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White House: Energy Department Loan Oversight Needs Overhaul

by Reuters on February 10, 2012

Huffington Post…

* Struggling to fill key positions to manage loans * Did not evaluate failed loan to Solyndra * Chu: will review ideas, but program is working By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – The U.S. Energy Department relies on too many consultants and committees for managing its loans and needs to beef up its management, concluded a review commissioned by the White House in the wake of publicity over failed solar panel maker Solyndra. Herb Allison, a former investment banker known for his work helping government agencies manage large, complex financing programs, reviewed the energy loan program, and recommended an overhaul in oversight of the $23.769 billion portfolio. He said the Energy Department has struggled to fill vacancies in key positions without success. “At least one manager is acting head of several departments,” he said in a 75-page report. Decisions should be made by individual managers with expertise, Allison said, instead of using a committee process “where collective responsibility can obscure individual accountability.” Allison did not review a $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy last year and has become a political sore spot leading into the 2012 election season. The loan was once held up by President Barack Obama as an example of how his administration was creating new jobs with “stimulus” funding while promoting renewable energy. It now is featured in at least two attack ads on television, and candidates for the Republican presidential nomination regularly invoke Solyndra as a symbol of what they say is government waste and misguided energy policy. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said he would review the recommendations to find ways to strengthen the program. But he said the program is working as it is intended, and noted that the review rated the overall risk of the loan portfolio as “slightly lower” than the department’s projections. “We have always known that there were inherent risks in backing innovative technologies at full commercial scale, and it is very likely that there will be other companies in the portfolio that won’t succeed, but the vast majority of companies are expected to pay the loans back in full, on time, and with about $8 billion in interest,” Chu said in a statement.

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BP Wins Ruling To Keep Old Accidents Out Of Gulf Spill Trial

by Reuters on February 10, 2012

Huffington Post…

* Evidence of Texas, Alaska incidents excluded * Judge: Older cases too dissimilar from Gulf spill * Feb. 27 trial expected By Jonathan Stempel Feb 9 (Reuters) – BP Plc won a court order to keep references to some previous accidents out of this month’s trial to assess blame for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the oil company’s second victory in as many days to bar potentially damaging evidence. Thursday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans followed a ruling Wednesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan to keep out some emails questioning some of BP’s activities before and after the spill. Barbier blocked the introduction of evidence related to two accidents involving BP facilities: a 2005 explosion at a Texas City, Texas refinery that killed 15 people, and a 2006 rupture of a corroded pipeline at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. In the Texas case, BP pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act and accepted a $50 million fine. BP pleaded guilty to a criminal Clean Water Act violation and was fined $20 million in the Alaska case. Barbier, however, ruled that the prior incidents were “not sufficiently similar” to the April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and blowout of the Macondo oil well, which BP mainly owned. “The prior incidents were all land-based, while the Macondo incident occurred in the Gulf of Mexico,” Barbier wrote. “Additionally, the circumstances of oil refinery disasters and (an) exploratory drilling disaster are vastly different.” James Roy, a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs, who include people and businesses harmed by the accident, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. BP was also fined a record $87 million by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration for safety problems at the Texas refinery. Barbier is scheduled on Feb. 27 to preside over a non-jury trial to assign blame for the Deepwater Horizon accident, which killed 11 people and caused the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Other corporate defendants include rig owner Transocean Ltd and Halliburton Co, which provided cementing services for the well. Plaintiffs also include the U.S. government, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. BP has set aside roughly $42 billion for spill costs. Chief Executive Bob Dudley this week said the London-based company is preparing for trial, but willing to settle on reasonable terms. The case is In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig “Deepwater Horizon” in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, No. 10-md-02179.

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BP Wins Ruling To Keep Old Accidents Out Of Gulf Spill Trial

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Owner Of ‘Illegal’ California Gold Mine Surrenders To Face Charges

February 10, 2012

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A man who state and local officials say is running a massive illegal gold-mining operation in California’s Sierra Nevada surrendered Thursday to face 14 criminal charges of operating without permits and polluting a creek. Joseph Hardesty also faces state fines of nearly $900,000. He was booked into El Dorado County Jail on the charges, which include four felonies, and was being held in lieu of $75,000 bond. His attorney, William Brewer, says Hardesty turned himself in after investigators from the district attorney’s office searched for him at his mother’s home and the home of his partner in the Big Cut Mine, near Placerville. Hardesty surrendered a day after The Associated Press published a story about the mine, which is in the Sierra foothills between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, and his three-year battle with authorities. “It’s unfortunate that our government has decided in this case to take away our liberties and our rights without adequate process,” said Brewer, of San Diego. “Joe really is a very honorable person and I just wish things were different.” He denies his client is mining gold, saying he is operating a sand and gravel business to complement another he owns in Sacramento County. State and local officials say they have evidence and statements indicating the site is being mined for gold at a time when the precious metal’s price is hovering near $1,700 an ounce. Hardesty, 54, had promised to surrender last week but failed to appear. Authorities said Hardesty turned himself in at the sheriff department’s office in Placerville about 11:30 a.m. and was taken to jail without incident. Brewer said investigators had looked for his client everywhere except where he was — his home in Elk Grove, south of Sacramento. Hardesty contends that he has a historic right to operate the Big Cut Mine on nearly 150 acres he bought seven years ago, based on a reclamation plan he had filed with El Dorado County in 2009 and $188,000 in bonds. Local authorities and the State Mining and Geology Board disagree. On top of the mining board’s fines, El Dorado County charged Hardesty with mining and grading without permits, working despite stop orders, releasing sediment into Weber Creek, violating zoning laws, and using hazardous materials without proper permits. Hardesty, his wife, Yvette, and his partner, Rick Churches, brought in heavy equipment to cut into a steep ridge high above the creek, although Joseph Hardesty is the only one facing charges. The site is guarded by locked gates covered with “no trespassing” signs, but an AP reporter and photographer were able to view the mining operation from a heavily forested ridge a few hundred yards away. Late last month, local and state inspectors with a warrant entered the property and documented at least 30 acres stripped bare, four drainage ponds and a football-field-sized gravel bed about 60 feet deep. Inspectors previously found gold on what is called a shaker table, which is used to separate the heavy metal from sand and gravel. Bruce Person, an engineer with the county transportation department who helped inspect the property, said a previous owner found an ancient riverbed on the property could produce between 1 and 3 ounces of gold for every ton of material. El Dorado County Deputy District Attorney Michael Pizzuti declined to comment Thursday on Hardesty’s arrest. He previously told the AP that Hardesty’s partner told a county inspector that they intended to remove gold and sell the rocks it was separated from as gravel. Hardesty already was on probation after pleading no contest last year to a misdemeanor charge of storing unpermitted hazardous waste in Sacramento County. He now faces allegations that he violated his probation by continuing to operate at both the Sacramento and El Dorado locations. The fines were levied in January by the State Mining and Geology Board, a division of the California Department of Conservation. The penalty climbs by $15,000 for each day he continued to operate.

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Olive Garden Owner Targeted In Race Discrimination Suit

February 6, 2012

Last week, Restaurant Opportunities Center United (ROC), an advocacy group dedicated to equality for restaurant workers, filed a federal employee discrimination suit against Darden Restaurants , the Orlando-based owners of Olive Garden, Red Lobster and five other full service dining chains. ROC claims that Darden systematically favors white workers over minorities at its Capital Grille chain of steakhouses and is seeking compensation for what it is calling an illegal system of discrimination. ROC specifically alleges that minority workers at the Capital Grilles in New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. are shunted away from front-of-house jobs like waiters and hosts and towards lower-paying jobs in the kitchen. The suit also claims that many workers have been forced to work without pay and that tips were distributed to workers in positions ineligible for tipping. The advocacy group has also organized protests outside Capital Grille locations to support its cause, part of what it is calling the ” Dignity at Darden ” campaign. Sandra Pelicini of the Orlando Sentinel argued that Darden is an unlikely target for a racial discrimination suit . Its CEO, she notes, is black, and the company has a well-established history of promoting minority workers to managerial positions. Moreover, some have problems with the ROC’s methods. Its best-known case was a highly public suit against B&B Hospitality, Mario Batali and Joe Bastianach’s group of New York restaurants. Batali secured a restraining order against the ROC after its protestors became a serious nuisance . Of course, reputation only gets you so far — if the ROC can prove that Capital Grille acted improperly, it could win the case. Not that Darden seems all that worried. Representatives from the company, contacted by Crain’s New York , described the ROC’s allegations as ” baseless .”

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WATCH: Josh Fox On Why He Was Arrested

February 4, 2012

Documentary filmmaker Josh Fox and his crew on Wednesday walked into a congressional hearing on hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a controversial natural gas drilling technique. Fox left in handcuffs, charged with unlawful entry. The meeting of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment was focused on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Dec. 8 draft report on links between fracking and water contamination in Pavillion, Wyo. Fox, working on the sequel to the HBO documentary ” Gasland ,” planned to attend the hearing because the EPA investigation highlights subjects from both “Gasland” and the sequel. Thus, he told HuffPost, “we were not really going to be told ‘no.’” “Since the change in Congress when Republicans took over, we have been getting a lot of flack trying to get into the public hearings,” Fox said. Fox asked to attend when the hearing was announced on Monday. By Tuesday morning, he had been refused by Republican leadership on the committee. Fox appealed to the chairman, but did not hear back before the hearing. His crew, he said, was told, “If you’re working for ‘Gasland,’ just forget it.” Any credentialed reporter working on the documentary “will have their credentials jeopardized,” he said the crew was told. Fox said he sent emails and posted his struggles to attend the hearing on Facebook . As a result, the committee’s Republican leadership “knew what was going on,” he said. “It seemed there was someone there prepared to meet us.” Fox was unable to get official filming permission, and as he set up his camera tripod in the Rayburn building room on Wednesday, Fox said he was asked to turn off his camera. He refused. “The word from the chairman comes back — ‘He can stay, but his camera has to leave.’ And I said, ‘I don’t believe that’s the law, I’m within my First Amendment rights.’” Capitol Hill police arrested and handcuffed him. While a committee has the right to prohibit cameras at a hearing, it is rare . Fox later reflected, “It was my understanding that my credentials are my American citizenship.” As the events unfolded, others began filming, Fox said. “Congressional staffers are actually coming in to watch what’s going on and they start videotaping! That’s why you have a videotape of me getting arrested — congressional staffers all had their iPhones out. And the only one being threatened with arrest is me.” The committee’s leadership directed Capitol Hill police to detain Fox and his crew. He was taken to the Capitol Hill police station. “If it weren’t for the campaign contributions going to the Republican party on behalf of the oil and gas industry, I would not have been arrested,” Fox said. The hearing resumed after the film crew departed. Jim Martin , the EPA administrator for the region that includes Wyoming, said the agency’s analysis of geologic conditions in the Pavillion gas field shows “groundwater in the aquifer contains compounds likely associated with gas production practices, including hydraulic fracturing.” Subcommittee Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) refuted the study, saying, “In a remarkable display of arrogance and disregard for the plain facts, the president last week proclaimed his support for expanded shale gas production, while at the same time allowing every part of his administration … to attack these practices through scientific innuendo and regulatory straight-jacketing.” During his State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama said companies should disclose the fracking fluids they use, but in nearly the same breath declared, “We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100 years. And my administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy.” “It was a painful moment for myself and a lot of the people who are concerned with fracking,” Fox said of the president’s speech. “He’s wrong that there’s a way forward in the future.” Ultimately though, “It doesn’t really matter who the president is,” Fox said. “The people make the change … I don’t think anyone is ever going to be challenged, at least in the near future, about walking in to a congressional hearing with a camera.”

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New Oil Shale Plan Would Limit Western Research Land

February 3, 2012

DENVER (AP) — The federal government’s new plan for oil shale development on public lands would keep activity off thousands of acres of environmentally sensitive areas, with new leases initially being issued strictly for research on how to commercially produce oil from oil shale in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. The George W. Bush administration had made almost 2 million acres available for potential oil shale development and 431,000 acres for tar sands development, but federal officials took a new look after conservation groups filed a lawsuit in 2009 alleging the government hadn’t fully reviewed possible environmental impacts. A new draft environmental impact statement released Friday says the preferred plan now is to make 35,308 acres in Colorado, 252,181 acres in Utah, and 174,476 acres in Wyoming available for oil shale research. Also, 91,045 acres in eastern Utah would be available for activities related to tar sands. Together, the total is around a half million acres. Areas with wilderness characteristics, core sage grouse habitat, areas of critical environmental concern, and the Adobe Town area in Wyoming are among those that would be off limits. The public has until May 4 to comment on the proposal. The Bureau of Land Management estimates the Green River Formation in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming has 1.2 to 1.8 trillion barrels of oil resources, but not all may be recoverable. Getting petroleum-like substances out of oil shale, which is first mined, is tougher than pumping oil out of traditional wells, and companies haven’t found an economic way to do it in the U.S. Oil shale contains kerogen, which must be subjected to temperatures of more than 750 degrees before it can produce oil. Studies have indicated up to about 500 gallons of water may be needed to produce one barrel of oil from it, which could be an issue in the dry West, the Government Accountability Office has said. Following recommendations from the GAO, the U.S. Geological Survey is analyzing baseline water conditions so it can better understand how commercial-scale oil shale development could affect groundwater and surface water systems. The BLM in 2007 issued six leases of federal land in Colorado and Utah for research on how to make oil shale commercially viable. Three more applications are pending and wouldn’t be affected by the plan announced Friday. President Barack Obama’s administration says its development proposal continues to encourage research. “If oil shale is to be viable on a commercial scale, we must take a common-sense approach that encourages research and development first,” BLM Director Bob Abbey said in a written statement. Tar sands contain bitumen, which can be refined into oil. Canada has a commercial tar sands industry, but its oil sands and processing requirements differ from those in Utah. Energy companies had said they needed consistent regulations and pushed for the government to leave the Bush administration’s plan alone. “Within a week of encouraging an ‘all of the above’ energy strategy, the administration continues to introduce actions that delay and restrict development,” American Petroleum Institute spokesman Reid Porter said in a written statement. “There has to be certainty, and the BLM draft plan is not conducive to an operating environment that encourages investment.” Shell Oil Co., which already has some research and development leases, said it’s uncertain whether it could commit to any significant investments in such big projects “without regulatory certainty or a clear path forward.” However, Bill Midcap of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union said research is still needed on how much water will be needed to turn oil shale into oil. “We already face a water shortage in the West that threatens farmers and ranchers,” he said. Vernon Lovejoy, a former BLM state director in Wyoming, said he also wants to know the potential effects on hunting, fishing and recreation, which hold up economies in rural and mountain towns in the West. “I do believe oil shale can be developed in many places, as long as we realize the potential impacts before we enter into leases,” Lovejoy said. Earlier in the week, a House committee approved a bill from Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., that would require the Interior Department to offer far more land and leases for oil shale research and commercial production. It would allow lease fees and royalties to be reduced to encourage development. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., applauded the BLM’s move, saying the demands that development would place on local communities and water still need to be fully understood. “While I have long felt there is potential for oil shale development, it is critical that a number of unanswered questions be resolved before commercial-scale leasing takes place,” he said in a written statement. ___ Follow Catherine Tsai at http://www.twitter.com/ctsai_denver ___ Online: Proposal: http://ostseis.anl.gov/documents/peis2012/index.cfm

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Kumi Naidoo: Davos Failed to Address Fundamentals — Will the Next Earth Summit in Rio?

February 2, 2012

At the World Economics Forum in Davos last week, no one was denying that we face serious economic, social and environmental crises. When even the Financial Times runs a series of articles on ” Capitalism in crisis ,” it’s obvious that it’s not just the “Occupy WEF” protesters, who I joined in their igloos outside the meeting, that are asking fundamental questions about how we do business. What Davos failed to do, however, is provide adequate answers. The talk was mainly about symptoms, not the core of the problem. No question, issues such as the size of the Euro firewall or bankers’ bonuses are important. But if we are to deliver an economy that brings prosperity for all without destroying the planet, we need to achieve a much more fundamental change than putting together few hundred extra millions for a firewall, or a little less greed by the 1%. When I suggested fundamental changes, such as making corporations liable for their impacts on society and the environment, the reaction was often a nervous laugh. While I was freezing in snowy Davos, the Brazilian President Dilma was at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre calling for the fostering of “new model” of development that can be discussed at this June’s Rio Earth Summit. Greenpeace has some concrete proposals on how governments could use the Rio meeting to change course and not simply acknowledge the crises we face, as is happening in Davos. The Earth Summit should, for example, agree on strong regulation of financial markets, including a Financial Transaction Tax, agree the end of environmentally and socially harmful subsidies, and commit to sustainable energy for all and zero deforestation by 2020. But if President Dilma wants to lead the world in a great transformation, she first has to put her own house in order. Unless she vetoes it, Brazil will soon adopt changes to its the Forest Code, the main law in Brazil that protects the forests, that would allow an amnesty for past forest crimes and lead to an increase in deforestation. This is unacceptable. If Brazil wants to credibly discuss “new models” of development at the Earth Summit in June , it must urgently commit to a new model of sustainable prosperity based on zero deforestation. It can be done. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has declined year on year and in 2011 reached its lowest ever level. But unless Dilma acts, Brazil will be the nation that showed that deforestation could be halted, but failed to do so, in order to cater to short-term special interests. Unless she vetos the Forest Code changes, President Dilma will have as little credibility to talk of fundamental change as the “Davos Man” come June. The warm climate of Rio will certainly suit me better than the mountains of snow in Davos. But will I leave Rio with more hope that the fundamental changes we need can finally be implemented?

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Feds: Offshore Wind Power Will Not Cause ‘Major Environmental Damage’

February 2, 2012

BALTIMORE (AP) — Offshore wind farms from New Jersey to Virginia took a big step closer to reality with the completion of a review that showed the renewable energy source would not cause major environmental damage, officials said Thursday. Obama administration Interior Secretary Ken Salazar also said his department also was trying to speed up the process for issuing renewable energy leases. Wind projects off the coasts of Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and New Jersey are being studied. “There are a number of developers who are very interested in developing offshore wind here and our goal is to hold the auctions and be able to issue the leases now, in 2012,” Salazar said. “So, this is not something that’s going to be waiting around.” The Mid-Atlantic lease proposal follows the Cape Wind project in Massachusetts that was given the go-ahead in 2010 after years of federal review. That project is still in development and Salazar said the department had learned from that experience. “No developer should have to wait nine or 10 years,” for approval, Salazar said. Dominion Virginia Power said that it is interested in building up to 400 wind turbines in waters about 20 miles off Virginia Beach, but the cost of the power was an issue. The 2,000 megawatts the turbines could produce would generate enough power for 500,000 households. “If everything aligns and it makes good sense and we have our regulators on board, yes, we would be moving forward on a wind farm,” senior vice president Mary Doswell told The Associated Press. The Interior Department said before the waters would be opened, the public would have a chance to comment on the projects. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who appeared at the announcement with Salazar, said his administration had contacted Defense Department officials to discuss the possibility of the military using offshore wind energy. O’Malley, a Democrat, and Salazar both described the decision as a major step forward for offshore wind, and environmentalists agreed. Environment America Clean Energy Advocate Courtney Abrams said “tapping into the power of offshore wind along the Atlantic coast is vital to getting the region and the nation off fossil fuels without creating more pollution.” Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said the decision “just makes sense.” “It is a reliable, clean energy resource that will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, curb harmful air pollutants, and create good paying American jobs in manufacturing and construction,” Carper said. Jim Lanard, president of the OffShore Wind Development Coalition, said the decision means that a lengthier environmental impact assessment for offshore power along the mid-Atlantic won’t have to be conducted, although reviews for individual projects will still have to be done. Lanard said that could shave two years off the review process. Michele Siekerka, the Assistant Commissioner of Economic Growth and Green Energy in New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection, said Thursday’s announcement will speed the building of offshore turbines by a year or more. Eleven developers have submitted proposals totaling 12,000 megawatts and are expected to be able to bid later this year for leases. The companies will still have to do environmental studies of their own areas, but could be producing power by 2016 or 2017, she said. “The key is the federal government is not doing another one,” Siekerka said. Lanard said legislation pending in the Maryland General Assembly could do a lot to entice developers. “If there’s a revenue stream, you’ll see a great deal of interest,” Lanard said. Lawmakers killed a bill last year that would have required utilities to enter into long-term power purchase contracts and O’Malley said it wasn’t clear how a toned-down bill would fare this year. Kit Kennedy, Clean Energy Counsel at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said offshore power holds the promise of clean energy that could also provide jobs, but it would watch the process carefully to make sure the environment is protected. Dominion’s Doswell said absent tax credits, power generated by towering wind turbines costs about 28 cents per kilowatt hour, while the state’s largest electric utility’s rates are now in the range of 11 to 12 cents per kilowatt hour. “So that’s what we’re battling,” Doswell said. “Wind is a great resource and you can do it with scale, but we’ve got to work on this cost equation.” ___ Associated Press writer Steve Szkotak in Richmond contributed to this report..

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Exxon Reaches Settlement For Yellowstone River Spill

January 19, 2012

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Exxon Mobil agreed Thursday to pay $1.6 million in penalties to the state of Montana over water pollution caused by a pipeline break last summer that fouled dozens of miles of shoreline along the scenic Yellowstone River. Montana Department of Environmental Quality director Richard Opper said the penalties in the case mark the largest in the agency’s history. The Texas oil company will pay $300,000 in cash and spend $1.3 million on future environmental projects, according to a copy of the document obtained by The Associated Press. Also Thursday, Exxon increased its estimate of how much crude spilled into the river during the July 1 accident near Laurel to 1,509 barrels, or more than 63,000 gallons. That’s up from earlier estimates of 1,000 barrels spilled — a number that Gov. Brian Schweitzer had disputed as too low. Schweitzer said Thursday that the settlement and revised spill estimate came only after the state pressured Exxon to be more accountable in the aftermath of the spill. “They’re not prepared to give you any accurate information if you don’t hold their feet to the fire,” the Democratic governor said. In an emailed statement, Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers reiterated that the company “takes full responsibility” for the accident. “We are pleased to be able to resolve this environmental compliance issue with the State of Montana,” Jeffers wrote of the settlement. Only about 10 barrels of crude were recovered by cleanup crews, federal officials have said. That’s less than 1 percent of the total spilled. The cause of the spill remains under investigation. The 12-inch Silvertip pipeline was buried just a few feet beneath the riverbed when it was installed 20 years ago. High water last spring and summer eroded that cover, which officials have speculated could have exposed the line to damaging debris. Thursday’s settlement came after more than three months of negotiations between attorneys for Exxon and the state. The agreement contains provisions to shield the company against any future lawsuits from state agencies, although it will not become final until after a 30-day comment period. “It was a significant violation. There were hundreds and hundreds of acres of land affected and it was a major oil spill,” Opper said. He added the penalties likely would have been “a lot higher” if Exxon had not cooperated on the cleanup. “They were responsible, but they really were committed to undoing the damage that was caused,” he said. The settlement requires continued monitoring of environmental damage by Exxon and for the company to clean up any more oil that is discovered. That includes any crude that might be stirred up when the Yellowstone rises again in the spring as mountain snow begins to melt. Testing of river sediments near public water supply intakes also will be required. As part of the settlement, Exxon will reimburse more than $760,000 in emergency response costs racked up by state agencies. Regarding the change in how much crude spilled, Jeffers said the company recalculated the volume after discovering the pipeline had been completely severed during the July 1 accident near Laurel. Jeffers says pipeline breaches typically involve a crack or fissure. That was the assumption used to craft the initial estimate. Jeffers added that the higher estimate would not have changed the response to the spill, which at its peak involved more than 1,000 Exxon Mobil contractors working to clean up oil-soaked sandbars, log jams and vegetation. “None of this would have made any difference,” he said. Still pending against the company is a lawsuit from a group of riverfront property owners who are seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages over allegations that the company failed to properly clean up after the spill. Plaintiffs’ attorney Cliff Edwards said the company’s revised spill estimate was suspect and that he had “no faith in that number.” Edwards added that the settlement with the state did not alter the fact that the company failed to protect the line as the Yellowstone was flooding in the weeks leading up to the spill. “They just continued to run crude,” he said. Attorneys for Exxon have asked U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull in Billings to dismiss the lawsuit. A decision is pending. Since the spill, Exxon has since installed a new section of the pipeline buried several dozen feet beneath the riverbed.

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Re-Opening In The Air For Quebec Plant?

January 16, 2012

MONTREAL – The Quebec government is exploring ways to revive the closed White Birch paper mill but doesn’t want to hold out false hope to laid-off workers. Economic Development Minister Sam Hamad met with company president Christopher Brant in Montreal on Monday. Hamad said he told Brant he was disappointed the situation had deteriorated to the point where 600 people have lost their jobs. Hamad also said the solution to the mill closure will be reached “between the owner and the workers.” U.S.-based White Birch Paper Co. announced late Thursday that the idled Stadacona plant was being closed permanently after its 600 unionized workers rejected a final company offer that would have slashed wages and pension benefits. Brant said last week the rejection of the offer left the company no choice but to close the mill, which was already struggling amid the economic deterioration in the newsprint industry. A government mediator is trying to bring the company and the workers together. The mill’s union says the company is demanding pay cuts of 20 per cent and reductions in pension benefits of between 45 and 65 per cent. Hamad reiterated Quebec’s willingness to help the company, either through financial assistance or with pension-fund relief. Hamad will meet with representatives of the union on Tuesday. Last week, Natural Resources Minister Clement Gignac said taxpayers won’t be put on the hook to keep the facility open and that the private sector would have to make any major investments. The company was the second-largest newsprint manufacturer in North America when it filed for bankruptcy protection in February 2010. At the time it had about 1,300 employees at three pulp and paper mills and a saw mill in Quebec and a fourth pulp and paper mill in Virginia. The company manufactures high quality newsprint, directory paper and paperboard.

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Anne Day: A Family Affair

January 16, 2012

How well do you get on with members of your family? That good, eh? Can you imagine working together, day in, day out? These days, running a business is not for the faint of heart, but operating a family-owned business takes even more courage, tenacity and diplomacy. Lately I have had the opportunity to chat to a couple of family business owners and they are the first to admit that it isn’t easy, especially if as a family, you tend to spend time together outside of the office. The gals at Mabel’s Labels are role models for us all. Not only are the four women business partners, but they are related too. Each woman brings a different skills set to the business and even when they have feisty business conversations, they don’t let it trickle into their personal lives. “We share a family cottage and our kids are all friends, so it would be very awkward if we took things too personally.” shares Julie Cole, one of the partners. Because they are such a talented group, one of the challenges has been to know when to get involved and when to step away and let your business partner run with it, something Julie admits “is always a tricky balance.” “Our partnership is always a work in progress.” she adds. Mutual respect is also crucial. You have to value and respect your partners’ contribution to the whole, because without it, it’s not going to work. Letting go of the reins as the parent hands over the business to the adult son or daughter can be daunting too. In the case of Geoff Stephens at Capital Paving, his father had been grooming him for that role since he was 16. Not that he forced him to join the company — he didn’t — but he didn’t want his son to be viewed as just the boss’s son and insisted that he work his way through the ranks and learn every aspect of the business. And he let him make mistakes. “I grazed my knees several times, but it was all part of the learning experience,” admits Geoff Stephens. He also went off to school to study business administration, so when he came back to the company, he had additional expertise to bring to the leadership role. In 1999 at the age of 36, Geoff took over the company and by that time his two brother-in-laws were also partners in the business. Having worked for seven years with my daughter, I know first-hand that the working relationship can be fraught with difficulties. It is all too easy to slip into the usual pecking order, with mother, of course, always knowing best. But I have discovered that isn’t always the case and sometimes having a young, fresh pair of eyes look at a situation can bring you a different perspective. When you do disagree, it can be all too easy to assume familiar roles and forego the courtesy you would normally extend to others, which, if other staff are witnessing the scene, is not a good thing. So as the others said, having mutual respect for what each player brings to the business is key. In fact, that rings true for any working relationship. We had to set boundaries so that in our free time or at family gatherings we didn’t talk shop. We also found that when people found out who my daughter was, often they treated her differently. Some were patronizing, almost giving her a pat on the head for helping her mother out, while others were syrupy sweet hoping to get to me through her. Both responses were not appreciated, especially given she played a vital role in the business. When she got married, she couldn’t wait to take on her husband’s name, sharing mine led to complications. A talented, young entrepreneur in her own right, she has recently moved on to spend more time in her own blossoming business. It’s the sort of success that every mother dreams for her child, but as her “employer” I sure miss her. But then for Christmas she proudly gave me a box of business cards — she’s made me VP of Sales — so I guess we’re still in business together, only this time she’s the boss!

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Major Grocery Chain To Close More Than 100 Stores, Slash Thousands Of Jobs

January 13, 2012

BRUSSELS — A Belgian supermarket chain that owns Food Lion said Thursday it will close more than 100 struggling stores, mostly in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. The company will also shutter the Bloom brand, a sister grocery chain that had been launched as a higher-end alternative to Food Lion. Pierre-Olivier Beckers, CEO of Delhaize Group, said in a statement the company was dealing with tight consumer spending and increased competition. He said that the store closings, most of which will come in markets where the company has a low penetration, will allow it to focus on better-performing stores where the chain has greater market share. The store closings will result in about 4,900 job cuts in the U.S., the company said. Beckers said the decisions were difficult but “were in keeping with our responsibility to our shareholders to deploy resources where they will achieve the highest return.” Delhaize will close 113 Food Lion stores in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. It will close seven Bloom stores in Maryland and Virginia, and convert the remaining 42 Bloom stores to Food Lions. It will also close six Bottom Dollar Food stores in North Carolina and Virginia, and convert 22 others into Food Lions. A distribution center located in Tennessee will also be closed. But while Delhaize is retiring the Bloom brand, it says it sees promise for Bottom Dollar Food. It said the chain had enjoyed “considerable success” in the Philadelphia area, and that it planned to open its first stores in the Pittsburgh area early this year. Delhaize also reiterated that it plans to add “hundreds” of Bottom Dollar Food stores in the next five years. Delhaize has about 1,650 stores in the Eastern U.S.

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Canadian Natives Warn Against Pipeline To Pacific

January 10, 2012

* Haisla chiefs fear spill, oppose project * Hearing process slated to take two years * Ottawa sees Northern Gateway as nation-building project (Adds Enbridge executive comments) By Jeffrey Jones KITIMAAT VILLAGE, British Columbia, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Aboriginal leaders opposed to a C$5.5 billion ($5.4 billion) oil sands pipeline backed by Canada’s government warned on Tuesday that the project could devastate fishing and traditional life on the rugged Pacific Coast and called for it to be stopped. As hearings into Enbridge Inc’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline opened with drumming and native singing, hereditary chiefs and elders of the Haisla First Nation told the regulatory panel their greatest fear was the potential impact of oil spills on their community of 1,500. At stake, they said, are salmon, halibut and crab fishing and fur trapping that have sustained the Haisla for generations. “It worries me to think that all of these will be lost and destroyed when there is a spill – mark my words – when there is a spill. Experience shows it will happen,” Hereditary Chief Sam Robinson, 78, told the panel hearing Enbridge’s application. The oil industry and Ottawa are pushing hard for the project, especially after Washington delayed the $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline to Texas, as they seek new markets for the Alberta oil sands, the world’s third-largest crude deposit. The proceedings, expected to last two years, began at the community center in Kitimaat Village on the Pacific Coast’s Douglas Channel, the terminus of the proposed pipeline. Battle lines have already been drawn between supporters on one side and environmental groups and aboriginals in the province of British Columbia on the other. The pipeline would ship 525,000 barrels of oil sands crude a day 1,170 km (730 miles) from Alberta, across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, where it would be loaded onto tankers and shipped to rich Asian markets. An adjacent line would carry light hydrocarbons called condensate back to Alberta, where it would be blended with the thick oil. Suncor Energy Inc, Sinopec Corp, Total SA and Cenovus Energy Inc are among oil sands developers that have put up tens of millions of dollars to help Enbridge move the project through the regulatory process. Janet Holder, Enbridge vice-president in charge of the project, would not comment directly on any of the concerns expressed by the elders. She and four others from the company were in attendance. “All I can say is we are here to listen and we are listening. We respect this process as we believe all Canadians respect this process,” Holder said. “NATION-BUILDING PROJECT” Opening up a supply line to Asia is expected to boost returns for the oil derived from the tar sands, allowing it to be priced against more valuable Brent-based international crudes. It spells a big boost for the Canadian economy and hence is “a nation-building project,” Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver has said. But the Haisla people stand between billions of dollars in oil sands developments and thirsty world markets. It also puts them a position of “staring down a double-barrel gun” in terms of putting resources at risk, Chief Kenneth Hall said in his testimony. Robinson told reporters that his community would not support the development under any circumstances, but stressed it would restrict its opposition to the negotiating table and the courts. That said, opposition is not so cut and dried from the community’s standpoint, Ellis Ross, chief councillor of the Haisla elected body, told Reuters. He urged his people to let the hearings proceed before making up their minds. This issue is likely to go to a vote at some point, as was the case with other projects, including a liquefied natural gas plant last year. “The Haisla Nation council wants to ensure that we get through the Joint Review Panel process as planned first, and then we’ll decide what happens at that stage, depending on the decision,” Ross said. The arms-length makeup of the panel had been expected to mean a less hotly political process than the U.S. State Department’s review of Keystone XL. Officials with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government said they would not comment on the project specifically, other than to say they support diversifying Canada’s oil trade. PRESSURE MOUNTS Even so, Harper and his ministers have ratcheted up the rhetoric in recent days, charging that environmental groups that oppose Northern Gateway are tools of wealthy U.S.-based foundations bent on disrupting the proceedings and the economy. “Unfortunately, there are environmental and other radical groups that would seek to block this opportunity to diversify our trade,” Oliver said on Monday. That elicited a barrage of criticism, with some aboriginal leaders and opposition lawmakers alleging that the Conservatives government seeks to influence the proceedings. Ross said some of the Haisla elders’ comments were prompted by anger over government remarks. “They’re trying to bully this panel. We’ve got a quasijudicial process here that’s rapidly losing its integrity as these ministers and this prime minister come out and try and re-instruct them,” said Art Sterritt, who leads a coalition of aboriginal groups called the Coastal First Nations that is opposed to Northern Gateway . Bob Rae, the interim leader of the opposition Liberals, said in Ottawa on Tuesday that Harper and Oliver should “keep quiet” on the project with the hearings underway. “It is absolutely unacceptable and it shows a government that does not understand its limits, that does not understand the rule of law, that does not respect due process, Rae said. There appeared to be few representatives from major environmental groups at the hearings on Tuesday. The applications are being heard by a three-member joint review panel representing the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment agency. Once the oral hearings portion of the proceedings are complete, the panel will prepare a report listing its conclusions on the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the project. It then goes to the government for a response. The panel then must make its decision on whether the project can proceed and what conditions to impose. The government can either accept or reject the decision, but it cannot make changes. ($1=$1.02 Canadian) (Editing by Frank McGurty and Rob Wilson)

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Kona Farmers Request More Explicit Coffee Labeling

January 6, 2012

HONOLULU — Kona coffee growers want Hawaii’s labeling law modified to provide more details on packages of coffee blends that contain Hawaii-grown beans. Currently, coffee blends sold in the state that contain Hawaii-grown coffee must disclose what percentage is grown in the islands, and it must be at least 10 percent. The Kona Coffee Farmers Association said Thursday that it wants the state Legislature to consider a bill it has drafted that would also identify where the remainder of the blend is grown. If the association is successful an example of a package label would read, “90 percent Panamanian coffee, 10 percent Kona coffee.” The state senator from Kona said Thursday he plans to introduce the bill at the end of the month. “I respect the local community and Kona coffee is a big issue for us,” state Sen. Josh Green, D-Milolii-Waimea, said. For the farmers, it’s about truth-in-labeling and protecting the integrity of a world-famous Hawaii product. Hawaii is the only place in the United States where coffee is grown. Coffee aficionados pay a premium for coffee grown in farms in the Kona district, known for its rich volcanic soil and tropical climate. “The state of Hawaii needs to be with the Kona coffee farmers,” said Colehour Bondera, the association’s president. “We’re the most lucrative agricultural commodity in the state.” A pound of pure Kona coffee can sell for about $25 – more if it’s organic. Not giving consumers all the information about where coffee is grown dilutes the perception of Kona’s quality, Bondera said. When the 10 percent blend law was introduced in 1991, there was a provision mandating disclosing the origin of all coffee in the blend, he said, but pressure from Honolulu coffee blenders resulted in making it voluntary, which none of the major blenders have opted to do. But modifying the law to restore mandatory disclosure would just be a small step for the farmers, he said. Several years ago there was a failed effort to increase the minimum percentage of Hawaii-grown coffee in blends to at least 75 percent. The farmers would prefer only blends that are mostly Kona bear that name. “The name Kona should not be used on any products that’s not mostly Kona,” Bondera said. “When people talk about wines, you can’t a buy a Napa wine when it’s only 10 percent Napa.” Hawaii’s coffee blend labeling law is an offshoot of regulations put in place after a scandal in the 1990s when inexpensive coffee beans grown in Latin America were being passed off and sold as pure Kona coffee. It only applies to blends sold in Hawaii. In August, Safeway agreed to change the label on packages of Kona coffee blend sold in mainland stores in response to concerns from the Kona farmers that it didn’t provide information about what percentage of the famous bean it contains. The company also agreed to begin selling 100 percent Kona coffee in northern and southern California starting this year.

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Dunkin’ Reveals Lofty Expansion Goal

January 4, 2012

Dunkin’ Brands opened its 10,000th location of Dunkin’ Donuts in mid-December. That’s a major milestone; only a few restaurant chains have made it to five digits. But the Canton, Mass.-based company isn’t ready to rest just yet. According to CNN , Dunkin’ plans to double its number of U.S. locations over the next two decades. Talk about the long game! Doubling the number of outposts would mean opening a whopping 7000 new donut stores — which would bring the total above Starbucks’ current 11,000. But Dunkin’ is approaching this tremendous task with more than blind ambition. (Unlike, ahem, some of its rivals .) The company went public last summer, arming it with a half-billion dollar war chest . International sales, especially in Asia, have been strong, so the company has some real cash flow for opening new stores. And perhaps most importantly, Dunkin’ just announced that it had named DBP Partners as the sole distributor for foodstuffs to its franchises, which representatives have said will streamline the expansion process. Moreover though Dunkin’ Donuts feels ubiquitous in some places, like Connecticut, huge swathes of the country are almost untouched by the chain. That means there’s still plenty of room for Dunkin’ to grow — and as Dunkin’ grows, so do Americans.

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Soda Exec Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison For Massive Accounting Fraud

January 3, 2012

PITTSBURGH — The former chief revenue officer of defunct soft drink maker Le-Nature’s has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for his role in a massive accounting fraud. The sentence received Tuesday by Robert Lynn of Ligonier is second to that imposed earlier this year on former chief executive Gregory Podlucky who is serving 20 years in prison. Federal prosecutors contend that Podlucky, Lynn and other company officials overstated the company’s revenues in order to fraudulently receive more than $800 million in financing, which led to a loss of nearly $684 million to lenders, vendors and investors. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below. An accounting director-turned-government witness has been sentenced to five years in federal prison and five years on federal probation for creating fake financial records that fooled auditors of defunct Pennsylvania soft drink maker Le-Nature’s. Tammy Jo Andreycak, 44, asked for probation or house arrest because she has been cooperating with investigators since even before she pleaded guilty in April 2008 to wire fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy and filing a false tax return as part of fudging accounting records at the behest of former chief executive and company founder Gregory Podlucky. Podlucky pleaded guilty and is serving 20 years in prison for the scheme, which cost lenders and vendors about $684 million. Prosecutors contend Podlucky obtained $800 million in financing by fraudulently overstating the company’s revenues but spent much of the money on a lavish lifestyle while the company foundered, with sales a fraction of what he ordered Andreycak to report. She had faced between 12 and nearly 16 years in prison. Senior U.S. District Judge Alan Bloch said that, while he agreed that Andreycak deserved a break on her sentence, he disagreed with her defense attorney, who had hoped that she would receive only probation. “She was not a knave, low-level employee simply following orders she didn’t understand,” Bloch said. Rather, Block said, she was “one of only two people aware of the magnitude of the fraud,” referring also to Podlucky. Andreycak’s mother and son, who appeared to be in his late teens, were not initially in the courtroom, but were brought in after she was sentenced and handcuffed by U.S. marshals to say a brief farewell. They did not comment, but cried as they left the courtroom. “We are disappointed by the sentence, and it’s not what we expected,” defense attorney Edward Bilik said. “I think everybody in the courtroom was surprised.” Assistant U.S. Attorney James Garrett didn’t recommend a specific sentence, but stressed to the judge how crucial Andreycak’s cooperation was to his case. “She has worked diligently to try to set things right to the best of her ability,” Garrett said. He also said that, unlike Podlucky and some other company officials convicted in the scheme, Andreycak “did not do anything on her own initiative.” Bilik, who had asked the judge not to incarcerate his client, was asked afterward if he thought she did not get enough credit for her cooperation. “I think she received too much credit for what the CEO did,” Bilik responded. In a sentencing memorandum, Bilik described Andreycak as a single mother with a high school education and a secretarial certificate from a business school, with no accounting background, and as someone whom Podlucky called his “secretary” despite listing her as the company’s director of accounting. Among other things, Andreycak acknowledged inflating the company’s 2005 gross sales to $287 million – about $247 million of which were based on phony invoices and bank deposits, to defraud lenders. Andreycak reportedly used a computer program developed by Podlucky to keep two sets of books and “honestly believed the company would expand to profitability,” according to the memorandum filed by her attorney, Edward Bilik. When Andreycak learned otherwise as the company was forced into bankruptcy in 2006, she told a bankruptcy trustee everything she knew about the fraud. She continued to provide similar information to federal prosecutors, which is why Bilik has asked the court to consider probation or some form of home confinement, instead of federal prison. Also to be sentenced later Tuesday is Robert Lynn, former president of Le-Nature’s. Lynn, of Ligonier, was convicted of 10 counts of bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy in July despite claiming that he also was fooled by Podlucky and wasn’t part of the scheme.

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Starbucks To Raise Prices

January 3, 2012

Are you one of those people who constantly grumbles about $4 lattes? Brace yourself: Starbucks, patient zero of that particular fiduciary epidemic, just announced that it’s raising prices once again. The latest Starbucks price hike primarily affects Northeastern and Southern states, and will see menu prices rise by about one percent overall, reports Reuters. But the increase in prices will not be an even one percent across the board. The cost of a “tall” latte in New York City, for example, will go up by 10 cents, but prices for “grande” lattes will stay where they are. Starbucks attributed the move to a variety of factors , but one of them is surely commodity prices, which remain high. Another factor may be the New Year’s increase in the minimum wage in several states. If some prognosticators are right, though, this latest price hike could be just a taste of trends to come. In October, the Sustainability Director of Starbucks warned that climate change could harm coffee plants’ growing conditions down the line — which could make a $4 the late 21st-century’s equivalent of penny candy.

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Major Fishing Cuts To Protect Dwindling Cod Could Ruin Fishermen

January 1, 2012

BOSTON (AP) — In an industry where agreement comes slowly, the sudden prospect of huge fishing cuts to protect New England’s codfish inspired a quick consensus: Scores of fishermen will be ruined if those cuts are passed. But it’s not clear how or if that pain can be avoided, weeks after new scientific numbers indicated cod in the Gulf of Maine is much weaker than thought. “We really haven’t heard of something that works right now,” said Gib Brogan, of the environmental group Oceana. Fishery science and law present major obstacles to preserving both cod and fishermen. The law requires scientists to set a limit on how hard fishermen can fish for any species. If they exceed it, they’re illegally overfishing and regulators are charged with “immediately” stopping it. That means, given the grim new estimate of cod’s health, fishermen would have to accept a debilitating cut of about 90 percent in their cod catch next year, and there’s little wiggle room to avoid it. Meanwhile, the new data — though attacked from the outset by skeptical fishermen — has survived an initial review, and scientists say it likely won’t change much. Several lawmakers, starting with U.S. Sen. John Kerry, are now asking the U.S. Commerce Secretary to order a new assessment of the cod’s health in hopes of getting better data, but prospects are uncertain. Still, there’s optimism a solution can be found, if only because the alternative is devastating cuts that could sweep away remaining fishermen from Provincetown to northern Maine. “I’m not a betting man, but I’m optimistic to a fault,” said fisheries scientist Steve Cadrin, who works at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He added, “Someone up high (in government) is going to have to make a bold move to allow a common-sense solution.” For centuries, Gulf of Maine cod has been the key species for small-boat fishermen on day trips from northern New England ports, including historic Gloucester. In 2010, cod brought in $15.8 million, second-most among the valuable bottom-dwelling groundfish species fishermen have long chased, such as flounder and haddock. Cod’s future looked great in 2008, when a major assessment indicated the Gulf of Maine species was headed for full recovery. But the new data, released this fall, said cod was actually so badly overfished that even if fishermen completely stop catching it, it can’t recover to a federally mandated level of abundance by a 2014 deadline. The new numbers are still being verified. If they hold up, onerous cutbacks on the cod catch are certain, and that would also mean tight limits on many other valuable groundfish off New England, to protect the cod that swim among them. But cod aren’t scarce and anyone who fishes the Gulf of Maine knows it, New Hampshire fishermen David Goethel said. He said the gap between the new estimate and reality demands a complete reworking of the new cod assessment, just as lawmakers have requested. That includes rethinking the numerous assumptions that go into the various population models, including such complexities as how well the federal boat that catches fish population samples scoops up older cod. “We need a do-over,” Goethel said. Absent new science that leads to a drastically different outlook for cod, another hope is that regulators will interpret fishery law differently than they ever have. Right now, fishermen are boxed in by the requirement to stay under that maximum rate at which they can catch codfish without overfishing it. In essence, the rate allows fishermen to haul home a safe fraction of a species. But in the case of Gulf of Maine cod, the new stock estimate is so low that that fraction shrinks to a pittance the fishing industry can’t survive on. And since the rate is determined by such basic biological factors as a species’ growth, reproductive and natural death rates, political pressure can’t do much to budge it. But Cadrin sees one possibility for fishermen to get some help. He hopes for new flexibility in how regulators react after they determine there’s overfishing on cod. He said that regulators have traditionally acted as if the law requires them to “immediately” stop overfishing on any species, but the actual law doesn’t require that — the word “immediately” is contained in a guideline to the law. Cadrin said if fishery managers want to be bold, they could give fishermen a short amount of time to stop overfishing, rather than “immediately” enforcing lethal restrictions when the new fishing year starts in May. More time would mean less severe cuts now, and a chance for more fishermen to survive. There is some sign from the top levels of U.S. fishery management that regulators are ready to do something different about codfish, even if they don’t know what. At a quickly called meeting last month to deal with the cod crisis, Eric Schwaab, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service spoke of undiscovered solutions outside the traditional channels of government bureaucracy. The situation is so serious, Schwaab said, “those kind of extraordinary options ought to be on the table.”

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54 Miners Working When Drill Rig Caught Fire In Tennessee

December 28, 2011

By Tim Ghianni NASHVILLE, Tenn, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Three miners were trapped by smoke for hours on Wednesday before being brought safely to the surface at the Young zinc mine in Tennessee, authorities said. Two other miners were taken to a local hospital suffering from minor smoke inhalation after a drill rig caught fire at the mine in New Market, Tennessee, Fire Department Captain Sammy Solomon said. Fifty-four miners were in the zinc mine when the rig caught fire about 800 feet from the surface, and 51 of them were able to walk out of the mine, Solomon said. “They are on the surface, they are on the ground. They are officially out,” Solomon said just before 4 p.m. local time, adding that they appeared to be fine. A team from state-run Tennessee Mine Rescue led the trapped miners safely to the surface. The miners had been talking with authorities at the surface by phone after the fire broke out. The fire call came in about 1 p.m. Solomon, who has been a captain of the volunteer fire and rescue unit for more than 20 years, said a mine fire was almost unheard of in New Market, a town about 15 miles north of Knoxville in eastern Tennessee. “This is the first time it’s ever happened that I could ever remember,” Solomon said. The mine is located in Jefferson County, one of four counties in Tennessee with active zinc mining and milling operations that make it the nation’s second-largest zinc producer, according to state data. (Additional reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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Which Kind Of Bulb Should I Buy?

December 22, 2011

Given the man light bulb choices available today and the new bulb efficiency standards that are set to go into effect in 2012, selecting the right bulb for your home can difficult. Below, check out the tips from the Natural Resources Defense Council for selecting the light bulb that both looks best and is energy efficient. The efficiency standards that are set to take effect on January 1, 2012 mean that older, incandescent bulbs will be phased out. Consumers, however, will still have a choice between newer, more efficient incandescent bulbs, CFLs and LED bulbs, reports the NRDC . Congressional Republicans included a rider in a spending bill last week that will delay enforcement of the light bulb efficiency law that was signed by President Bush in 2007. The Associated Press reports Rep. Fred Upton (R-Michigan) said, “Americans don’t want government standards determining how they light their homes.” According to the NRDC, the change is hardly a coup . The Republican rider “pertains only to funding for federal enforcement of federal lighting standards for this fiscal year.” The delay will not affect standards for manufacturers, or ultimately, consumers. Rocky Kistner, a HuffPost blogger with the NRDC, said “the money-saving law” is ” good for American consumers — and for American workers and their companies .” Light bulb manufacturers even oppose Congress’ efficiency standards funding delay. A statement from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association , representing over 90 percent of the lighting industry, said the industry “remains committed and supportive of the lighting standards established [by the 2007 law].” Captions courtesy of NRDC . Images courtesy of NRDC unless otherwise credited.

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Peter Gardett: European Downgrade Contagion

December 17, 2011

From the perspective of the U.S. energy business, the European debt crisis can feel very far away. The impacts of ongoing sovereign debt debates are felt first in markets for government bonds and currencies; one can only guess what the extent will be of ramifications on government commitments to clean energy or business activity levels in developed and emerging economies. But as the financial crisis showed, the interlinked and leveraged nature of contemporary finance gives market crises a whack-a-mole feel: suppressing damaging volatility in one market creates unexpected problems in another. Today, a California homeowner defaults and Iceland goes bankrupt. The energy sector escaped much of the impact of the early iterations of the financial crisis , now grinding into its fifth year, but this time around the escape may not be so easy or obvious. A conservative approach to financing following the collapse of Enron , strong demand for commodities and related products from China and other emerging economies, and hundreds of billions of dollars in support from the U.S. stimulus and associated programs , muffled for energy companies the impact of financial shakeups that brought down banks, carmakers and governments in recent years. But a combination of specific problems impacting institutions with deep exposure to energy trading, a foreign-currency crunch in Asia and the prospect for accelerated rebalancing of the global commodity economy as domestic U.S. energy production expands, is expected to ripple across the energy business and analysts preparing 2012 outlooks are issuing warnings for the sector. Bank Rout In the most immediate future, European banks will be pulling back on lending and trading activities that provide liquidity to both exchange-traded energy markets and bilateral energy commodities trade in the U.S. French banks like Societe General and Credit Agricole have been major players in global energy markets, and the European sovereign debt crisis has forced them to take off risk as they face turmoil in both the markets for government bonds and shrinking short-term lending between banks. The short-term bank lending in the so-called “repo” or “overnight” markets is the lubricant that keeps cash flowing through the financial system and its lockup can threaten the very existence of financial institutions. Threats to repo lending brought down Bear Stearns and were at the heart of the financial crisis that brought down Lehman Brothers and triggered the broader recession. With European banks conserving capital in an effort to avoid a replay of September 2008, cutting exposure to energy trading and energy lending is an obvious way to keep money inside the institution. This month alone both SocGen and Credit Agricole have announced they will shutter the majority of their U.S. energy trading operations, reducing the need to put up huge amounts of collateral to maintain trading positions. The banks also lend money to other financial groups that provide liquidity to energy markets and fund energy companies, including hedge funds. In Barclays Capital’s 2012 outlook, analysts cite recent data indicating hedge fund positions in all commodities, including energy, have been pared back sharply since the middle of 2011. Currency Correlations One stage removed from the immediate threat of a liquidity crisis in energy trading and lending is the potential for a slowdown in trade originating from Asian countries, particularly China, as manufacturers there seek new ways to finance deliveries of solar panels, windmills and other energy components to international customers. European banks are major suppliers of dollars to Asian manufacturers and exporters face limitations in accessing their own currency. The amount of financing pulled in the current crisis could hit $390 billion based on previous trends, recent analysis by Reuters BreakingViews estimates, and includes a 50 percent increase in the cost of borrowing in Asia since the middle of 2011 as part of the impact from retreating European banks. This trade finance issue is similar to the problem facing energy market players in the energy trading space, but with a longer tail and a broader set of potential outcomes. If Chinese solar panel manufacturers find themselves unable to ship cheap solar components to the U.S., will U.S. solar companies turn to domestic providers and pay higher prices in a tightening market? Sinovel, a Chinese firm, is by some estimates now the world’s second largest wind company; without access to dollars its export-oriented business growth plans could be dealt a blow in 2012. As in all crises, some firms would benefit and others suffer, but the sector already faces widespread uncertainty in financing and building projects that use Chinese and other Asia-sourced components, and a slate of cancellations or delays would do little to boost the industry or the broader economy. Weight of the World The European crisis could help accelerate an ongoing rebalance in the world’s economy, the head of commodities at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch argued this week, with increased domestic U.S. production of natural gas and oil lending tailwinds to the trend. “The world cannot keep accumulating claims on U.S. assets indefinitely,” head of Global Commodities and Multi-Asset Strategy Francisco Blanch said in presenting the bank’s 2012 commodities outlook as part of a broader presentation called “When Europe Sneezes.” An unwinding of the global imbalance, in which developed countries take on debt to acquire goods and commodities from emerging markets, has already begun in the manufacturing sector and now shows signs of spreading to commodities, including energy, Blanch said. While volatility will remain the trend in 2012, Blanch expects light at the end of the tunnel for the U.S. economy because of increased energy production from shales, underlining the potential for winners as well as losers from a European debt-triggered market shift. Shale oil production increases have been “phenomenal” the bank said, and Blanch predicts that production will provide a tail wind for the U.S. economy over the next 3-5 years, building on still-growing production from natural gas shales that has contributed to economic growth over the past 2-3 years. The energy sector has been agitating for change for years as it seeks to rebuild and grow. Its challenge in 2012 may be to navigate that change as it stems from an unexpected source. This AOL Energy Comment reflects the views of the author alone, in this case, AOL Energy Managing Editor Peter Gardett. Join the AOL Energy discussion by leaving a comment below or joining a conversation on our Discussions page.

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Fitch: Comprehensive Solution To European Debt Crisis ‘Beyond Reach’

December 17, 2011

ROME/BERLIN (Gavin Jones and Stephen Brown) – The credit rating agency Fitch has told euro zone countries it believes a comprehensive solution to their debt crisis is beyond reach, putting six euro zone economies including Italy on watch for potential downgrades in the near future. It reaffirmed France’s top-notch triple-A rating but even here said the outlook was now negative, meaning it could be downgraded within two years. Underscoring the tensions within the bloc over a crisis that has spread relentlessly over the past two years, Italy’s prime minister urged European policymakers on Friday to beware of dividing the continent with efforts to fight its debt crisis. In a swipe at Germany, he warned against a “short-term hunger for rigor” in some countries. Germany has led resistance to allowing the European Central Bank to ramp up its buying of government bonds on the open market to a big enough scale to douse the crisis, but Fitch late on Friday added to the pressure for just such a move. It said that, following the EU summit a week ago, it had concluded that “a ‘comprehensive solution’ to the euro zone crisis is technically and politically beyond reach.” “Of particular concern is the absence of a credible financial backstop,” it said. “In Fitch’s opinion this requires more active and explicit commitment from the ECB to mitigate the risk of self-fulfilling liquidity crises for potentially illiquid but solvent Euro Area Member States.” It put Belgium, Spain, Slovenia, Italy, Ireland, and Cyprus on negative watch, which could mean a downgrade within three months. Later another agency, Moody’s, cut Belgium’s credit rating by two notches, saying the euro zone debt crisis raised funding risks for countries with high public debt burdens, and said a further downgrade was possible within two years. Standard & Poor’s had already warned 15 of the currency bloc’s 17 members they were close to a downgrade. “The systemic nature of the euro zone crisis is having a profoundly adverse effect on economic and financial stability across the region,” Fitch said. The euro edged higher against the dollar but still suffered its worst weekly performance against the greenback in three months. German Chancellor Angela Merkel gained some respite from domestic pressure to take a tougher line in the crisis when eurosceptics in her junior coalition partner, the Free Democrats, lost a grassroots party referendum aimed at blocking a permanent euro zone rescue fund. A victory for the eurosceptics could have brought down Merkel’s centre-right coalition, but the outcome still left the FDP split, with its public support in tatters. Meanwhile, a first draft of a planned fiscal compact among euro zone countries and aspiring members, published on Friday, showed that countries could be taken to the European Court of Justice if they did not meet agreed budget goals. AUTOMATIC SANCTIONS Merkel – under pressure from the revered Bundesbank to force debt-saddled euro zone countries to reform and save their way out of crisis with austerity measures – has led a push for automatic sanctions for deficit “sinners” in the bloc. This has fed concerns that excessive belt-tightening in southern countries could send their economies into a negative spiral with no prospect of growing out of crisis, while feeding resentment in the prosperous north. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said Europe’s response “should be wrapped in a long-term sustainable approach, not just to feed short-term hunger for rigor in some countries.” “To help European construction evolve in a way that unites, not divides, we cannot afford that the crisis in the euro zone brings us … the risk of conflicts between the virtuous North and an allegedly vicious South,” he told a conference in Rome. French officials have sought to prepare the public for the likelihood that Paris will lose its top-notch rating from S&P for the first time since 1975, playing down the potential setback and focusing attention instead on neighboring Britain. President Nicolas Sarkozy had vowed to keep the top rating, and it could become an issue in next year’s election campaign. “The economic situation in Britain today is very worrying, and you’d rather be French than British in economic terms,” Finance Minister Francois Baroin said in a radio interview, a day after Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer said that if ratings agencies were even-handed, Britain deserved to be downgraded before France. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said French Prime Minister Francois Fillon had called him to explain that “it had not been his intention to call into question the UK’s rating but to highlight that ratings agencies appeared more focused on economic governance than deficit levels.” Clegg’s office said he accepted the explanation “but made the point that recent remarks from members of the French government about the UK economy were simply unacceptable and that steps should be taken to calm the rhetoric.” World Bank President Robert Zoellick said he was “deeply troubled” by the exchanges. He said politicians needed to be careful because “you’ve got a tinderbox out there in both political and economic terms.” Euro zone officials said potential downgrades, particularly from S&P, could raise the cost of borrowing for the region’s existing EFSF bailout fund, but would not make a big difference to its operations. EFSF FIREPOWER EFSF chief Klaus Regling told the Rome conference about 600 billion euros was available to fight the crisis. “If Italy and Spain were to ask for support, their gross financing needs for 2012 are less than that and I don’t think they would need to be taken off the market,” he said. The EFSF has the option of providing first-loss insurance on new bond issues, but the country concerned would have to make a formal request and negotiate conditionality, while the sum guaranteed would have to be agreed unanimously by EFSF members, subject to German parliamentary approval. Euro zone countries will hold talks next Monday on the draft text of the euro zone fiscal compact and on bilateral loans to the International Monetary Fund, officials in Brussels said. Slovak Finance Minister Ivan Miklos told Reuters they would commit 150 billion euros to boost the IMF’s lending capacity. The United States has refused to offer additional funding and it remains to be seen how much countries such as China, Russia, Brazil and India are willing to commit. The European Central Bank has resisted calls for unlimited purchases of euro zone sovereign bonds to quell the debt crisis, putting the onus on governments and their collective financial firewalls. ECB President Mario Draghi said on Thursday that euro zone governments were on track to restore market confidence and the ECB’s bond-buying plan was “neither eternal nor infinite.” But in one intriguing hint on Friday, Bank of Italy governor Ignazio Visco told the Rome conference: “The impression is that there is only one way to convince markets, and we’ll work on that.” He did not elaborate. Banks appear to be resisting pressure from governments to help debt-choked euro zone countries by using cheap money lent by the ECB to buy more sovereign bonds. The chief executive of UniCredit, one of Italy’s two biggest banks, said this week that using ECB money to buy government debt “wouldn’t be logical.” Euro zone governments need to sell almost 80 billion euros of fresh debt in January alone, and the stand-off between policymakers and banks could turn the slow-burning debt crisis into a conflagration in the New Year. In Greece, where the debt crisis began two years ago, a senior official of the EU/IMF troika team negotiating terms for a second bailout package said there was no guarantee that talks on the private sector’s contribution would lead to a voluntary deal involving the bulk of its creditors. Agreement has been held up by wrangling over issues ranging from the credit status and interest coupons on the new bonds to legal guarantees to be offered by the official sector. One key question is how many sign up to a private sector debt swap. Failure to secure agreement could force a disorderly default that might trigger a wider emergency across the euro zone. Asked if there was a risk of a disorderly Greek default, the troika official said: “Our objective is still to have a voluntary operation. If you ask me ‘Is there a guarantee that there will be a voluntary operation?’, of course there can never be a guarantee.” (Additional reporting by Steve Scherer in Rome, Annika Breidthardt in Berlin, Gareth Gore, Natsuko Waki, Kirsten Donovan and Ana Nicolaci da Costa in London, Martin Santa in Bratislava, Ingrid Melander in Athens; Writing by Paul Carrel and Paul Taylor/Ruth Pitchford; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt and Kevin Liffey) Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions .

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Coca-Cola Buys Half Of Middle East Beverage Company

December 14, 2011

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Coca-Cola Co. is buying roughly half of Saudi Arabia’s Aujan Industries for $980 million, pairing the U.S. soda giant with one of the Middle East’s top independent beverage companies. Under the terms of the deal announced Wednesday, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola will get a 50 percent stake in the part of Aujan that holds rights to the company’s brands, and 49 percent of its distribution company. The companies say it is the largest investment yet by a multinational firm in the region’s consumer goods industry. The fast-growing Middle East has some of the world’s highest rates of nonalcoholic drink consumption, said Ahmet C. Bozer, who heads Coca-Cola’s Eurasia and Africa Group. “In addition to their great brands, we are investing in Aujan because it is a well-run, successful business. This transaction creates a platform for further cooperation between The Coca-Cola Company, Aujan and existing bottling partners across the region,” Bozer said in a statement. Aujan sells the popular Rani line of fruit drinks and the nonalcoholic malt drink Barbican throughout the Middle East. It also holds the regional license for Vimto, a British spiced fruit drink that is popular with many Muslims celebrating the holy month of Ramadan. The acquisition doesn’t include Aujan’s manufacturing and distribution business in Iran, which is subject to multiple U.S. sanctions. Family-run Aujan was founded in 1905 and is based in the eastern city of Dammam on Saudi Arabia’s Persian Gulf coast. It employs more than 2,500 people and brings in revenue of more than $850 million annually. In a statement, Aujan Chairman Adel Aujan said the deal will better position the company to succeed both in the region and internationally. The companies expect the deal to close in the first half of 2012.

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Taco Bell: We’ll ‘Reinvent The Taco’ With Doritos

December 8, 2011

Some things are perfect: sunshine, rainbows, koala bears, King Lear , fish tacos eaten on the beach in Malibu. These are things that, like the wheel, no one would want to reinvent. But what about Taco Bell tacos? Given that they’ve been accused of being filled with a faux-ground meat mixture , they hardly seem as perfect as rainbows. So why not reinvent them? Probably can’t make them any worse, right? If only. As it turns out, Taco Bell had the capability to make its tacos much, much worse. Parent company Yum Brands just had to team up with fellow food giant PepsiCo for an answer, in the form of taco shells made of nacho cheese-flavored Doritos. The tacos debuted at the beginning of 2011 in selected markets in the San Joaquin Valley in California, and proved enough a success that Yum Brands has decided to bring the product to Taco Bells around the country. Representative from the company told Nation’s Restaurant News that the Doritos Locos Tacos would “reinvent the taco,” and help separate Taco Bell from its competitors. The fillings on the Dorito-clad tacos are said to be spiced more mildly than those in traditional tacos, to help compensate for the extra flavor in the shell. At this point, it’s unclear how the bright orange cheese powder on the exterior of the new tacos will affect Taco Bell’s sodium reduction initiative , but we can’t imagine it’s helping. Maybe Taco Bell shouldn’t have reinvented its wheel after all. Here’s an ad for the tacos that’s been aired in California test markets:

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BP Cited For 5 More Alleged Violations Related To Blown-Out Well

December 7, 2011

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Federal regulators have issued a second set of violations against BP for activities related to the blown-out well that led to the deaths of 11 rig workers and the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement issued five violations Wednesday. The violations claim BP failed to conduct an accurate pressure integrity test and failed to suspend drilling operations “when the safe drilling margin identified in the approved application for permit to drill was not maintained.” Federal regulators in October cited BP PLC for seven violations and contractors Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton for four violations apiece. BSEE director James Watson says the second round of violations is based on “additional regulatory violations by BP.” BP has 60 days to appeal.

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Nathan Novemsky: The Perils of Wrapping Paper: A Story of Consumer Expectation

December 7, 2011

It happens: a frantic last day of work before departing for the holiday. The time for making or purchasing gifts has come and gone. You find yourself, half-defeated, scanning the souvenir wire-racks of an airport or gas station. You hold out hope: somewhere, surely, there must be a meaningful piece of kitsch. This is the unavoidable trajectory of much gift shopping, and so here’s a piece of advice for the last-minute shopper: if the gift you’re about to give is less than ideal, then leave it unwrapped. You may just spread more cheer this season. Intuitively, it may seem that receiving an unwanted gift with attractive wrapping would be preferable to receiving the same gift unwrapped: at least pretty wrapping provides something positive about the exchange of, say, a fruitcake, or a pair of argyle socks; you might call it the asset of aesthetics, a small pleasure before the sight (and sigh) of disappointment. But some of my research at the Yale Center for Customer Insights , conducted with my colleague Ravi Dhar at the Yale School of Management, suggests this belief about the benefits of gift wrapping could be misguided. People think nice wrapping can never hurt — and they’re wrong! When it comes to the exchange of gifts, nice wrapping sets high expectations, amplifying the disappointment of receiving unusual or undesirable gifts, and even dimming the glow of great gifts. This research, of course, has implications immediately relevant to gift giving. Most obviously, if you think you might be giving a disappointing gift, then don’t wrap it. Of course most gifts are chosen with the high hopes that they are exactly what the recipient wants. But even for good gifts, my research shows that spending a lot of time or money on great wrapping may not make the recipient either happier with the gift or more thankful to the gift giver. Rather, mediocre wrapping can enhance the joy of receiving that great gift because the wrapping did not build up expectations. There are also practical implications that apply not to gift giving, but to gift receiving: when receiving a nicely wrapped gift, take a moment to ask yourself — I recommend in silence — whether or not you are anticipating a higher-quality gift just because of the trimmings. We found across a number of trials that the simple act of asking this question helps gift recipients realize that expectations matter. A moment’s pause and consideration could help you avoid setting yourself up for disappointment. This research carries weighty implications well beyond the realm of gift exchange. The fact that providing a high-quality initial experience results in higher expectations for what follows, as well as a greater likelihood of disappointment if the second experience doesn’t match these heightened expectations, should give pause to marketers at organizations that work directly with their customers. Though an enticing mark of differentiation, adding playful or attractive extras at the outset of a customer interaction could prove detrimental. For example, sprucing up the hotel lobby makes guests anticipate nicer rooms; a friendly store greeter means that a shopper will expect a smoother check-out process; and a free glass of champagne offered to diners before their meal may mean that they judge their entrées with more exacting standards. This is not a call for severe, Victorian austerity, for a palette of grays and browns. But be wary of raising expectations that you can’t fulfill. Offering your friends a thoughtfully wrapped gift, or your customers a delightful add-on to their experience is a great strategy — but only if you can follow through with an equivalently delightful gift or experience.

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Burger King To Be Deposed As Number Two Burger Chain

November 29, 2011

In August, Burger King got rid its longtime mascot , a bizarre king wearing a golden crown. The coup d’etat replaced the king with a more domestic emblem, a mom. The timing, it now seems, was fortuitous — Burger King must have known it could soon lose its royal standing as the second-biggest burger chain in America. For now, Burger King still has its plum spot on the totem pole — but according to Nancy Luna of the OC Register , a competitor is nipping at its heels. Luna argues that Wendy’s, the perennial runner-up to BK and McDonald’s, could soon surpass Burger King in total revenue to become the third-biggest burger chain in America. Her intel came from business analyst Mark Kalinowski, who argues Wendy’s has done a better job differentiating itself from market leader McDonald’s than Burger King has. Wendy’s has launched a number of new menu items in recent months, including natural-cut french fries with sea salt and ” Dave’s Hot-n-Juicy Cheeseburger .” Burger King has mirrored Wendy’s, with new fries and a new burger , but its moves have come later and been less dramatic than Wendy’s. Four of the 10 biggest fast food chains in the country , by revenue, have menus oriented around burgers; together, they sell tens of billions of dollars worth of food every year. The number two fast food chain overall, though, is Subway.

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Mercury Storage Case Goes To Supreme Court

November 28, 2011

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will consider throwing out an $18 million penalty against Texas-based Southern Union Co. for illegally storing mercury at a rundown building in Rhode Island. The justices said Monday they will hear the natural gas company’s appeal of the criminal penalty that was imposed by a federal judge and upheld by an appeals court. What makes the case unusual is that the company is challenging the size of the penalty under a line of Supreme Court cases concerning prison sentences. Southern Union had used the building in Pawtucket to store outdated mercury-sealed gas regulators that it removed from customers’ homes. The mercury was initially removed and shipped to a recycling center. But when that work stopped, the regulators and loose mercury were left to accumulate inside the building.

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Laurie David: Thanksgiving Conversation Starter: Is It Time to Ban Soda Ads on Prime Time Television?

November 23, 2011

Did you know Coca-Cola’s first television ad aired on Thanksgiving Day in 1950? It was part of a special live production featuring the ventriloquist Edger Bergen and his sidekick Charlie McCarthy? It was a humble foray into the new but powerful advertising medium for the soft drink giant. However, it didn’t take long for the company to realize the power of TV, particularly on younger audiences. I have to admit few commercials evoke warm holiday memories more than the ubiquitous Coca-Cola ads such as those polar bear commercials. Remember the one that starts with two polar bear cubs struggling to pull a Christmas tree up a snowy hill? After some help from mom (or possibly dad) — the little ones are rewarded with an ice-cold coke for a job well done. Knowing what I know now about the effects of sugary drinks on children the image of kids chugging down a Coke [or in this case polar bear cubs] evokes the same feelings I’d get if they were taking a deep drag on cigarettes. Oh give me a break — it’s just a soda, I can hear the comments already. A little soda once in a while is not going to harm anyone. Sadly, many kids are drinking a lot more than just a little bit of soda every day. The statistics are sobering — Americans suck down about 30 percent more calories from sugar-sweetened drinks now than they did just 10 years ago. When it comes to children, they’re gulping down up to 15 percent of their total calories for the day from these liquid candies. For teens its worse, soft drinks are the number one source of calories in a their diet. Did you know that a 12-ounce can of regular soda can contain as much as 10 and a ½ teaspoons of sugar. That’s as much sugar found in two 1 ½ ounce chocolate candy bars. Those numbers are shocking enough, however, what should give us all pause are the findings from one study that found if a child consumes just one drink filled with added sugar a day his or her chance of becoming obese increases by 60 percent! It’s not surprising then that soda consumption is linked to childhood obesity , type-2 diabetes , high blood pressure and heart disease . These facts are fairly well known by now. Groups like Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity have been sounding the alarms for quite sometime. You’d think with all this information, the least soft drink companies could do is cut back on the advertising — at least those focused on kids. Right? Wrong! According to our friends at the Rudd Center kids are getting bombarded with more and more ads every year. Take a look at their latest findings : Soda Ad Exposure From 2008 to 2010, exposure to TV advertising for regular soda doubled for children. In 2010, while children saw 50% more ads on TV for sugary fruit drinks, adults saw twice as many ads for 100% juice. Capri Sun, Kool-Aid and Sunny D dominated children’s exposure to sugary drinks on TV, together comprising 40% of children’s total exposure to sugary drinks. We should all find the fact that food companies are spending so much money on advertising directly to kids — nearly $2 Billion a year — truly disturbing. It doesn’t sit well with our nation’s pediatricians either. In 2006, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement which said exposure to advertising, “may contribute significantly to childhood and adolescent obesity, poor nutrition, and cigarette and alcohol use.” According to the AAP, kids and teens view more than 3,000 ads a year, on television alone. They say research has shown, “that young children — younger than 8 years — are cognitively and psychologically defenseless against advertising.” Coke and Pepsi have gone even further, aided by spineless show producers, and their networks, by purchasing embedded ads directly into the shows content. The blurred line between the show and the ads pummel young viewers. The average age of an American Idol or X factor fan is 6-12! The beloved judges sip it as they dole out advice to the contestants. Celebrities chug it during the commercial breaks. Hardly seems right, does it. For a while there it looked like the FTC and several other regulatory agencies, which are part of the so-called Interagency Working Group on Food Marketed to Children , were poised to take a strong stand on the issue. That was until last month when they caved-in to pressure from industry, which complained that the group’s original recommended voluntary guidelines designed to limit the way unhealthy foods are sold to children between the ages of 2 and 17 was, “unworkable.” Now the working group is thinking of changing the recommended age limits to kids between 2 and 11. Not only that, they’re thinking of looking the other way when it comes advertising “seasonal or holiday confections” like Halloween or Easter candy, or at places such as theme parks or sporting events. When will regulators get a backbone? They have to stop letting industry kick them around and keeping them from protecting the health of America’s children? I know I’m not alone in my disgust. Corporations are no longer allowed to advertise cigarettes on TV due to the potential impact it could have on our kids. When it comes to hard liquor, the government didn’t ban it, the companies did it voluntarily. Can you imagine! It is now time to institute a similar TV advertising ban on soda. We are in the midst of a health epidemic. Some one has to start caring. Some food for thought as you sit down and give thanks for our children this holiday season.

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Donald Cohen: Junk Food Companies Say Eating More Fruits and Vegetables Is a ‘Job Killer’

November 22, 2011

An effort to get American children to eat more fruits and vegetables should, even in hyper-polarized Washington, be a no-brainer. Last week, Congress declared pizza sauce to be a vegetable in school lunches. Now, major food manufacturers are escalating their attacks against healthy food, calling proposed food marketing guidelines “job killers” that will devastate the American economy. Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission, along with three other federal agencies (FDA, CDC and USDA), released a set of proposed voluntary guidelines for marketing food to children to reduce sugars, fats and salts and increase fruits, whole grains and vegetables in the diets of American youth. In 2008, led by Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Tom Harkin (D-IA), Congress asked for the recommendations to address the nations’ growing obesity crisis among our nation’s youth. Studies show that one-third of all children aged 10 to 17 are overweight or obese. In the past three decades rates have more than doubled among kids aged 2 to 5 and more than tripled among those ages 6 through 11. The incidence of “adult onset” diabetes in children and youth has more than doubled in the past decade. A coalition of major manufacturers of processed foods, fast-food chains and the media industry that depends on their advertising dollars are spending millions to derail the proposed guidelines. The FTC has already started to trim the proposal in response to the lobbying blitzkrieg but industry wants to go ever further. They want to use an industry-designed scheme that would declare Chocolate Lucky Charms, Marshmallow Pebbles and Cookie Crisp cereals as healthy. But despite industry claims these guidelines are not mandatory regulations; they are voluntary guidelines developed by an independent committee of nutrition experts about how we can improve children’s health. That hasn’t stopped industry predictions of economic disaster. According to comments filed by General Mills’ to Interagency Working Group “the economic consequences [of the guidelines] for American consumers and American agriculture would be devastating.” They also predict “severe” economic consequences for the media industry and their employees. They argue that the voluntary guidelines would cause consumers to eat more fruits and vegetables produced in other countries and therefore fewer grains grown in America. According to research funded by the Grocery Manufacturers of America, “demand for fruits and vegetables would increase by 1009 percent and 226 percent respectively” resulting in almost $500 billion more spent on imported food and $30 billion less on domestically grown grain. Even if the voluntary guidelines were that effective and their study was accurate, it’s an audacious marketing spin to turn an overwhelmingly positive victory for public health into a big government, job-killing attack on freedom. Another industry-funded study claimed that the voluntary guidelines would result in the loss of 74,000 jobs. An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found the study riddled with “implausible” assumptions, historical inconsistencies and incomplete analyses of potential impacts to both the industry and economy as a whole. For example, the industry study assumes, without justification, a 20 percent decline in advertising and completely ignores the likely scenario in which companies shift advertising to other products or audiences. It also ignores the fact that there has been no negative economic impact since the industry adopted its own guidelines in 2006. In fact, EPI concludes that the guidelines could have no impact on jobs or could even lead to job growth in other parts of the economy. Finally, General Mills adds that the food companies’ $1.6 billion in advertising expenditures “would go up in smoke.” “$1.6 billion in economic activity cannot disappear without an impact on people’s jobs and livelihoods” they wrote. While it’s impossible to believe that food conglomerates wouldn’t redirect their advertising dollars, it’s even harder to think that media companies wouldn’t find other buyers. In fact, they’ve done it before. When Congress banned tobacco ads on TV and radio in 1970 media companies stood to lose $220 million in annual cigarette advertising. Like their counterparts today, the networks, and broadcasters associations lobbied hard alongside big tobacco against the ban. The media industry did fine. Total TV and radio advertising sales has increased every year before the ban and after. According to media analysts , in 1969 ad expenditures on TV and radio were $4.85 billion. In 1972, they were $5.7 billion. For decades, industries have opposed laws, rules and even basic consumer information that have made us all healthier. At every step they predict disaster but, in fact, they respond with new ideas and innovations, and we all benefit. These voluntary guidelines merely suggest a path that industry should embrace and applaud.

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New iPad App Lets You Design A Pizza, Then Order It For Delivery

November 21, 2011

The three biggest pizza chains in America (Pizza Hut, Domino’s and Papa John’s) have all developed apps for Apple’s iOS. All three companies’ apps let potential customers find nearby branches of the chain in question and order pizzas for takeout or delivery. But only one of these apps — the new Domino’s iPad app, Domino’s Pizza Hero — lets you order a pizza that you’ve designed yourself. According to Mashable Business , the app takes the form of a game nominally based on Domino’s real-life “Pizza School.” Users learn how to (virtually) carry out all the steps required to make a real Domino’s pizza, from kneading the dough and spreading the sauce to plopping the pepperoni on top. As an advertisement for the Domino’s brand, this is great, nefarious stuff; emphasizing the human effort needed to assemble a pie supports the idea that Domino’s makes artisan pizza . But that’s not even the game’s full impact. After making a given pie, Domino’s Pizza Hero lets the user order that same pie straight to your door. This builds on people’s natural desire to own things they’ve customized themselves — AKA ” The IKEA Effect ” — without sacrificing the convenience of online ordering and delivery pizza. Of course, it’s unclear how scrupulously the actual “artisans” at local Domino’s will follow the template and topping arrangement created on Pizza Heros’ iPad screens. But even if Domino’s Pizza Heros really boils down to a highly elaborate version of GrubHub, with just one vendor, at least it has a fairly convincing alibi. Here’s a brief trailer for the game:

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Mark Tercek: Message to Congress: Healthy Lands and Waters Support a Healthy Economy

November 11, 2011

What do The Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, the Civil War Trust, the National Marine Manufacturers Association and the Saucony shoe company have in common? Of course, they all have a shared interest in getting people outdoors. But they are also part of America’s Voice for Conservation, Recreation and Historic Preservation. This broad coalition of businesses and nonprofit organizations is urging Congress to support conservation of our natural and historic resources as it addresses the Federal budget deficit. The group’s more than 1,000 member organizations represent tens of millions of Americans with diverse backgrounds and political views. What they have in common is a shared understanding that natural resource conservation, outdoor recreation and historic preservation programs are vital to the health and prosperity of the American people. Coalition members have signed onto a letter urging Congress to address the federal deficit without disproportionate cuts to critical programs that protect our country’s tremendous natural and historic heritage. This outpouring of bipartisan support is more evidence of what public opinion polls say — the overwhelming majority of Americans support conservation . There are many reasons for this support. One very important — and often overlooked — reason is the important role of conservation in sustaining our country’s economy. A new study commissioned by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation reveals the huge benefits conservation provides to the nation’s economy. For example, healthy lands and waters are the backbone of our country’s thriving outdoor recreation industry, which supported more than 6 million jobs and contributed $730 billion to the US economy in 2006. Billions more in economic activity come from agriculture, forestry, commercial fishing and other components of our natural resource based economy. In my view, these numbers underscore a serious misconception in the way we think and talk about government funding for conservation. Taking a short-term view, funding is just another word for spending . In the long run, however, such funding is a smart investment that produces very attractive economic returns. And conservation investments sustain the valuable benefits that nature provides to people — safe and plentiful water supplies, coastal buffers from storms, reduction in pollution and support of agriculture and forestry. Take the Farm Bill, for example. Conservation programs within the bill encourage farmers and forest land owners to conserve and manage their land in ways that reduce soil erosion, improve water quality, mitigate the risks of flood damage and provide wildlife habitat. These programs were cut significantly during the House’s work on the Agriculture Appropriations bill in June. These cuts may result in short-term savings. But in the long run, we will pay back heavily in costs from flooded homes and farmlands, and polluted runoff that contributes to the Gulf of Mexico’s “dead zone,” an area of water where depleted oxygen levels prevent any marine life from surviving. According to The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the dead zone costs the US seafood and tourism industries $82 million a year. The organizations that comprise the America’s Voice coalition understand the need for addressing our nation’s fiscal health. We recognize that conservation programs should shoulder their fair share of spending reductions. However, as I pointed out at the coalition’s press conference last week on Capitol Hill, conservation funding accounts for a mere 1.26% percent of the current federal budget. Conservation spending did not cause the budget deficit and cutting conservation cannot fix the deficit. This is not to say that all conservation funding is justified, especially in the face of a budget crisis. We need to look hard at the efficiency of government conservation programs and find better ways to accomplish more with less. Following the budget decisions, there should be a systematic process to re-design, better coordinate and integrate the conservation and environmental programs of the federal government. My organization, The Nature Conservancy, has submitted a paper on this topic to the Council on Environmental Quality and the White House Office of Management and Budget. We look forward to working collaboratively and constructively with the federal government to make better use of our country’s conservation dollars. But in the meantime, as federal budget deadlines loom, I hope that Congress recognizes the immense value of programs that sustain our country’s irreplaceable natural resources. Healthy natural systems are the foundation for a healthy economy. We owe it to the next generation to leave them with both.

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Managers Blamed For 2010 Nevada Gold Mine Deaths

November 8, 2011

RENO, Nev. — Federal safety investigators say two Nevadans were killed in a mining accident partly because someone wedged a broom handle against a reset button to bypass an alarm that would have shut down the system. The Mine Safety and Health Administration said Monday that managers of Barrick Goldstrike’s Meikle Mine are responsible for the August 2010 accident in Carlin that killed Daniel Noel and Joel Schorr. The two Spring Creek men were struck by a pipe that gave way in a ventilation shaft because it was clogged with excessive waste rock material. MSHA says the pipe overfilled because the broom handle kept the loading system from tripping off. It blames managers of the Toronto-based mining company for failing to ensure the safe operation, inspection and maintenance of the mine.

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Appeals Court Overturns Key Cape Wind Clearance

October 29, 2011

BOSTON — A federal appeals court on Friday overturned the Federal Aviation Administration’s ruling that the array of turbines proposed for the Cape Wind project don’t pose a danger for local air traffic, possibly further delaying the wind farm proposed a decade ago. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the FAA misread its own rules when assessing Cape Wind, which aims to be the nation’s first offshore wind farm. The court said the FAA did not adequately determine whether Cape Wind’s 130 turbines – each 440-feet tall – would pose a danger to pilots relying on sight rather than the plane’s instruments. The court vacated the government’s “no hazard” finding and sent the case back to the FAA, agreeing with plaintiffs that “the FAA did misread its regulations.” The project has faced relentless opposition since it was first proposed in 2001 for Nantucket Sound, off Massachusetts. Critics say its power would be too costly and the wind farm will spoil beautiful vistas, while posing environmental and navigational threats. The court ruling came in an appeal of the FAA finding by the town of Barnstable and the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. The decision could mean further delays for the $2.6 billion project. FAA spokesman Jim Peters said the agency was reviewing the court decision. He said the FAA does not know yet whether it will have to start over its review of Cape Wind. Audra Parker of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound suggested the decision could sink the project. She said a significant delay could make it impossible for Cape Wind to attract needed investors, “a key step toward Cape Wind’s ultimate failure.” A lawyer for Barnstable, Eric Pilsk, said the FAA took 2 1/2 years to return a new finding in a similar case in Nevada that his firm handled. But Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers said the ruling won’t affect the project schedule, which calls for producing power by 2014. He said the project needed a renewed hazard determination from FAA within coming months anyway. The suit is just another delay tactic by project critics, he added. “The FAA has reviewed Cape Wind for eight years and repeatedly determined that Cape Wind did not pose a hazard to air navigation,” he said. “The essence of today’s court ruling is that the FAA needs to better explain its Determination of No Hazard ruling.” Bill Short, a consultant working the renewable energy industry, said the ruling was a blow to Cape Wind, but the project can likely withstand any delay because it already has a buyer for half its power under very favorable terms. “(It’s like) driving down the road and you’ve hit one hellacious, enormous pothole and it has given you a flat tire. That’s what this is like (for Cape Wind),” he said. “As opposed to you’re driving down the road and your car goes into a sinkhole and you don’t come out.” Cape Wind backers say the costs for the project are worth the numerous benefits, including kicking off a new clean energy industry, while lowering carbon emissions and reducing dependence on foreign oil. Last year, Cape Wind sold half its projected power output to the utility National Grid, after the project became the first U.S. offshore wind farm to win a lease from the U.S. Department of the Interior. But it has struggled to find a buyer for the other half of its electricity. Without one, it likely can’t attract financing to fully build out the project. It could move ahead with a smaller project, but that would raise the price of its power and make it less economical to build. In its ruling Friday, the court said the FAA made its initial finding of “no hazard” after inadequate analysis, basing it solely on the fact Cape Wind’s turbines aren’t 500 feet tall – the threshold for when turbines become a concern to pilots flying primarily by sight, not instruments, under “visual flight rules.” The court said the FAA’s handbook indicates the turbine height is just one possible factor the FAA must consider, including how Cape Wind would affect pilots flying by visual flight rules. It said there were hundreds of such flights in the area over a three-month span and cited testimony from some local pilots worried about colliding with the turbines in the frequently foggy and rough weather over Nantucket Sound. “The FAA might ultimately find the risk of these dangers to be modest,” the ruling read, “but we cannot meaningfully review any such prediction because the FAA cut the process short in reliance on a misreading of its handbook and, thus, as far as we can tell, never calculated the risks in the first place.”

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Andy Mannle: Is Nuclear Energy a Fuel with a Future?

October 28, 2011

Nuclear energy has always been a controversial issue. With the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant this spring, increased concerns about climate change, and a global debate over the future of energy, this year is no exception. Nuclear advocates argue that it is a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels that can provide more baseload power than renewables. Opponents respond that even if you resolve daunting radioactive waste, environmental risk and security issues, exorbitant construction costs remain. Studies by the California Energy Commission ( PDF ) and Mark Cooper ( PDF ), Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Institute for Energy and the Environment, have shown that the costs of building future nuclear capacity are even higher. Despite buzz about a “nuclear renaissance,” the industry has had trouble attracting private investment, and relies almost exclusively on government subsidies and support. By contrast, the private renewables market has soared over the last several years, with the UN Environment Programme reporting that global investments in green energy topped $211 billion in 2010, up 32 percent from 2009, and a staggering 540 percent since 2004. Meanwhile in the first quarter of 2011, renewable energy production in the U.S. surpassed nuclear for the first time. All signals point to significant growth in the solar and renewables markets over the next decade, while nuclear production has remained flat for years. If new nuclear plants cannot compete on either cost or scale in today’s private market, enormous government support will be required simply to maintain, let alone expand, nuclear capacity in the future. However, both the Japanese and German governments are responding to the Fukushima disaster by increasing their emphasis on renewables instead of nuclear. The Japanese just established a Feed-In Tariff to expand renewables, with a recent poll showing 77 percent supporting a nuclear phase out. The Germans are actively considering phasing out their nuclear program entirely. Not all countries are halting their nuclear plans, however. In the fast-developing BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) the IAEA reports as of early August 2011, 45 new nuclear plants are under construction in BRIC nations. 27 are in China, followed by Russia (11), India (6), and Brazil (1). But the nuclear industry needs to do more than build a few plants a year to be a true low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels. A hard look at the science of reducing atmospheric carbon to 350ppm shows why. To get the world off coal, which produces roughly half of the world’s power, would require 7-8 terawatts of energy. One nuclear power plant yields a gigawatt of power, meaning 8000 nuclear power plants would be needed to produce 8 terawatts. To do this by 2050, 200 plants would need to be built a year, which is roughly one every 1.5 days. Since nuclear plants only have a lifespan of 50 years, by the time the required amount is built, early plants would have to start being decommissioned. After that, new plants would need to keep being built at the same pace just to replace retiring ones. So if the world goes nuclear, supplying half the power we need would require building a new plant every other day forever. Even if this rate of growth were feasible, it is clearly unsustainable. Of course, no single strategy is going to wean us off coal in several decades. We will need a combination of carbon reduction strategies — what Princeton researchers Robert Socolow and Stephen Pacala call ” stabilization wedges ” that each reduce a billion tons a year for the next 50 years. The “wedges” include efficiency, renewables, carbon sequestration, reforestation, and replacing coal plants with natural gas. But even for nuclear to generate a single wedge would require tripling our current nuclear capacity. The reality is global CO2 emissions are rising, not falling. And we can’t build enough nuclear alone to stop them. As such, nuclear’s benefits as a low-carbon alternative would only materialize in the context of a global war on carbon. Absent that, nuclear becomes just another low-carbon energy source competing on the open market with cleaner renewables and cheaper natural gas. Ironically, the current slow growth of nuclear and the possibility of an actual nuclear retreat after Fukushima could mean an acceleration in our rising CO2 emissions, cautions the International Energy Agency. So we cannot build enough nuclear to solve our CO2 problem in the long term, but if we don’t build more, it may get worse in the near term. Powerful industry lobbies in the U.S. and elsewhere will continue to support nuclear as a fuel source, of course, but even the industry recognizes that a major expansion is unlikely. Speaking at an American Nuclear Society conference in August 2011, John Rowe, CEO of Exelon, the country’s largest nuclear utility said 3 of the 4 conditions necessary for expanding nuclear cannot be met. While newer designs offer the right technology, Rowe argues that the government has not resolved waste disposal issues. Additionally, there is currently excess generation capacity because the economic recession has slowed energy consumption. While this will likely change as we retire more coal plants and the economy grows, the influx of cheap natural gas from shale has undercut nuclear’s higher prices. Today, nuclear cannot compete on cost with fossil fuels, and cannot compete on quality with renewables. Going forward, renewables offer rapid growth and innovation combined with falling costs, which will make it harder for nuclear to compete in the future. And as fossil fuel prices rise, they will also likely drive up nuclear’s construction costs, offsetting any price advantage there. Without a major breakthrough, it seems safe to say nuclear will never be cheaper than coal or natural gas; nor will it be as safe, clean, and attractive to consumers and investors as renewables. In the end, the most likely option for nuclear energy is neither renaissance nor retreat, but continued slow growth, with heated arguments on all sides. This article originally appeared in the October issue of World Energy Monitor, a newsletter published by the United Nations’ World Energy Forum. The newsletter includes a competing perspective from the World Nuclear Association, and international highlights on nuclear issues. It is currently being hosted at the Energy & Water Institute of NY .

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Global Ban Advances To Stop Dumping Toxic Waste On Developing Countries

October 22, 2011

CARTAGENA, Colombia — More than 170 countries agreed Friday to accelerate adoption of a global ban on the export of hazardous wastes, including old electronics, to developing countries. The environmental group Basel Action Network called the deal, which was brokered by Switzerland and Indonesia, a major breakthrough. “I’m ecstatic,” said its executive director, Jim Puckett. “I’ve been working on this since 1989 and it really does look like the shackles are lifted and we’ll see this thing happen in my lifetime.” The deal seeks to ensure that developing countries no longer become dumping groups for toxic waste including industrial chemicals, discarded computers and cellphones and obsolete ships laden with asbestos, he said. Delegates at the U.N. environmental conference in Cartagena agreed the ban should take effect as soon as 17 more countries ratify an amendment to the so-called 1989 Basel Convention. “This agreement was stalled for the past 15 years,” Colombia’s environment minister, Frank Pearl, said in praising the vote. Katharina Kummer, the convention’s executive secretary, estimated it will take about five years to reach the required 68 ratifying nations. Puckett said he thought it would be closer to two years. Fifty-one nations have already ratified the 1995 amendment, which effectively enforces the Basel Convention, a treaty aimed at making nations manage their waste at home rather than send it overseas. The United States, the world’s top exporter of electronic waste, is among nations that have not even ratified the original convention. “Unless the U.S. joins the treaty they are just going to be a renegade,” Puckett said, adding that the U.S. has no rules for exporting electronic waste, which it sends mostly to China but also to Africa and Latin America. Phone messages left by The Associated Press for members of the U.S. delegation to the talks were not immediately returned. The global ban has been strongly backed by African countries, China and the European Union, which already prohibits toxic exports and Puckett said Colombia played a strong role in Friday’s breakthrough. Opponents have been led by Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, and recently joined by India, said Puckett. But in Cartagena, he said, Japan’s position softened from 2008, when parties to the convention held their last meeting in Bali, Indonesia. It ended in a stalemate. The issue took center stage in 2006 when hundreds of tons of waste were dumped around the Ivory Coast’s main city of Abidjan, killing at least 10 people and sickening tens of thousands. The waste came from a tanker chartered by the Dutch commodities trading company Trafigura Beheer BV, which had contracted with a local company to dispose of the waste. Puckett said shipping companies had opposed inclusion in the ban, wanting the keep sending old ships to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to scrap them. “Just about four days ago another six people died on the beaches of Bangladesh,” he said. He told the AP there are no reliable estimates on how many tons of toxic waste are exported annually because developed nations don’t accurately report them. He said a private U.S. company will, for example, list them as “exports” in sending them to a developing nation so they can avoid paying taxes and other fees. The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal allows its 178 members to ban imports and requires exporters to gain consent before sending toxic materials abroad. But critics say insufficient funds, widespread corruption and the absence of the United States as a participant have undermined the convention, leaving millions of poor people exposed to heavy metals, PCBs and other toxins. They have long argued that an outright ban of exporting toxic waste is the only solution. ___ Frank Bajak contributed from Bogota, Colombia.

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The 30 Greenest Tech Companies

October 21, 2011

Newsweek has also compiled a list of the world’s 30 greenest tech companies as part of its 2011 Green Rankings . Some of them you may recognize from the list of the overall 15 greenest U.S. companies . For this list, Newsweek pulled all of the tech companies, including both hardware and software makers, from its 2011 greenest companies in the world list. The magazine partnered with two research firms, Trucost and Sustainalytics , and developed the methodology “in consultation with an advisory panel of corporate sustainability experts.” An unrelated recent study, entitled ” Analysis of Small Business Innovation in Green Technologies ,” by the U.S. Small Business Administration found that small business leads the way in “green technology innovation” in America. According to a press release , small business only accounts for eight percent of U.S. patents, yet they account for 14 percent of green tech patents. More information about Newsweek’s 2011 Green Rankings methodology can be found here . View the 2011 Green Rankings list below courtesy of Newsweek/The Daily Beast . —

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Peanut Butter Price Jumps After Worst Peanut Harvest In 30 Years

October 10, 2011

If you thought living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches could get you through the recession, think again. The sandwich spread is seeing a major price hike. Thanks to a failing peanut crop due to last summer’s scorching hot weather, there’s a shortage of peanuts in supply. Big brands like Peter Pan, Jif and Smucker’s are left with little choice but to raise prices, reports the Wall Street Journal . The price jumps range from 24 to 40 percent, with Jif planning to raise prices by 30 percent in November and Peter Pan by up to 24 percent in the coming weeks, reports MarketWatch Radio . So far, the Wall Street Journal says , USDA figures show the cost of a ton of unprocessed peanuts has spiked from $450 to $1,150 since last year. Researchers at New Mexico State University told ABC KOAT News that high heat, strong winds and bone-dry conditions created the worst peanut season in more than 30 years. Peanut butter is consumed in 90 percent of U.S. households. Americans consume on average over 1.5 million pounds of peanut butter and peanut products each year, notes to the National Peanut Board . The peanut crop is not the only commodity to suffer from severe weather conditions. French wine and Italian pasta are some other endangered national exports impacted by climate change. Last week, a report claimed chocolate could become a luxury item if farmers in West Africa didn’t adapt to the warming climate. Whether you like your peanut butter organic, creamy or nutty, be prepared to pay a hefty price for it. Or stock up before those price hikes kick in.

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Natalie Pace: The High Price of Gas (in Lives)

September 26, 2011

Business 101 teaches us that failure is valuable to business. The Apple computer and the IBM PC rose out of the ashes of the Osborne computer bankruptcy. The colossal failure of eToys didn’t stop Amazon from becoming the most successful retailer on the planet. Dot Coms collapsed in 2000, but Apple is worth $380 billion today. And even as Solyndra solar failed, Sunpower Solar remains a worldwide leader in power output, with sales that are almost double what they were two years ago. As talking heads kick the Solyndra scandal around to score political goals, as if it’s the only green company worth discussing, there are corporations, countries and individuals that are using green products to increase economic growth, save lives, cut costs, create jobs, increase national security and reduce pollution. Economic Growth Having a leading solar panel manufacturer, like Sunpower and others, at a time when China is investing multi-billions in clean energy could be key to U.S. economic growth. A report by The Pew Charitable Trusts states that China has developed the world’s most aggressive strategic plan for clean energy adoption. China became the worldwide leader in clean energy with $34.6 billion in investments in 2009. China vows to have 500,000 electric, hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles on the road by 2015 and five million by 2020. The government is employing tax incentives, Cash for Clunkers , feed-in tariffs and government spending to promote the adoption of electric vehicles, next generation information technology, energy efficient products and renewable energy. According to Yang Jiechi, the minister of foreign affairs, People’s Republic of China, who spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative ‘s annual meeting on Sept. 21, “It is very important to build environmentally friendly mechanisms. We have spent a lot of capital on hybrid cars and electric cars.” Focusing on fuel efficiency made Toyota Motors the No. 1 automaker in the world. U.S. automakers like Tesla Motors , General Motors and Ford are banking on having a strong EV presence going forward — with the Chinese market directly in their sights. Is this the time to cut funding to The Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) program? Health In cities like Beijing, Los Angeles, New York and even Las Vegas, it’s not just a question of being on the right side of global warming. It’s a question of reducing pollution and cutting down on respiratory illnesses. Saving Lives Oil prices are sky high, but the cost of fuel in lives is even higher. According to Thomas Hicks , the deputy assistant secretary of energy for the U.S. Navy, who spoke to me at CGI , “For every 50 fuel convoys, we have one American killed or wounded. For us, that’s just too high a price to pay for fuel.” Bringing fuel into “the theatre” means sending convoys from Pakistani ports through insurgents and IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) to Afghanistan. To reduce the risk and save lives, Ray Mabus, the secretary of the Navy, has outlined five energy goals , including: 1. Incorporating “green” evaluation factors when awarding contracts 2. Sailing the “Great Green Fleet” 3. Reducing petroleum use in non-tactical vehicles 4. Increasing alternative energy ashore 5. Increasing alternative energy use department-wide The Navy will cut their petroleum use in their non-tactical fleet (commercial vehicle fleet) by 50 percent by 2015. By 2020, half of the energy used by the Navy will come from alternative sources and half of the installations will be net zero energy. And to ensure that these goals are met, Mabus just launched a new new dedicated energy masters degree program. “Through the the masters program and the executive energy series, [Naval Postgraduate School] will ensure that energy is fully integrated,” said Mabus. “As a result, NPS students will guide the Navy and the nation toward a better, more secure energy future.” Is alternative energy reliable enough for our national defense? Tom Hicks advised me that the U.S. has a 270 MW geothermal plant in California that we have been operating for 20 some odd years. “Most people don’t know about it,” Hicks told me. “It’s enough power to power the base in China Lake, but also to provide 200 MW of power to the grid,” he said. National Security The spike in oil prices during the Arab Spring sank the average American’s budget, but it had a similar affect on our defense budgets (and any business involved in transportation as well). Based on June oil prices, fuel costs will increase by a billion dollars to the Navy this year, according to Hicks. “That impacts our flying hours, our steaming hours, our ability to sail our ships and to fly our planes,” Hicks warns — making energy independence a national security priority. Creating Jobs One of the most important pieces of going green is energy efficiency — something old buildings are very deficient in. The Better Buildings Initiative , a policy that U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced at CGI America in June of this year, will upgrade the energy efficiency in up to 300 million square feet of office space — from military housing to college campuses. According to President Obama, who spoke at CGI in New York City on Wednesday, Sept. 21, this will “create jobs, while saving billions for businesses in energy bills, and cut down on our pollution.” It also trains out-of-work constructions workers — who make up one of the largest unemployed industries in the U.S., at 11.3 percent in August of 2011 — to have new skills that are valuable for 21st century construction jobs. Cutting Costs In his speech at CGI, Obama also told the crowd, “The CEO of Southwest Airlines estimates that if we put in the new generation of GPS air traffic control, we would save 15 percent in fuel costs. Think about what that would do overall for the cost of the ticket… Maybe they could start giving out peanuts again.” Indeed the cost of fuel is not peanuts to the airline industry. Fuel costs were over $3.6 billion in 2010 for Southwest Airlines . Energy Independence Companies, countries and individuals alike suffer when the price of energy is the most expensive budget line item — and can be increased significantly at the drop of a hat by countries that are not friendly to American interests. Innovation, research and development and even failures are all part of the solutions needed for the many challenges that America, and the world, face today. With trillions being spent worldwide on solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels, electric vehicles and other clean energy products, continuing the U.S. commitment to R&D, private enterprise, public policy and consumer incentives is an investment in economic growth, national security, the security of our armed forces and a better world. There are many successful clean energy projects and companies that are as news and water-cooler worthy as the one green company that failed. Natalie Pace is the author of “You Vs. Wall Street” and the founder and CEO of the Women’s Investment Network, LLC. She is a blogger on HuffingtonPost.com and a repeat guest on national television and radio shows such as “Good Morning America,” Fox News, CNBC, ABC-TV, Forbes.com, NPR and more. As a philanthropist, she has helped to raise more than two million for Los Angeles public schools and financial literacy. Follow her on Facebook.com/NWPace . For more information please visit NataliePace.com .

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David Macaray: Southland Grocery Workers Poised to Strike

September 21, 2011

Unless last minute negotiations result in management backing off their demand that health care benefits be drastically altered, members of the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) are ready to walk off their jobs at Vons, Albertsons and Ralphs grocery stores as early as Sunday night, having already spent approximately eight months at the bargaining table. The 72-hour notice to terminate the contract expires Sunday night. At that time the union can choose either to call a strike or, if there are genuine signs of progress, continue negotiating without a contract in place. That they are teetering on the precipice is itself remarkable. Considering that the UFCW went out on a debilitating 141-day strike in 2003-2004, many people (including grocery store management and their lawyers) were betting that the membership, despite their truculent rhetoric and saber-rattling, would chicken out as they drew closer to zero hour. After all, it’s one thing to talk tough, but it’s a whole other deal to back it up with decisive action–particularly when memories of the previous strike are still fresh in everyone’s minds. But clearly, the UFCW rank-and-file is prepared to act. One reason for their willingness is that they are a tough, loyal union, whose members have complete confidence in their elected leadership; another is that management’s offer (if it remains as is) simply leaves them no choice but to hit the bricks. Management’s hard-line position has made it eminently clear that they’re intent on hollowing out the UFCW’s medical plan, and that this offer is but the first salvo. Given the general perception of unions, management’s timing makes perverse sense. Having reckoned that organized labor, both locally and nationally, is too weak, distracted and demoralized to put up much of a fight, store executives believe now is the opportune time to attack–that the stars are in alignment–that the UFCW membership is ripe for having its health package chipped away. But management appears to have badly underestimated the membership. To a former union bargainer (I served as chief negotiator on three contracts, and as a committee member on three others), the UFCW’s determination and commitment is nothing short of astounding. Typically, because of the psychological trauma and potential economic impact, it’s fairly difficult to get a membership to go on strike even once, so getting people to go out twice in a relatively short time is remarkable. Of course, management is acutely aware of that fact, which is why they’re making this aggressive move now. They’re willing to roll the dice. But, painful memories or not, these UFCW members have surprised everyone with their steely resolve. On the subject of memories, the 2003 strike brings up another painful one as well–and not just for the membership. When the union struck the grocers, Ralphs management got themselves into an unbelievably messy situation. Looking for creative ways to avoid the full impact of a shutdown (having found out the hard way that replacement workers were nowhere near as efficient as veteran employees), Ralphs management secretly approached more than a thousand of its locked-out employees and offered them jobs–but at stores outside their neighborhoods so they wouldn’t be recognized by the picketers. And because store executives knew the union could legally request the names of the all strike-breakers, they proceeded to make a bad situation infinitely worse by fraudulently submitting fake names and fake I-9 documents for these employees. When word got out, not only was it an unmitigated public relations debacle, it was also a felony. After being indicted by a federal grand jury, Ralphs immediately pled guilty to the charges, paid a hefty $70 million fine, and quietly hoped that the matter would be forgotten. We hope the two sides are able to reach an equitable agreement, so that a strike can be averted. But if a strike is called, we wish the UFCW the best of luck in its battle with the grocers. While there’s a long list of employees in other industries who have quietly rolled over and allowed management to take every liberty imaginable, the UFCW has chosen to fight back, and for that they deserve our respect and admiration. David Macaray, a Los Angeles playwright and author (“It’s Never Been Easy: Essays on Modern Labor”), was a former union rep. He can be reached at dmacaray@earthlink.net

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Alaskans Get $1,174 Checks From State’s Oil Wealth

September 20, 2011

JUNEAU, Alaska — Most Alaska residents will soon be getting a check for $1,174 simply because they live there. Each person’s share of the state’s vast oil wealth was announced with much fanfare in Anchorage Tuesday, with Gov. Sean Parnell ripping open a gold-colored envelope to reveal the number. This day is so widely anticipated in Alaska that the announcement of the Permanent Fund Dividend amount was carried live on television statewide, and dozens tuned in to watch a live webcast by the governor’s office. This year’s check is the smallest since 2006 and $107 less than last year’s amount, which was $1,281. Parnell warned the amount could diminish more in the future, given market volatilities and the fact that oil production in the state is declining. Nonetheless, he called this year’s amount “healthy.” State Revenue Commissioner Bryan Butcher said 647,549 Alaskans were deemed eligible to receive dividends, and about $760.2 million is expected to be paid out. Most Alaskans will get their dividends by direct deposit Oct. 6; the rest will receive checks in the mail. The 2010 U.S. Census put Alaska’s population at 710,231. Already, Alaskans are making plans for how they’ll use their dividends, from paying bills to putting the money toward a new car to buying sled dogs. Retailers are advertising “PFD” sales. So is Alaska Airlines, whose offer is popular in a state where few communities are connected to a road system and the cost of going to the nearest city to shop – or just get away – adds up fast. While the extra money is a great perk, it doesn’t always go far in a state where some rural residents pay $7 or more a gallon for gasoline and one study showed food costs for a week could run into the hundreds of dollars for a family of four. Vern Weiss owns Moochers Bar and Grill in Nenana, a community of about 380 people 55 miles southwest of Fairbanks. He said he spends about the amount of last year’s check in a week on food and beverages for his business. Still, every bit helps. The economy in that area is tough, and he said he has barely been able to make sure his employees are paid. A dividend check, he said, can help pay a lot of little bills. Voters passed a constitutional amendment in 1976 to establish the Permanent Fund as a way to stretch out the state’s oil wealth for future generations. At the time, Alaska had just experienced a construction boom spurred by a $900 million bonus payment from energy companies for oil discoveries. Today, state government relies heavily on oil revenues to run, and most Alaska residents receive a dividend check; people have to live in the state for a year to be eligible to apply. The amount of investment earnings allocated to dividends is based on a five-year rolling average of the permanent fund’s performance. The market hit from the U.S. recession and ensuing economic slump are factored into the most recent period. Still, Tuesday was “a happy day for Alaskans,” Butcher said. State labor department economist Neal Fried said there’s no question the dividend has an impact on Alaska’s economy but he’s seen no research to quantify just how big the bump is. The way people treat their dividends likely varies with their individual circumstances and even how long they’ve been getting the extra money, he said. Butcher, who used to work at the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., said October tended to be the month when many people caught up with mortgage payments. Parnell said one of his great duties as governor is being able to announce the annual dividend, calling it a “unique duty that 49 other governors likely wish they had.” He said he and his wife, Sandy, would likely put their dividends toward the cost of college for their two daughters. Last year, $783.4 million was paid to 611,522 people, according to the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend Division. The fund ended the recent fiscal year with a balance of $40.1 billion. Alaskans received their largest dividend – $2,069 – in 2008, according to the dividend division. In 2006, the dividend was $1,106.96. Bosco Olson Sr., city administrator of Hooper Bay, said dividend announcement day is like Christmas, with the town’s 1,100 residents patiently waiting and excited. Olson, whose town is about 500 miles west of Anchorage, said he’s considering using his dividend for a new lead dog or two for his sled dog team.

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GM Blue Roses Debut in America This Fall

September 17, 2011

The once unattainable blue rose will go on sale in the U.S. and Canada this November. These flowers have been sold in Japan since 2009, and believe it or not, it took 20 years to develop through genetic engineering. As Wired explains , “the rose is genetically modified to synthesize delphinidin, a pigment found in most blue flowers.” The Japanese floral company, Suntory Flowers , plans to sell 300,000 of the blue roses in 2012 under the brand name “applause,” reports The Japan Times . CNET notes a single rose can be bought for almost $50 in Japan. This isn’t the first time flowers have been modified. In 2008, scientists genetically engineered flowers to make them smell 10 times more powerful , reports Science Daily. The $31 billion flower industry is interested in creating unusual breeds to capture the attention of customers looking for something unique and special. Environmental groups and the EPA are concerned about the long term effects of some genetically modified products . Many suggest that more longitudinal studies of GM crops need to be done.

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Devon Swezey: Industry Titans Push Energy Innovation

September 15, 2011

By Alex Trembath and Devon Swezey. On Tuesday, the American Energy Innovation Council (AEIC) — composed of industry titans like Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Bank of America Chairman Chad Holliday and leading venture capitalist John Doerr — released a follow-up to their 2010 report “A Business Plan for America’s Energy Future.” The new report, “Catalyzing American Ingenuity: The Role of Government in Energy Innovation,” doubles down on the Council’s earlier calls for increased and sustained public investment in clean energy technology, and offers new ideas about how greater energy innovation investment can be paid for in a new era of fiscal austerity. In the wake of the high-profile bankruptcy of California solar company Solyndra , government critics are attacking federal investment in clean energy innovation, arguing that such decisions should be left to the “free market.” But in their new report, these business leaders and entrepreneurs argue that government investment in energy innovation is key to realizing a clean energy future. In addition to Gates, Holliday and Doerr, the AEIC boasts membership from former Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine, Xerox CEO Ursula Burns of Xerox, General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt and Tim Solso, CEO of Cummins Inc. In the report, these executives highlight the tremendous impact that federal investment has had on technological innovation and economic growth throughout American history: The federal government has played a central role in catalyzing and driving innovation and technology deployment throughout the history of the United States — often with strong results. This kind of support took a variety of forms. In the 19th century government scientists mapped out natural resource endowments and Army officers surveyed routes for railroads, including helping to plan and sometimes manage their construction. In the early and mid-20th century, programs such as rural electrification and massive public works projects, such as the construction of the Interstate Highway System, enhanced mobility and connectivity and directly or indirectly contributed to the development of new technologies and industries … government efforts to develop guidance systems for the military played a role in the development of digital computers and microchips. Navy support for aviation technology led directly to Boeing’s 707 — one of the first major commercial jetliners. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) created a distributed network of computers called ARPANET, which laid the early foundation for the internet. The U.S. government played a direct and indispensable role in launching the commercial nuclear power industry. Indeed, as the Breakthrough Institute has documented in “Where Good Technologies Come From,” the federal government has made key investments in most of the technologies we take for granted, including the personal computer, the Internet, the jet engine, GPS, cell phones, the biotechnology industry, and countless blockbuster pharmaceutical advances. Today, as the AEIC report makes clear, such investment is urgently needed to catalyze breakthrough innovation in clean energy technologies in order to make them cheaper, more reliable, and therefore more widely adopted around the world. Critics tend to ignore this history, claiming that innovation is solely the domain of the private sector. Following Solyndra’s bankruptcy, these critics have insisted that “the government should not play venture capitalist.” AEIC member John Doerr, perhaps the nation’s most well known venture capitalist, sees things differently. Doerr writes, “America must embrace risks in innovation and invest heavily in R&D to create a full pipeline of good ideas.” Echoing what we wrote after Solynda closed its doors, the report recommends that federal energy innovation investment “focus more on overall program success than on individual project success and emphasize the value in calculated risks.” In addition to issuing a robust defense of federal investment in energy innovation, the AEIC report also presents smart suggestions for strengthening some energy technology programs and reforming others. They support the federal energy loan guarantee program (which is under increasing scrutiny after Solyndra’s bankruptcy), and call for boosting the budget of ARPA-E , the government’s innovative, high-risk energy research agency, to $1 billion annually from around $200 million today. They also support a new Clean Energy Deployment Administration to aid the commercialization of first-of-their-kind innovations and mobilize significant private-sector capital in scaling up advanced energy technologies. The Council also urges reform of the inefficient process by which the government conducts national energy policy, warning that “uncertain annual appropriations, short-term tax credits, and one-time spending injections are all unsuited to creating the sustained, predictable funding stream needed to bolster the country’s innovative infrastructure.” Moreover, as Breakthrough wrote recently in the National Journal , many of the federal programs supporting clean energy industries are set to expire in the next few years, which will likely precipitate a crash in the industry. In order to avoid the perpetual boom-bust cycle in clean energy, the U.S. government must increase the kinds of energy innovation investments outlined in the AEIC report. These investments must be rationalized around driving innovation and cost declines to make clean energy cost-competitive without subsidy. Given the tight fiscal environment, the Council recommends a number of revenue streams that could fund innovation investment without adding to the budget deficit, including revenues from domestic oil and gas production, redirecting existing energy subsidies for mature industries, or small fees on electricity usage. Ultimately, however, these leading business executives make a forceful case that America’s current “budget dilemma,” as they call it, is no reason to delay in boosting funding for energy innovation. “Supporting innovation,” they write, “is an investment, not a cost.” Indeed, given the country’s economic malaise, there is no better time to make growth-enhancing investments that could catalyze a new era of American economic leadership in a key global industry. Critics of government investment in energy innovation would do well to listen to these titans of industry, and to heed their recommendations. To read the full AEIC report, click here (PDF).

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Rich Nadworny: Has Ben & Jerry’s Lost Its Way?

September 9, 2011

Ben & Jerry’s launched a new ice cream this week, ” Shweddy Balls ,” in honor of Alec Baldwin’s old Saturday Night Live skit. In an instant, Twitter was abuzz. Shweddy Balls and Ben & Jerry’s both zoomed to the top of the trending list. Mashable wrote about it , as did a number of other media outlets. However, the new ice creams looks like another indicator that the great Ben & Jerry’s brand has lost their way. The brand has always gone its own way. From the idea of putting lots of things in ice cream to committing itself to social justice, Ben & Jerry’s has always stood out. It’s done so by taking stands that are true to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield’s philosophy, but it’s always used a large dose of humor and word play. Once it launched Cherry Garcia, it also embraced an alternative, hippy style that was also true to the Vermont brand. It followed that with flavors like Phish Food, but also Chubby Hubby, One Sweet Whirled, Karamel Sutra and Half Baked, to name a few. Clever names, names that made you stop, think and laugh. This year, however, we’re seeing names like ” Clusterfluff ” and “Shweddy Balls.” To which I can only respond “WTF?” I wonder if Ben & Jerry’s is losing market share to younger college audiences and 20 somethings. Clearly, that’s where the brand is headed, with names like these. They’re certainly not targeting the people who buy Chubby Hubby. If so, that’s a major shift for the brand. What competition are they afraid of? Maybe they’ve just run out of creativity. For the past few years, it seems like half the flavors at the scoop shop have chocolate in their names. There’s also been a lot of focus on celebrity co-branding with Colbert and Jimmy Fallon. And now Alec Baldwin. Clearly, though, Shweddy Balls and Clusterfluff show that Ben & Jerry’s have crossed an invisible brand line. Branding “expert” Allen Adamson from the venerable agency Landor Associates explains what’s happening in an AP article: ‘You don’t get noticed today without taking some risks. If you do something that offends no one, you won’t get noticed,’ he said.” In one sentence, Landor redefined branding as offending someone. That’s not the Ben & Jerry’s brand. They’ve never been offensive. They’ve stood for what they believe, yes, even when it hasn’t been popular. They’ve been true to who they are, but always done so with a twinkle in their eye. But, offensive, never. I admit, as a Vermonter, I’m overly sensitive to our Vermont brands. Maybe it’s because we don’t have so many. In the last year, we’ve seen our beloved Magic Hat forced to sell to a beer distributor and watched the exodus of key people who made the brand what it is today. I remember going to the original Ben & Jerry’s in the old gas station across from the park and listening to Don Rose (the tallest guy in our shul, no less) playing the piano. I saw first hand as they expanded to Europe. I still follow what Cohen and Greenfield do to support sustainability and local businesses. And I’ve always enjoyed eating and laughing at the crazy flavors, even Sweet Potato Pie. But Shweddy Balls or Clusterfluff? No thanks. I’m sure they’ll be successful from a marketing standpoint, but from a brand standpoint they are way off. It’s certainly not anything I’d bring home to the kids. As a final nail in the coffin, there’s a quote from the AP article “The company’s not worried about offending people with the name,spokesman Sean Greenwood said. ‘We’re the caring company,’ Greenwood said Thursday.” If you have to say it, it’s not true.

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Beloved Burger Chain Plans Massive Middle Eastern Expansion

September 8, 2011

The American military may slowly be pulling out of the Middle East , but the troop are quickly being replaced by another aggressive army: the fast food industry. Smashburger, founded in Denver in just 2007, announced yesterday that it had partnered with two Middle Eastern restaurant business to bring its “better burgers” to three countries on the Persian gulf . Bahrain-based Georgetown Associates will open franchises in Kuwait and Bahrain, and Saudi company Al Musbah will open eight Smashburgers in airports around Saudi Arabia over the next eight years. Doug Branigan, Smashburger’s head of franchising, told the Huffington Post that restaurant operators had long been approaching him to partner on outposts in the Arabic-speaking world. “There’s tremendous interest in American brands throughout the Middle East,” he said. Indeed, Smashburger joins several other major restaurant companies that have made inroads in the Gulf in recent years. The one closest in feel to Smashburger is probably Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack , which has opened outposts in Dubai and Kuwait City and has plans for several more restaurants in the Arab world. Branigan said that he isn’t daunted by the competition; instead, the success of Shake Shack’s Middle Eastern restaurants gives him high hopes for sales at Smashburger, especially in Kuwait. “We see ourselves being in much the same space as Shake Shack,” he said. “We both serve great fresh-made burgers, though I think we complement them with a broader menu than they do. But no, we think Shake Shack is a great brand and we’re enthusiastic about their success in the region. ” For the most part, the Smashburgers in the Middle East will be much like the 109 currently operating, all in the United States. “The menu translates extremely well,” Branigan said. “Of course, we have to make a few small adjustments. There’s no alcohol in any of the products. You can’t have pork in any of the products.” The first Middle Eastern Smashburger is expected to open in Kuwait in early 2012.

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Christine Bader: Is Steve Jobs the Next John Browne?

September 8, 2011

Environmental damage threatens another CEO’s otherwise successful legacy. Steve Jobs is one of the most admired CEOs of all time. He transformed his company from a middling player into one of the world’s largest and most successful businesses. He transcended mere leadership of his industry to transform the way we interact with information and with each other. But following fast on the heels of Jobs’s announcing his retirement was the latest in a series of revelations of how Apple has inflicted serious harm on people and the environment. Last week, renowned Chinese environmentalist Ma Jun released another damning report on pollution by Apple suppliers. In May, three workers died and 16 were injured by an explosion at a factory where iPads are manufactured, the latest in a string of deaths and labor abuses associated with Foxconn , one of Apple’s major suppliers. Last year, in spite of documentation of numerous problems, Jobs said its factory in China “is not a sweatshop. ” Pollution and human rights abuses cannot be offset by great products. Steve Jobs — and all other CEOs — must be judged on how they affect people and planet as much as how they affect the company’s share price. An increasing number of investors agree . Those who doubt that business success can be overshadowed by social and environmental issues need look no further than another once-revered CEO: John Browne of BP. By taking over Amoco and Arco, Browne transformed the former British Petroleum from a “two-pipeline company” (with major assets only in the North Sea and Alaska) to a true supermajor. In 1997, he earned praise from environmentalists and the wrath of his oil titan peers by becoming the first head of a major energy company to acknowledge the realities of climate change and urge action. Browne was anointed “The Sun King” by the media, frequently voted Britain’s most-admired chief executive, and even knighted with the honorific “Lord” by the Queen of England. But then came the Texas refinery explosion that killed 15 people in 2005, followed by the rupture of a pipeline the following year that oozed 200,000 gallons of oil into the Alaskan tundra. Both occurred on Browne’s watch. And of course, last spring saw the Deepwater Horizon rig explode to such disastrous effect in the Gulf of Mexico. Browne had stepped down by then, but some speculate that he created the cost-cutting and risk-taking culture that led to the Gulf disaster. Browne’s achievements are no less historic. He shifted the global debate about climate change. He created new models for resource development in Azerbaijan , Indonesia , and elsewhere, in which the company partnered with human rights groups and grassroots organizations to ensure that local communities benefited from the company’s presence. (I worked on such projects for BP under Browne’s tenure.) Yet those acts weren’t enough to prevent major harm elsewhere — harm that permanently defined BP in the eyes of many. While Apple may not be able to wreak damage on the same scale as BP, it is not too much to ask any company to take responsibility for safety and environmental standards in its supply chain. Apple is making efforts in this area, but they seem to be coming up short: The company earned a mediocre “Room for Improvement” from the Enough Project in its study of the 21 largest electronics companies to assess progress toward conflict-free supply chains. It earned a similarly lackluster 4.9 out of 10 in Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics , primarily for its lack of disclosure about its supply chain. In his new role as chairman, Jobs should start by announcing that henceforth Apple will be as much of a leader on social and environmental issues as it has in every other aspect of its performance. He should set up a task force of external experts including Ma Jun, give them free reign to inspect Apple’s supply chain, and have them publish regular reports on their findings. Apple should also catch up with the rest of the business world and publish its suppliers list. HP has been publishing its list since 2008. Nike began doing so in 2005 after similar criticism to what Apple is facing, and is still doing so today without the negative repercussions that they claimed would ensue. There is no question that Jobs’s leadership of Apple gifted us with beautiful products that have revolutionized how we interact with information and each other. But worker deaths, factory pollution, and lack of disclosure are not the hallmarks of a great company, nor of a great leader. Steve Jobs needs to tackle those issues with the same relentless focus that has made Apple such a success — so far.

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Oil Company Struggles To Clean Up China Spill

September 6, 2011

SHANGHAI — The oil spills from offshore wells operated by ConocoPhillips in China’s Bohai Bay are posing political and technical challenges for the oil company far messier than the crude and drilling mud seeping from the seabed. The company said Monday that it had complied with a government order to suspend all drilling, water injection and production at the affected Penglai 19-3 oil field, one of China’s biggest. Operations are currently stopped at 180 producing wells and 51 injecting wells, for a total of 231 wells, said a statement by Houston, Texas-based ConocoPhillips, which operates the field in a venture with state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp. CNOOC, which owns 51 percent of the venture, said the suspension of production in Penglai 19-3 would reduce output by 40,000 barrels a day, in addition to the 22,000 barrels a day lost with the shutdown of the two wells where the spills occurred. For such big oil companies, the loss is not a major blow, though for ConocoPhillips, Penglai 19-3 is its largest project in China, noted Thomas Grieder, analyst for Asia-Pacific energy at IHS Global Insight. The spills began in early June and have unleashed a flood of criticism inside China over how ConocoPhillips has handled the cleanup. The State Oceanic Administration rejected the company’s assertion that it had met an Aug. 31 deadline to completely clear up any damage and prevent further seeps. Chinese maritime authorities facing pressure from fisheries and environmentalists to minimize further damage to the already heavily polluted Bohai appear to have lost patience with the prolonged effort to staunch the oil seeps. “ConocoPhillips has not been able to address this problem for two months and the Chinese authorities are losing face. It’s kind of an inevitable reaction to something that’s been going on a while,” Grieder said. Regardless of the tensions provoked by the spills, China is relying ever more heavily on foreign partners for the technology it needs to tap difficult to exploit deepwater oil reserves, said Grieder. According to ConocoPhillips, the spills released about 700 barrels of oil into Bohai Bay and 2,500 barrels of mineral oil-based drilling mud, which is used for lubrication, onto the seabed. All but a small fraction of that oil and mud has been recovered, and the small amounts still emerging are from earlier seeps that have been shifting under layers of sand on the seabed, it says. But the State Oceanic Administration contends that monitoring by satellite, underwater robots and other means shows the oil is still seeping. It criticized ConocoPhillips’ containment measures as stopgap and said the company may have caused oil to seep through faults in the seabed by putting too much pressure on the oil reservoir. Dong Xiucheng, a professor at the China University of Petroleum, described the accident as “unusual.” “It is hard technically to find the reason and the exact location of the spill and to try to stop it since it is on the seabed not in a pipeline. Both ConocoPhillips and CNOOC must have tried to do it, but it takes time,” Dong said. ConocoPhillips has pointed to safety concerns and other difficulties in capping and cleaning up the oil and mud in murky seas with minimal visibility. “Addressing the issue is rather complex,” Grieder said. “They’re trying to identify small cracks on the sea floor in a situation where you can’t see much.” ConocoPhillips said Monday that divers were continuing to search the ocean floor and that remote-controlled robots were taking seabed samples to monitor the situation. The company said it was working with CNOOC on a plan to reduce pressure in the oil reservoir and was preparing a revised environmental impact report. The maritime authority has said it is preparing to file lawsuits on behalf of those who suffered losses due to pollution from the spill. Apart from frictions over the pace and progress of the cleanup, state-run media and environmentalists have been lobbying for harsher penalties for such accidents – current law calls for maximum fines of 200,000 yuan (less than $31,000). The official newspaper China Daily, in a harshly worded commentary Monday, said that a joint investigation by seven government departments found ConocoPhillips China had “seriously violated operating rules.” “Not only is the oil spill worse than the company reported but, despite its assurances to the contrary, it has failed to bring the situation under full control and find and stop the sources of the spills,” it said. “Obviously, China needs to learn a lesson from this incident.” ConocoPhillips has denied allegations that it sought to mislead the maritime authority by falsely claiming to have stopped and cleaned up the oil seeps. The company said it was committed to complying with the law and conducting “all business activities with the highest ethical standards.” “This commitment fully applies to how we conduct our business in China,” it said. ConocoPhillips requested a correction of a weekend news report on state-run China Central Television. The report claimed that a ConocoPhillips China employee interviewed by marine radio said the company was deliberately deceiving the State Oceanic Administration in reporting that the oil spills had been fully contained and cleaned up. “The ConocoPhillips China employee interviewed by CCTV did not make the negative comment which CCTV is attributing to him,” it said.

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Halliburton Sues BP Over Deepwater Crisis

September 2, 2011

NEW ORLEANS — BP PLC has engaged in a “cover up scheme” to hide its culpability for the deadly rig explosion that spawned last year’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, one of the oil giant’s partners in the drilling project claims in a newly filed lawsuit. Halliburton Energy Services Inc.’s suit, the latest of several that the project’s partners have filed against each other, accuses BP of concealing critical information about the deepwater well that blew out on April 20, 2010. Halliburton, which did cement work on BP’s Macondo well, claims in Thursday’s suit that BP provided false information about the location of pockets of oil and gas around the well before the blowout. Halliburton says knowing the location of those zones is critical for a cementing job. “Profit and greed” were BP’s motives for concealing the information, the lawsuit alleges. Halliburton says it likely would have insisted on redesigning the well’s production casing if it had known about an additional hydrocarbon zone that BP allegedly failed to disclose. “Such changes would have cost BP millions of dollars on a well that was already painfully over budget and behind schedule,” says the suit, filed in a Harris County, Texas, state court. In response to the suit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, BP spokesman Scott Dean accused Halliburton of trying to deflect blame and divert attention from its role in the disaster. Dean said “multiple independent investigations” have identified “serious problems” with the cementing of the well. “BP has accepted its responsibility for responding to the spill and is accordingly paying costs and compensation,” Dean said in a statement. “In contrast, Halliburton has refused to accept any responsibility or accountability. As BP has said repeatedly, it expects other parties to accept their responsibilities and bear their share of the costs.” Halliburton’s suit accuses BP of intentionally omitting information about the location of hydrocarbon zones from its own report on the causes of the blowout. Halliburton also claims BP withheld the same information from government investigators. In addition to suing BP in the Texas state court, Halliburton also said Friday that it is amending existing claims against BP in federal court to include fraud allegations. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans is presiding over tens of thousands of claims resulting from the oil spill, including the suits that companies filed against each other.

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Energy Secretary Suggests U.S. Support For Keystone XL Pipeline

September 1, 2011

WASHINGTON — Canada’s status as a close U.S. ally should boost a plan to pipe oil from western Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in comments that signaled support for the massive $7 billion pipeline. “It’s certainly true that having Canada as a supplier for our oil is much more comforting than to have other countries supply our oil,” Chu said in a TV interview this week that will be aired later this month. Technology used to extract oil from tar sands such as those in Alberta, Canada are improving dramatically, Chu said, making such projects less risky to the environment. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline “is not perfect, but it’s a trade-off,” Chu said. U.S. officials will have to weigh the benefit of a reliable supply of oil from a friendly country against environmental concerns raised by a possible spill, he said. Chu’s comments are the latest sign that the Obama administration appears likely to back the 1,700-mile pipeline, which would carry crude oil extracted from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, and bring it to refineries in Texas. The pipeline would travel through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. The State Department said in a report last week that the project is unlikely to cause significant environmental problems during construction or operation. Calgary-based TransCanada, which would operate the pipeline, says it would be built to strict environmental standards, including 57 conditions above those required by law. The company and project supporters on both sides of the border say it would create tens of thousands of jobs and significantly reduce U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Despite those reassurances, the project has become a flashpoint for environmental groups, who say the pipeline would bring “dirty oil” that requires huge amounts of energy to extract and could cause an ecological disaster in case of a spill. Opponents have urged President Barack Obama to block the project as a sign he is serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming. Environmental activists, including actress Daryl Hannah and NASA scientist James Hansen, have been arrested in ongoing protests outside the White House the past two weeks. Chu’s interview with the “energyNOW!” TV show is set to air in mid-September on Bloomberg Television.

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Scott Poynton: Panda Bashing: Reflections on NGO-Business Partnerships

September 1, 2011

NGO-Business partnerships have been getting a bad press lately. WWF for example: TV exposés questioning the use of donor money and partnerships with controversial companies, French employees publicly stating concerns about delivery, Global Witness criticizing GTFN. The Panda is not alone: Conservation International had that awful sting experience with Don’t Panic . All the research tells us that NGOs are infinitely more trusted than corporates, but if those we trust most are faltering, where does that leave us? Fascinating stuff. I think what’s happening is that we’ve grown in a healthy, positive way as a society into a new, more cynical school. People now just refuse to believe what anyone tells them! Where’s this come from? Chris Lang at REDD Monitor posted a blog recently, citing Harry Frankfurt’s work ” On Bullshit “. Frankfurt says : The increase in the amount of bullshit in contemporary life as compared with, say 100 years ago, is because of the intensity of the marketing motive in contemporary society. We are constantly marketing things, selling products, selling people, selling candidates, selling programs, selling policies and once you start out by supposing that your object is to sell something then your object is not to tell the truth about it but to get people to believe what you want them to believe about it. And so this encourages a resort to bullshit. NGOs, like businesses, have an intense marketing motive. Businesses spend money — lots of it — on environmental and social programs. There’s no shortage of NGOs with which to partner. This creates a dance where businesses bring their dollars, NGOs bring their programs, and amid much choreography, someone wins. Unsurprisingly, because that is how our human minds work, it is usually the NGO with the slickest marketing able to convince us that their program best matches the motive. NGOs do spend money on marketing and where there’s marketing, inevitably, there is bullshit, too. Nothing wrong with a focus on brand, but when the approach to build the brand value trends towards bullshit, you’re in trouble. As competition increases — more NGOs on the block — so does the tendency to over-claim achievements. As money gets tight, you’ve got to fight harder for scarce resources. It’s a recipe for high quality bullshitting and we shouldn’t be surprised that it exists in the NGO world — we’re all part of the human system. That NGOs work for the public good doesn’t mean they’re immune to this most basic human tendency. The problem for large NGOs in particular is that despite having been around for generations, with large headcounts and billion dollar budgets, the world’s problems are getting worse, not better. People are starting to scratch their heads and are spotting a disconnect between flashy marketing and delivery. This healthy cynicism, this great new questioning of absolutely everything, has gained momentum and intensity since the global financial crisis in 2008-09. People feel as though those they trusted fed them a bullshit-rich line there that caused the crisis. Things went badly wrong and people suffered. They’re still suffering and this is breeding a whole new wave of cynicism. People now are asking more questions and raising an eyebrow to say “Really? Prove it to me!” This is a lightning rod in the world of social media. Anyone can spot some bullshit and post it on Twitter or Facebook and bang, you are having an impact. People are gaining control of their lives. It’s rich, it’s excellent and it’s putting everyone — all of us who depend to some extent on marketing — on notice to be mighty careful in claiming too much and setting off bullshit indicators. Prenuptial dances between businesses and NGOs now focus more on questions of delivery. What are you delivering? How are you doing it? Is it bringing real change in the eyes of the people that count? All of which is good news. ‘Deliver or die’ is the new maxim and there should be no NGO lamenting about it. The world is in a perilous state; we have to bring change, and quickly. Our challenge as NGOs now is to think deeply about how to structure business partnerships within this new context, not to ditch them altogether. They must deliver what they promise. For businesses, the challenge is to hone bullshit indicators, to find dance partners who focus on real delivery, in the field, where it matters and who let the results speak for themselves. Partnerships like that, good ones, will change the world.

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