Climate Change, Wetlands and Riprap

It's nice to know that at least one Virginia journalist is doing a capable job of following the local angle on the Global Warming debate. Too bad he isn't getting published in a Virginia newspaper or periodical. You have to track down a copy of BioScience Magazine to read him. (Even worse, you have to find the hard copy of the publication because it doesn't post articles online.)

I am referring to Steve Nash, a University of Richmond journalism professor (and close personal friend), who penned an in-depth article for the science publication about the impact of Seal Level Rise (SLR) on the ecology of the Mid-Atlantic Coast. The anticipated one-meter rise in sea levels by the end of the century, as you may recall, is a core assumption of the Governor's Commission on Climate Change. The commission generated abundant information about the impending problem, but nothing more than the predictable "the sky is falling" coverage leaked into the Virginia press coverage.

Steve and I don't see eye to eye on all aspects of Climate Change, but I do commend him for this: He is intellectually honest. He acknowledges the complexities of the debate, and he doesn't leave readers with the idea that, as a certain governor of an unnamed Mid-Atlantic state, who will go unmentioned, put it, the "science is settled." While I am skeptical of extreme views on climate change, I likewise think anyone who dismisses the possibility of human-caused global warming as a "hoax" is ignoring a lot of evidence. At the very least, we need to prepare ourselves for the possibility that sea levels will continue to rise throughout this century -- as they have in the last century.

Anyone interested in the impact on wildlife species -- from horseshoe crabs to shore birds -- will find Steve's article worth reading. But there's another reason why this article is important to public policy wonks like the readers of Bacon's Rebellion. He asks what rising sea levels will do to wetlands: a vital wildlife habitat, nutrient filter and buffer against tidal surges in big storms. As wetlands always did when sea levels rose and fell in aeons past, they will migrate. The lowest lying wetlands will disappear under the waves, while the marsh plants and animals species will move "uphill" so to speak, depending upon the slope of the shoreline and the extent of sedimentation from the rivers.

There's just one problem with the migration scenario in the 21st century. Writes Nash:

As shorelines flood, political pressure mounts for home and business owners to install more riprap, bulkheads, dikes, seawalls, revetments, groins, jetties and other barriers to try to hold back the sea. In varying degrees, these structures wall off the potential for new beaches, wetlands and other habitats, and guarantee obliteration of existing ones as sea levels rise. A recent survey found that 26 percent of Maryland's 6600 kilometers of shoreline is already hardened (the figure does not include tidal creeks).

If Virginia wants to preserve its wetlands, the only solution is to achieve Fundamental Change in human settlement patterns. To read more about the impact of SLR on Virginia's coastline, check out the Climate Change Commission's Sept. 10 report.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Boomers and the Revolt Against Mass Overconsumption

In my new capacity as SVP-publishing at The Boomer Project, one of my jobs is to scan the horizon for emergent trends relating to the sociology and psychology of Baby Boomers and other generations (Silent Generation, GenX and GenY) and blog about them on the Boomer Consumer blog. Those insights, and those culled by Boomer Project principals Matt Thornhill and John Martin from their years of study on the subject, are distilled into columns that run biweekly in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Readers of the Bacon's Rebellion blog will find the theme of the latest column, "Boomers and the Revolt Against Consumerism," to be familiar. Indeed, if you take the insights of generational analysis and cross-fertilize them with the critique of Mass OverConsumption on this blog, you wind up with the thesis of this op-ed piece: After years of excessive consumption, the United States is rediscovering the virtues of thrift and frugality. From the op-ed piece:

We believe this change is being driven by more than temporary financial hardship. Long-term, the consumerist backlash is energized by: (1) the natural maturation of the boomer cohort, (2) a dawning recognition that longer life spans and longer retire ments require more money, and (3) the spread of a "sustainability" ethic among all segments of the population.

Boomers now range in age from 44 to 62 years old. Following the path of previous generations, they are now at the age where they derive their self-identity less from their material trappings and social status than from their own inner compass. They are less concerned about acquiring status symbols like Beemers, vacation homes, granite kitchen countertops, and $1,200 purses and more about building ties to friends and family, and nurturing their self-identity and self-respect. Deriving less satisfaction from the accumulation of "stuff," they are seeking the financial security and flexibility in their extended, post-65 lives that only saving, paying down debt, and investing can get them.

The growing anti-materialism of the boomer generation dovetails with the spreading environmental revolt against an economy organized around mass consumption. Creating an environmentally sustainable society entails buying less stuff: plundering less land for the extraction of raw materials, consuming less energy during production and distribution, and filling fewer acres of landfills when the stuff wears out.

The leading edge of this movement is driven by what Harvard Business School professor John Quelch calls the "middle-aged simplifier" -- well-off people who are turning their backs on conspicuous consumption and the accumulation of stuff. Turning their backs on Hummers, McMansions and other symbols of material success, many of these are he writes in his blog, includes "empty-nester baby-boomers . . . who are tired of heating unused spaces in cavernous mansions, now preferring smaller houses with architectural character and intimate spaces, more charm and less maintenance."

Implications for Virginia: So, why post on this topic on a blog of Virginia-specific politics? Because the trend is national in scope and will change consumer behavior in Virginia as it will the rest of the country. The quest for "simplification" and "frugality," I hypothesize, will manifest itself as reduced demand for the traditional symbols of conspicuous consumption: huge houses, multiple cars in the garage, lavish vacations, frequent dining out, shopping as entertainment and the accumulation of stuff. These changes, in turn, will impact human settlement patterns, transportation systems, retail sales (and sales tax revenues) and any number of other pillars of Business As Usual.

It would be a huge mistake for public policy makers to assume that the patterns of the past half century will continue in a straight-line projection from the past. We have reached an inflexion point. Policy makers take heed.

(Photo credit: PBS.)

Earth to Bacon: Obama Beats McCain With Defense Money

Our very own James A. Bacon wrote a blog about a week ago predicting tough times for Hampton Roads.

Although Jim claims to be independent, that's BS. We really know where his sympathies lie. Basically, Jim believes that an Obama win will be bad for Tidewater. He wrote:

"I'm not making a partisan statement or casting a value judgment here. My point is not to dredge up the rights and wrongs of U.S. foreign and military policy. I'm simply observing that the Elephant Clan, for better or worse, funnels more money into the military than does the Donkey Clan. Commuities dependent upon military spending, such as Hampton Roads, fare better during Elephant Clan administrations."

Well, that's a very simple, pat and intuitive piece of analysis.

Maybe too simple, pat and intuitive.

The Virginian-Pilot reports today that Obama is outstripping McCain in defense contributions. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Obama has received $870,165 to McCain's $647.313.

What? After all, McCain's an Annapolis grad, career Navy, former aviator and Vietnam POW. Obama has zero military experience.

According to military analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, Obama and McCain really aren't that far apart on defense issues after you extract Iraq. Both candidates are targetting excess defense spending for weapons systems we don't need. If our threats are going to be Islamic insurgents, do we need ultra high performance F-22 Raptors, unless, of course, Putin starts a serious conflict or gives Sukhoi 35s to Hugo Chavez?

So, it looks like Hampton Roads will be in some jeopardy, regardless of who wins Tuesday. Thompson, hwoever, believes that jobs at Northrup Grumman are safe.

So, Jim Bacon is half right. He's correct that defense will take a hit; but he's wrong with assuming that it will be a worse under Obama. Military contractors obviously don't think so. Once again, we're seeing this campaign turn old chesnuts, particularly those of the Republican variety, on their heads.

And, please, Jim, can we drop this "Donkey Clan" and "Elephant Clan" crap? We need to cleanse the world of all-too-cute Risse-speak.


Peter Galuszka

SPREADING AROUND DISASTER

Today’s WaPo reports that federal Agencies are going ahead with homeowner bailouts without answering the questions raised in yesterdays “WaPo and IHT...” post.

It is clear that the intent is to spread around the bailout money to benefit:

Investment banks
Commercial banks
Credit card companies
Hedge fund managers and investors
Insurance Companies
Fannie and Freddie
Autonomobile manufacturers
Airlines
(no need to help Exxon / Mobile yet but in a few weeks...)

and all the others that took actions over the past 20 years that are the prime drivers of settlement pattern dysfunction (the Helter Skelter Crisis) and thus Mobility and Access Crisis and the Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis, the Wealth Gap Crisis...

In the Short Run:

Over cappuccino, EMR’s best friend said it clearly: “They are rewarding those who did stupid things and punishing those who did the right thing with respect to savings, investment and retirement planning.

Those who invested in the right size house in the right location and who crafted a lifestyle that does not depend on Large, Private Vehicles for their every need are still being protected by THE MARKET for now.

The location and details of mortgage foreclosures (on a Cluster by Cluster, Neighborhood by Neighborhood and Village by Village basis and NOT on a municipal jurisdiction by municipal jurisdiction basis) document this fact.

But how long will this protection last with unsound Agency intervention to save Tiger Riders on a massive scale? Those who fear the Donkey Clan will socialize everything can be at ease, the Elephant Clan administration is already selling off the “means of production” AND consumption.

In the Long Run:

As we said in “WaPo and IHT ...”

The longer that Fundamental Transformation of settlement patterns (and Fundamental Transformation of governance structures) is postponed, the more painful and less probable any real “recovery” will be.

It looks like it will be a while before there is light at the end of the tunnel. Both presidential candidates and every Virginia candidate running for the Senate or the House are still talking about going back to “economic growth” rather than finding a sustainable path.

Note to Larry Gross: On the path understanding human settlement patterns one of the few things that is less useful than insisting on using Core Confusing Words is to intentionally misuse terms that are clearly defined. Case in point your intentional misuse of: Urban Support Regions. You intentionally misuse words, phrases and theses and then accuse EMR of being obscure, incorrect or stupid.

If you understood the New Urban Region Conceptual Framework you would know that the graphic you cite on “WaPo and IHT...” supports exactly what EMR has been saying for two decades and for six years at Bacons Rebellion.

EMR does not have time to go back and repeat it for you again. If you are genuinely interested in understanding – that becomes more and more doubtful – you can check out EMR’s repeated answers to your questions over the past – it seems like forever – years.

And for “charlie:” Sorry, “charlie” they only accept smart tuna who understand human settlement patterns. Leverage is really important as we note in “The Shape of the Future” and it gets speculators in trouble all the time but it is the settlement patterns agglomerated over the past 80 years – THE HELTER SKELTER CRISIS – that is the root cause of economic, social and physical dysfunction in contemporary society.

EMR

Note to Readers

Some of you have noticed that the format of the Bacon's Rebellion blog has changed. Here's the story: Blogger "upgraded" its software and induced me to incorporate the new features. In so doing, the blog roll, "about us" text and other features that had been part of the old blog disappeared. My HTML skills are minimal, so it will take a process of trial and error to figure out how to restore the missing elements. I will endeavor to do so when I have the time.

WAPO AND IHT HOUSING AND MORTGAGE COVERAGE

WaPo has published two very useful items that document and reinforce what EMR has been saying in the for the past five years in 11 columns and in recent Blog posts about the Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis and the mortgage finance meltdown.

On Friday, 24 October there was “Treasury Considers Backing Mortgages: FDIC Proposal Aims to Help Homeowners” with a map of September 2008 foreclosures. The pattern of defaults is just what EMR has been predicting for two decades. See “Wild Abandonment,” (8 Sept 2003) and “Scatteration,” (25 Sept 2003) which are being updated with new data and references. The text needs little updating to reflect the current landscape. These columns become the first two chapters of ROOTS OF THE HELTER SKELTER CRISIS, PART ONE of TRILO-G. More on the role of Blog posts in updating TRILO-G in “Upon Further Review.”

Also important are the issues raised by David Leonhardt in “Rescue U.S. Homeowners? Wait a Minute.” in the 22 October International Herald Tribune. He explores the $4 trillion dollar hole that “help” for homeowners may dig for federal, state and municipal Agencies.

Just who deserves help?

1) Those who were duped by fraud?

2) Those who knowingly participated in risky ventures and ignored decades of sound advice?

3) Those who were greedy or foolish – they believed the ads – and now cannot make their payments?

4) Those who decide to bail on an underwater mortgage so they can buy a cheaper house in a better location even though they can afford to pay their bills?

On Saturday, 25 October WaPo was back with “Snapshots From a Slow Market” in the Real Estate section. Some will plot the R= locations of these “neighborhoods,” add a Favored Corridor overlay and nod because they understand the New Urban Region Conceptual Framework.

If you do not understand the New Urban Region Conceptual Framework then you may be at sea on just what is happening where and what the impact may be. There is still time to catch up unless you purchased the wrong size house in the wrong location. If you are already underwater on your mortgage, perhaps you should have been paying more attention in years past.

The longer that Fundamental Transformation of settlement patterns (and Fundamental Transformation of governance structures) is postponed, the more painful and less probable any “recovery” will be.

It looks like it will be a while before there is light at the end of the tunnel. Both presidential candidates and every Virginia candidate running for the Senate or the House are still talking about going back to “economic growth” rather than finding a sustainable path.

The “center, left” commentor, Anon 11:31 on HOT, FLAT AND CROWDED post is typical of those who are concerned with the real danger of ‘overshooting’ carrying capacity: They do not understand the magnitude of the impact that would result from Fundamental Transformations that replace dysfunctional human settlement patterns with functional human settlement patterns.

Note for Michael Ryan: EMR uses a 24 hour clock too. You might as well worry about that in addition to EMR’s strategy to keep internet tracking and identity consistent. Try Googling “I.” Turns out this technique work very well for EMR. M_R might want to try it.

EMR

How Foreign Firms Boost Greater Richmond

Here's a puzzle. Why is it that Virginia has so many cosmopolitan advantages useful in the global economy yet there is so much reactionary xenophobia particularly in areas where the thinking should be more advanced?

The Old Dominion is next door to the nation's capital, has a plethora of U.S. government and non-governmental agencies, top-ranked ports, military, diplomatic missions and vibrant economic sectors despite the financial meltdown.

Yet, it also has some of the worst examples of racist xenophobia. Some examples: Prince Williams County's frisk-everyone, anti-Hispanic laws; plans to build an immigrant GULAG in Farmville and (thankfully) now dead plans my my home county of Chesterfield to "identify" illeagl immigrants who are only Hispanic and rank in guess-work numbers far beyond reality.

So, we owe it to Richmond magazine for its perceptive cover package this month on how the foreign-born influence Greater Richmond. This worthy project has plenty of personal tales of living abroad and ending up here. But the one item that attracts my interest is a detailed graphic by artist Chris Obrion with whom I used to work at Virginia Business some years ago.

Chris's work points out the many and varied local companies owned by foreigners. Germany has 32 firms in the area that employ 4,241. Next are the French with five firms and 1,617 workers. The U.K. is next with 27 firms and 1,327 workers. The Japanese have 18 firms with 1,072 workers. Mexico has two firms employing 131 and Greece has one firm employing 55.

To be sure, some of the foreign firms are having big problems, such as German-owned chip maker Qimonda which has 2,275 local workers and will lay off about 1,200. But the rest seem healthy. French -owned Alstom Power services and repairs turbines in Chesterfield and Maruchan Virginia Inc., owned by Japanese businessmen, makes noodle soup.

Richmond magazine lays all of this out for you in a way that impresses based on its sheer mass. It makes you wonder why so many politicians, especially Republicans in wealthy white suburban areas, are so keen on creating suspicion about foreigners and placing every barrier they can think of in their path. Doing so somehow makes them seem more "American" and therefore vote-worthy. But all it does is show how little they know about the world today and how much they are hurting the United States and Virginia in the name of waving the flag.

Peter Galuszka

WALL STREET VILLAGE GETS BALANCE

Readers of EMR’s columns and posts will recall that one of the themes harped on by those who do not try to understand the New Urban Region Conceptual Framework is that it will take forever to Transform human settlement pattern and to achieve Balance, especially in New Urban Region Core Beta Villages and Communities.

EMR cites the Core of Toronto responding to office overbuild and to the square foot value of more Balanced vs. less Balanced components of urban fabric.

Yesterday’s Wapo carries a story: “Wall St. Looking More Like Main St.: Though It Still Draws Tourists, Storied Financial Hub is Increasingly Residential.”

Another favorite tactic of dedicated detractors (12.5 Percenters) is to claim that they cannot understand what EMR says or to intentionally misinterpret his positions. They then invent bogus positions and create strawpersons in an attempt to discredit his work. The comment on the last post re “Hot, Flat and Crowded” is a perfect example. Flail away, you are helping us compete TRILO-G in ways we will document in “Upon Further Review” forthcoming.

By the way in response to several e-mails, Friedman has a number of good observations in his book. We were commenting on the words in the title, and you are right about many of his views on the current state of economic, social and physical reality.

EMR

Military Spending Cuts will Trump Virginia's Best Business Climate

With the nation's best business climate, Virginia is in a better position than other states to weather the economic storm, said Patrick O. Gottschalk, secretary of commerce and trade, over the weekend at a small business awards ceremony in Manassas.

I love Pat. He's an old friend of mine and a wonderful guy, and he's done a solid job as secretary of economic development. But he's also a team player, and he's touting the party line. While I agree that Virginia is well positioned to attract new business, we'll be fighting more than a general economic downturn in the years ahead: We'll be contending with the biggest cuts in defense spending since the early Clinton administration.

True, Virginia has won the best-state-for-business honors from Forbes magazine for the third year in a row, as Gottschalk noted and was duly reported by the Washington Post. That's Virginia's ace in the hole. Unfortunately, Rep. Barney Frank, Massachusetts' fourth district congressman and one of the most senior and influential memebrs of Congress, is holding a royal straight flush.

Frank, riding high in what's shaping up to be a near filibuster-proof Democratic majority in Congress and the most liberal Democratic president ever elected in American history, will have a lot to say about U.S. spending priorities.

Here's what he told the editorial board of one of his home-town newspapers, the Standard-Times in New Bedford. As the newspaper wrote, he "called for a 25 percent cut in military spending, saying the Pentagon has to start choosing from its many weapons programs."

I'm not arguing about the rightness of wrongness of Frank's priorities. The Pentagon, like the rest of the federal government, needs to make tough choices and cut spending. I'm simply noting that for the past eight years, Virginia -- Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads especially -- have had enjoyed huge increases in military spending. In the next four to eight years, those regions will be contending with military spending moving in reverse. Frank may not get his 25 percent cuts. But what if he gets 10 percent cuts? It won't be a pretty picture.

To think that the Pentagon-fueled prosperity that Virginia has enjoyed since 9/11 will continue indefinitely is a hookah dream. To fail to prepare for it is folly.

HOT, FLAT AND CROWDED -- A MATTER OF VOCABULARY

Last week Thomas L. Friedman’s most recent book was at the top of WaPo’s nonfiction best sellers list. This week it is number four.

Footnote: EMR got his hands on a nonsanctioned lite book –a LARGE PRINT version – so he went to the Greater Warrenton Borders for one that is easier to read. In these times of financial crisis when citizens really need to understand how the world works, two copies of Friedman’s book were on a shelf in the way-way-back. What was in front piled in great stacks? Fiction, political hack screeds and in-depth reporting on the same insights found in tabloids and Parade: “Daniel Craig is more than a tough guy.”

Friedman’s title, Hot, Flat and Crowed, is provocative, but there are several problems of Vocabulary.

HOT

“HOT” refers to Global Climate Change. It plays to his subtitle” “Why We Need a Green Revolution – And How it Can Renew America.”

There is some debate about whether the earth is really getting hotter – most of the negative assessments come from proponents of Business-As-Usual and from “principled-conservatives” which makes this perspective suspect from the start.

There is even more heated discussion about whether human action is a driver / accelerator of Global Climate Change but Friedman seems to have no doubts.

As EMR has said over and over both the existence of a warming trend and the causes are fine to debate but the larger reality is that does not make any difference.

What ever the trend and whatever the cause, the “alarmists” who have a problem with Global Warming and decry the human impact on Climate Change are calling for actions that for the most part are needed for other very sound economic, social and physical reasons. Jim Bacon and EMR agree on this since he is more of a skeptic on the issue of causation.

Two other thoughts on HOT:

EMR has been carefully watching the well documented melting of glaciers for the past 60-plus years in his home Community – a disaggregated and very Beta Community in the Northern Rocky Mountain Urban Support Region.

Second, one of the biggest non-economic and non-mysterious health problems is that people go to the hospital for a well known cause and come out with an gratuitous infection. Peyton and Kellen had infections in the last few weeks.

EMR spent some time in the Greater Warrenton-Fauquier Community Hospital last week. (“If you want to do great things in your world, spend some time in ours,” US Navy)

It became obvious – while waiting for the medical staff to assembly to carry out a routine exploratory procedure, and while covered with a sheet and pre-warmed double blanket – the special-ops area of the hospital was COLD. The doctors and nurses were wearing two and three (visible) layers. The Hispanic lady who was scrubbing equipment looked like what was once called an “Eskimo” but is now call an “Inuit,” (aka, Aemai – An Earlier North American Immigrant.)

Why so cold in the Hospital? Do infections spread more easily in warmer temperatures? Having spent a month or more in the subtropics for over 30 years – and some time in hospitals on
Tortola and St. Vincent – EMR suspects the answer is “yes.”

Based on direct experience, EMR sees no reason to question the predominance of scientific evidence on both warming and cause but as noted above, that is not the real issue.

So HOT is problematic, However, HOTTER or not, what is important is that what is recommended to stop accelerating Global Warming makes sense to achieve a sustainable trajectory for society. Do we really need to fuss over “HOT” to make better decisions about locations and the allocation of resources?

FLAT

Friedman has ended the lives of thousands of acres of forest in order to tell readers of serial editions an earlier book about FLAT. By FLAT he means “Globality: Competing with Everyone From Everywhere for Everything.” – to use Sirkin, et. al.’s title and explanation – is making the world seem “flat.” As Supercapitalism makes very clear Globality and FLAT is not a good thing from many perspectives.

The fact is, the most important thing is NOT the price of tea in China.

The most important thing for any citizen is the safety, happiness and well being of the other citizens in ones Cluster, the Clusters that make up their Neighborhood, the Neighborhoods that make up their Village...

The complexity of Globality is an excuse for avoiding what is really important. For this reason FLAT is confusing and the analogy is way over-used.

CROWDED

It is with “Crowded” that Friedman goes off the rail.

He fails to understand that “Crowded” is an variable that is dependent upon human settlement patterns. What seems to be “Crowded” is due to a dysfunctional distribution of human activity and the failure to allocate resources equitably.

Six and a half billion people is not beyond the carrying capacity of the Earth.

Six and a half billion citizens is beyond the carrying capacity of Earth if they all were to consume as much per capita as those in the US of A believe to be their birthright.

The primary driver of unsustainable per capita consumption is dysfunctional settlement pattern.

Of course with fewer citizens on Earth, everyone could enjoy more per capita consumption but that is a different issue.

Freedman sees the problem of CROWDED as being due to the expansion of the “middle class.” Never mind that the Middle Class disappeared over the past six decades.

What he means is that there has been an expansion of expectations and consumption of some at the upper levels of the Ziggurat in all the richest nation-states.

It is now quite clear that this level of consumption cannot be sustained even by a super fortunate minority. The cheap resources – natural capital – is becoming more dear and fewer and fewer can afford it.

The critical problem is that a lot of those who are not yet Mass OverConsuming have been told by pandering politicians that they deserve to achieve levels of consumption that they see in ads and in more-real-than-life streaming and screaming images spread around the Globe.

The Business-As-Usual advocates confuse the comfort and consumption of “me and my friends” at the top of the Ziggurat with the welfare and sustainability of an “advanced” technological society.

A green revolution will not solve this problem. It will take a gray-matter revolution.

To make matters worse, driven by Business-As-Usual and MainStream Media, the only interest in “green” that has been discovered outside small, intentional communities has been Green Greed – Buy our product and feel good about consumption.

In a rational world, ads for a “full-size, luxury SUV Hybrid” would be considered pornography.

Energy, technology and meat along with Large, Private Vehicles and Scattered McMansions will never again be cheap.

That is especially true if the there is a delusion that it is possible to fuel, inform, over-feed, provide Mobility, Access and Shelter for six and a half billion citizens with democratic governance and market economies.

EMR

Nuclear Power Cluster Reaches Critical Mass

Virginia's nuclear power industry cluster has gained a major new player: AREVA Newport News. The French nuclear giant AREVA, which makes uranium-filled fuel rods in Lynchburg, has partnered with Northrup Grumman Shipbuilding, builder of nuclear-powered naval vessels, to invest $363 million and create 540 jobs at a new 368,000-square-foot nuclear reactor manufacturing facility.

Said Gov. Timothy M. Kaine in announcing the deal: “This joint venture project is tremendous news for Virginia. Both AREVA and Northrop Grumman are stellar companies with strong reputations and a solid presence in Virginia. We are strong supporters of the nuclear and shipbuilding industries in Virginia, and we will continue to support this facility and compete aggressively for future expansions. Emission-free nuclear energy produced in the United States is a positive step toward reducing greenhouse gases and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.”

Added AREVA Inc. CEO Tom Christopher: “We are establishing a world-class entity that fully supports the deployment of a fleet of U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactors made in America by Americans and for Americans. Here in Virginia, we have access to a great workforce for both the manufacturing and engineering expertise we need."

Naturally, there are subsidies involved. According to the Daily Press, state and local governments are putting up $23 million in incentives. The includes $3 million from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, a $1.5 million performance-based grant from the Virginia Investment Partnership program, workforce training and other benefits.

I'm normally a big critic of incentives, but these make as much sense as any subsidies (incentives) can.

(1) Bringing the nuclear-component manufacturing facility to Virginia builds upon, and strengthens, an existing nuclear power cluster. An industry cluster will have more staying power than an individual company such as, say, the Volkswagen USA headquarters.

(2) The deal brings high-skilled, high-paying jobs to a region that is beginning to hurt economically. Unemployment reached 4.8 percent in August, and prospects bode ill for the next few years as a new presidential administration ponders deep cuts in the military. Many of the jobs created will require skills that the local workforce already possesses.

Bacon's bottom line: This may be the biggest economic development coup of the Kaine administration with the most positive long-term implications.