LLNS may have excluded the wrong people in last VSSOP? The exclusions were based on outdated job categories and related skills. ULM are now thinking that in the future, job categories and functional areas will have to be re-defined. The next VSSOP/ISP will be based on the new categories and functional areas. The questions I have are: 1) Why didnt they think of that before the transition. It seems like their style is “change things as you go”. Planning is out the window! 2) Who will give input on the new changes? The next RIF apparently is going to be more lucrative than the VSSOP. Depending on the length of employment, a RIFed person, not only gets their 1 week pay per year of service but also from 30 to 120 days notice, essentially 30 to 120 days pay. Please feel free to comment on the rumors or add new ones you actually heard.
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Two new DOE sub-offices. The Grid Deployment office and the Office of State and Community Energy Programs. The latter to deal with the States, Tribes and Territories. To me, it would seem that the latter is an office created to get someone a cushy federal job.
The first office - Grid Deployment. It would seem that the government has failed us. ERDA was created under Ford, DOE under Carter and we've had to go through 6 more presidents, 2 ERDA Leaders, 16 secretaries of DOE and 47 years to create/focus on the electrical grid. Either a whole lot of people have been asleep at the wheel or this "new" office is a means to get some more space for little piglets to get their share at the taxpayer trough.
I can see asleep at the wheel. Livermore Lab's electrical grid suffered a near total meltdown in the 80's when it hadn't been properly upgraded and maintained since the days of the naval base. The lab learned a painful and powerful lesson when that failure occurred. Maybe that lesson will need to be visited upon California to get a wake up call. Perhaps then the AC goes out at the French Laundry and a bottle of expensive wine looses its chill.