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Thursday, September 27, 2007

Guest View: Personal Attacks a Last Resort

By David Cohen

    In his sinister little book, "The Art of Always Being Right," the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer offered this wicked advice on how to win an argument: "A last trick is to become personal, insulting, rude, as soon as you perceive that your opponent has the upper hand, and that you are going to come off worst."
    Evidently, Mr. (Bryan) Bird of the Forest Guardians has been reading his Schopenhauer. Unable to win the biomass argument under cross-examination in a public hearing process, he's now reduced to attacking me personally in newspapers: "It is up to the reader to judge Mr. Cohen's expertise in forest science and ranching in New Mexico," he says sarcastically in a recent op-ed in this paper ("Lawyer Has His Science Mixed Up," Telegraph, Sept. 20), asserting that as a lawyer I don't have any "scientific credentials" to comment on biomass.
    I plead guilty to being a lawyer, but the expert witnesses who testified under oath in the recent hearing on the subject of biomass weren't lawyers. They certainly have scientific credentials. As a result of their expert testimony, the Environmental Improvement Board unanimously approved the Estancia biomass project. Unanimously.
    Apparently, personal attacks have become the Guardians' modus operandi— after being repeatedly rebuffed in several public hearings, they then toss out personal slurs in newspaper op-eds where they can't be immediately challenged, especially in a weekly publication such as this paper.
    To be sure, Mr. Bird can attack my credentials in newspapers all he wants, but that's neither here nor there. Many others are saying the same thing I've been saying, including scientists, local ranchers and government officials.
    They're the ones winning this argument, not me, not Mr. Bird.
    Let's compare Bird's claims with what others say and do regarding biomass.
    Bird claims that, in general, biomass energy is a "marginal proposition at best in our dry, lightly forested region." And yet the governor of this state, Bill Richardson, doesn't agree. He is all over YouTube, on video, praising biomass. Of biomass, he says: "It shows if we're ingenious, we can have renewable fuel and renewable energy as the main source for the future. Even if it means government subsidies, I would be supportive of that."
    Further, the New Mexico Legislature, the state Land Office and our Congressional delegation have overwhelmingly supported biomass, including Estancia biomass, as part of our renewable energy policy. In addition, the Public Regulation Commission has mandated biomass in our state, even as the Soil and Water Conservation Districts in the Torrance County area are actively supporting biomass. Clearly, Mr. Bird and his team of op-ed writers are in the minority among those who've studied this issue.
    Bird also claims that the Estancia biomass project has "never provided satellite imagery or any other credible demonstration that sufficient 'excess' wood is present for its 30-year lifetime." That's funny. I had a conversation with Mr. Bird on Sept. 20, 2007, and he admitted to me that he saw the satellite imagery. Moreover, the imagery was filed, as a matter of public record, in a New Mexico regulation proceeding in 2006, as well as at the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department in August of this year. This report establishes that there are three times more than enough accessible and available material to meet the project's needs in an ecologically and environmentally sound manner.
    Why Mr. Bird is now saying something different to the public is curious.
    Consider the words of Richard Spencer, a rangeland expert from Mountainair: "After reviewing the Biomass Resource Assessment prepared by Native Communities Development Corp., it is evident that the available biomass was conservatively estimated. My field experience, working in the area as a natural resource conservation professional and measuring tree densities for 23 years, confirms to me that the biomass supply to power the plant is available."
    But, for the sake of argument, let's assume it is true that there's not enough fuel. What would happen?
    Obviously the project would never get off the ground— state and private landowners wouldn't sign any contracts (they have), investors wouldn't invest in the project (they have), and PNM wouldn't sign a contract for the biomass energy (they have).
    Indeed, if Mr. Bird believes his own argument, it's a wonder that he's worried about the biomass project. Were he correct, biomass would never happen in the first place. None of these other many organizations would be supporting Estancia biomass as they in fact are.
    "The bottom line is that Mr. Cohen is grasping at straws to justify his corporation's desire to build a biomass power plant," asserts Bird. Grasping at straws? Whether it is before the Public Regulation Commission, the Environmental Improvement Board or the New Mexico Environment Department's own expert staff, the Guardians have repeatedly lost the debate when their claims are put to cross-examination— a very scientific practice, mind you— and biomass supporters have won.
    In fact, the only time the Guardians and their supporters have succeeded is when they play politics: behind-the-scenes lobbying and pressuring of politicians and bureaucrats, writing angry letters to news editors and government officials, stirring up public hysteria with hyperbolic predictions and action alerts, threatening groundless lawsuits, penning mean-spirited op-eds, and changing the goalposts every time their original complaints prove untrue.
    If such behavior is the scientific method, then my understanding of science is indeed confused. Even to the untutored eye, it looks like sheer politics, not science. So who really has their science mixed up?
    David S. Cohen is a former chairman of the New Mexico Service Commission. a utility lawyer and president of Western Water & Power, the alternative energy company proposing to build a biomass facility south of Estancia.