\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-03-01T07:58:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-15T16:57:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2009\/03\/01\/obama-the-pickens-plan-and-the-potential-fire-next-time-by-deneen-borelli\/\"},\"wordCount\":717,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2009\/03\/01\/obama-the-pickens-plan-and-the-potential-fire-next-time-by-deneen-borelli\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/borelli_sm-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Project 21 Commentary\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Project 21\",\"Project 21 Commentary\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2009\/03\/01\/obama-the-pickens-plan-and-the-potential-fire-next-time-by-deneen-borelli\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2009\/03\/01\/obama-the-pickens-plan-and-the-potential-fire-next-time-by-deneen-borelli\/\",\"name\":\"Obama, the Pickens Plan and the Potential Fire Next Time, by Deneen Borelli - 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