"Loan Giants Threaten Energy-Efficiency Programs"
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are balking at backing loans that include federal stimulus financing for solar panels and other energy improvements.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are balking at backing loans that include federal stimulus financing for solar panels and other energy improvements.
BusinessJournalism.org provides multimedia coverage of its June 28-30, 2010, "Covering the Green Economy" seminar, including investigative environmental journalist Jeff Goodell; Angel Gonzalez, Houston bureau chief for Dow Jones Newswires; Pulitzer winner Gary Cohn; auto writer Jim Motavalli; Susanne Rust, environmental investigative reporter for the Center for Investigative Reporting's California Watch; Shaun McKinnon of the Arizona Republic and Craig Pittman of the St. Petersburg Times; Bryn Nelson, freelance writer and editor, and former award-winning reporter for Newsday; and more.
Mother Jones' Mac McClelland reports that some of those guys wearing uniforms and harassing journalists are actually off-duty local law enforcement officers being paid for their time by BP.
Investigative Reporters and Editors brings news of a special Gulf Oil Spill Report put out by the Federal Procurement Data System which lists all federal contracts that the General Services Administration (GSA) knows about.
"Louisiana is married to the oil and gas business, for better or for worse. The energy industry depends on Louisiana to supply 30 percent of the nation's oil supply, and Louisiana depends on the industry as the state's biggest economic engine. But there is a cost, as the Deepwater Horizon has proven."
Driving this trend is mounting time pressure in many states for utilities to meet deadlines and quotas for renewable energy production, as well as the recession and federal tax incentives.
A new report makes the myth-busting assertion that the coal industry costs the state of West Virginia more in expenses than it brings in economic benefits.
The Superfund tax on oil and chemical companies that helped support cleanup of abandoned hazardous waste sites expired in 1995. Now the Obama administration plans an effort to revive it.
WDSU, the NBC affiliate in New Orleans (Channel 6), found that BP's highly publicized statement that it is not barring news media from witnessing the cleanup, or its failure, is in fact not true. See video of this and other examples, and get contact info for the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center if you've been denied access.
"Billions of dollars of new business and tens of thousands of jobs will flow to four hub cities -- Los Angeles, Chicago, Orlando and Albany, N.Y. -- where plans for major high-speed rail networks are located, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors."