I WOKE this morning before dawn. NASA Jerry taught me to do that on a regular basis, explaining the sunset was the end of a day, and with all of its glory, to him and now to me, it can never compare to a sunrise, which is the birth of what’s to come. Before he retired from designing spy planes every morning Jerry would climb to the top of a huge hanger at NASA Ames where he’d watch each new dawn unfold for 40 years there.
So this morning I went up to the roof to enjoy the drama in the heavens. I saw a woman stop in the midst of her jog and gently stretch by the shore, then I turned to watch dark clouds, full of moisture condensing as they billowed ashore, with pink tops high above their black bottoms, catching the rising sun and in that moment I realized that despite these dark times, the future for Saipan’s economy, education, energy, tourism and industry is bright and beautiful. We just have to look above and beyond the muddy bottom with an optimistic eye, a scientific mind, apply a gently hand and do a reality check.
Nothing can stop this glorious future, certainly not a silly debate between a doctor who means well, but lacks the experience of designing energy systems and myself with far more experience in the nuclear and wind industries than anyone else in Saipan, but who is often brash and speaks about harsh realities, unsafe and unrealistic nuclear programs here and who prefers the beauty and elegance of a future for Saipan based on a wide variety of renewable energy sources, wind being but one of them.
I went downstairs and called the airport. As predicted by those clouds moving across the sky, we had a 12 mph breeze; somewhat light for a Saipan morning, but soon to grow to 14 – 17 mph as I finished this article and as it does everyday. Like a brash fool, I had already drafted and submitted two prior versions of my response to Dr. Arkle’s nuclear future and it was time to get in the shower and go look at the two most ideal plots of land on Saipan for building a 150-megawatt wind farm. I said to myself “There’s no need to call a nuclear proponent a fool in public, merely because he has chosen to ignore Saipan’s bountiful wind, ocean currents and geothermal resources. There must be a more elegant way.”
So I took a moment to redraft this letter, so we will all stop and take a moment to relax a moment before going further. It often takes me several drafts to get it right, just as it did when I rewrote the net metering laws to encourage a path towards renewable energy. Those rewrites were required to make the legal counsel for the Legislature and the politicians smile on that elegant piece of art and law. Life is like that. It usually takes a bit of polish to make an idea an elegant work of science, art and economy.
The elegant reality in the evolution of Saipan’s education, energy, industry and tourism sectors is that there has never been a lower moment in her history. By accepting that fact one can logically deduce that both the near-term and long-term future must therefore be much brighter. “Always darkest before the dawn” is the phrase that comes to mind.
The elegant reality is that all of the hot air Dr. Arkle and I banter about has absolutely no bearing on the actual future of Saipan. Saipan has plenty of hot, moist air without man’s lip service and with those natural trade winds and a firm, intelligent hand in the Legislature, she will make her own way; a process that in reality, has already begun with new laws and investment poised to build the wind turbines, ocean current generators, geothermal generating plants and a desalinization plant that once complete, will give Saipan all that she deserves.
Nothing we say in the press will change that elegant future and while the Legislature can affect the speed with which it comes to fruition, come it will and thankfully, that bright, elegant future has absolutely nothing to do with nuclear power.
Another reality is that, provided they realign their agenda to work with a bio-fuel program, the companies interested in the privatization of the generators also still have a future in Saipan. When the price of gas at the pump is $2 to $2.50 a gallon, no drop in the price of oil will ever again compete with ethanol produced right here and the electrified transportation sector, electric mass transit as they have in many cities and charging stations for electric cars are also all coming in just a few years, in fact in less time then it would have taken to develop a nuclear program.
We can debate how this evolution will be funded, but the elegant reality is that market forces and a thriving economy will cause it to occur very rapidly. That comprehensive plan was well laid out before your Legislature last month in documents Dr. Arkle has chosen to ignore in his discussion of these topics.
The reality is a nuclear plant is insufficient in both power and scope to bring about these changes, whereas the plan I helped design is expandable, far reaching and does it quite easily without costing the CNMI a penny. Having a background in law, audits and finance and having worked in the nuclear industry writing nearly all the software required to run a plant, having been in the utility grade power production and designing systems for large scale plant operations and multi-million dollar companies for nearly 30 years, owning the largest educational Web site on renewable energy on Earth, having been trained by a NASA physicist, by GE, a jet engine turbine designer, Air Force test pilots and Air Force hydraulic engineers on wing, wind generator airfoils, drive trains and energy system designs. I suggest there is a huge difference in what Dr. Arkle perceives to be the future and the elegant reality of what is to come.
Dr. Arkle asked for “some scientist, engineer or expert” to come forth and I have, but while my credentials are recognized around the world by students, governments and industry leaders as credible, if not sterling, he has chosen to ignore them, my plans and predictions. The elegant reality is that all this hot air is a sideshow. The real show is already taking place at the college, around Mount Topachao, in the Eastern Valleys and near the shores of Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Goat Island and Pagan where these natural energy resources await the coming harvest. They have been there for centuries and are very patient. They know we will come, even if Dr. Arkle stays home and pouts.
The elegant reality of the plan is that these developments will lead in succession to the next step in this evolution and have already begun with an elegant seven foot airfoil in the care of Sen. Maria Pangelinan; the first such blade from my hands born in Saipan, carved without any power tools, using the elegant technology I learned from that NASA physicist as his student and soon to be taught in your colleges, then high schools and in a short time, at the junior high and grade school levels. The technology is really quite easy to master and is soon to become the basis for the CNMI’s two billion dollar industry.
That is the elegant reality. Nothing Dr. Arkle says now or tomorrow will matter. That transition has already begun. Those classes are already being taught.
Unlike the $30,000,000 nuclear program, this affordable evolution towards renewable energy is well funded. The reality is there’s plenty of land in the islands for growing bio-fuel crops and the desalinization plant will allow the wells to produce more than enough water for the required crops. As the wind turbines provide more than ample power for both public use and to drive the desalinization plant, on those few days a year when winds are light, the bio-fuels will provide more than enough power to drive the ethanol based generators.
Later as the price per kwh plunges and the economy begins to recover, the newly trained renewable energy technicians from the college will learn how to harness the ocean current and geothermal power of the CNMI, and this new industry worth far more than my “two billion dollar” quote will be in full swing in the CNMI. Tourists will come by the tens of thousands to see this global center of renewable energy and the dark cloud that once hung over Saipan’s future will be a distant memory. That is the glorious reality of Saipan, laid out in the comprehensive plan now circulating the halls of the Legislature.
Contrary to what Dr. Arkle may have you believe, that elegant plan doesn’t rely on any one technology; it was designed to accommodate the step-by-step evolution of energy and the economy of this nation from where she stands today; weak, fragile, battered and crippled, recovering from the lost garment and tourist industries, unable to continue to employ civil servants or open schools on a timely basis, unable to provide jobs for the locals or guest workers, unable to improve her roads or water works, let alone replace her ailing diesel generator fleet and unable to provide sufficient power for the mere shadow of a population of her former self.
The dark present, like those clouds, does have a beautiful future if one simply looks beyond the present, not by much, in fact barely two months from now before the results begin to become evident. The price of power for residential customers will soon be 15 cents again and falling, rather than rising and in that moment Saipan’s brighter, more elegant future will have begun. That is the elegant reality of this plan.
Nothing Dr. Arkle or I say to poke holes in each other’s theories will change that course. No politician with a future as a legislator will stand in its way. No scientist or engineer with any credibility will speak against it and no economic advisor or U.S. Department of Energy investigator will suggest it is not a prudent path to take. All the chit-chat aside, the elegant reality is that the steps required to make this transition are in motion and the future of Saipan is finally on an intelligent course. With all due respect to Dr. Arkle’s “opinion” that wind power plays no part of that bright future, I gently suggest we all sit back and watch it unfold and see which of us is correct in our prediction.
That rebirth of the CNMI, like the promise of a new dawn, is the elegant reality of this well-designed plan, which is based on renewable energy.

CRAIG MEAD
Teacher, Legal and Financial Advisor to Governments and Industry
NASA/NACA Wind Turbine Airfoil and Drive Train Designer: Active
Nuclear Power Plant Engineer and Auditor: Retired