NEWS
March 6, 2013 | By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post
WASHINGTON - President Obama on Monday nominated MIT professor Ernest Moniz as energy secretary, Environmental Protection Agency official Gina McCarthy as EPA administrator, and Wal-Mart executive Sylvia Mathews Burwell as White House budget director. In a ceremony at the White House with all three nominees, Obama hailed their predecessors and said he was confident that their successors would pursue his administration's goals of achieving energy independence, creating more clean-energy jobs, fighting climate change and reigniting economic growth.
BUSINESS
February 17, 2013 | By Andrew Maykuth, Inquirer Staff Writer
Counting on shifting sentiments about climate change, a Democratic state legislator on Friday introduced legislation to force Pennsylvania utilities to generate more power from renewable sources such as wind and solar. State Rep. Greg Vitali (D., Delaware), whose recent efforts to boost renewable-energy mandates have failed to get sufficient support, said he hoped the political climate had changed in the aftermath of several destructive storms. "Superstorm Sandy was a reminder of the consequences we face if we ignore the climate change issue," said Vitali, who is the chairman of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
NEWS
February 10, 2013 | By Anthony Faiola, Washington Post
PALERMO, Italy - Inside a midnight-blue BMW, a Sicilian entrepreneur delivered his pitch to the accused mob boss. A new business was blowing into Italy that could spin wind and sunlight into gold, ensuring the future of Earth as well as the Cosa Nostra: renewable energy. "Uncle Vincenzo," implored the businessman, Angelo Salvatore, using a term of affection for the alleged head of Sicily's Gimbellina crime family, Vincenzo Funari, 79. According to a transcript of their wiretapped conversation, Salvatore continued: "For the love of our sons, renewable energy is important.
NEWS
February 7, 2013 | By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post
WASHINGTON - President Obama on Wednesday nominated Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) chief executive Sally Jewell to head the Interior Department, praising her as a leader who "knows the link between conservation and good jobs. " The choice of Jewell, who began her career as an engineer for Mobil Oil and worked as a commercial banker before heading a nearly $2 billion outdoors-equipment company, represents an unconventional choice for a post usually reserved for career politicians from the West.
NEWS
January 22, 2013
S TEPHEN J. WEINBERG, 52, of West Mount Airy, is president of National Foundry Products, a company that serves as sales representative for overseas foundries and forging plants. He also has been a leader in fostering creation of B Corporations, which use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. Q: Tell me about your business. A: Our clients are manufacturers in the metals industry and are looking for suppliers in North America.
BUSINESS
January 19, 2013 | By Andrew Maykuth, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee will conduct a hearing Jan. 29 in Bryn Mawr about two pieces of legislation that would promote the development of renewable power. The committee will hear testimony about H.B 100, which would increase the amount of power that utilities must obtain from renewable sources to 15 percent by 2023, up from the current requirement of 8 percent by 2021. The panel will also hear testimony about H.B. 200, which would provide $25 million per year to the PA Sunshine Solar program, which provides rebates to homeowners and small businesses that install solar systems.
NEWS
January 17, 2013
CAIRO - Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's Islamist president, sought Wednesday to defuse Washington's anger over his past remarks urging hatred of Jews and calling Zionists "pigs" and "bloodsuckers," telling visiting U.S. senators that his comments were a denunciation of Israeli policies. Both sides appear to want to get beyond the flap: Morsi needs America's help in repairing a rapidly sliding economy, and Washington can't afford to shun a figure who has emerged as a model of an Islamist leader who maintains his country's ties with Israel.
NEWS
January 17, 2013 | By Matthew Daly, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who oversaw a moratorium on offshore drilling after the BP oil spill and promoted alternative energy sources throughout the nation, will step down in March. A former U.S. senator from Colorado, Salazar ran the Interior Department throughout President Obama's first term and pushed renewable power such as solar and wind and the settlement of a long-standing dispute with American Indians. With Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson also leaving the administration and Energy Secretary Steven Chu expected to depart, Obama will have a clean slate of top officials overseeing energy and environmental issues.
BUSINESS
November 29, 2012 | By Linda Loyd, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A group of faculty at Community College of Philadelphia staunchly oppose their campus accepting funds from the Marcellus Shale Coalition for a new Energy Training Center, announced Nov. 15. The center, which will launch in January, will receive $15,000 for student scholarships from the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the natural gas industry trade group. In a statement Wednesday, three faculty members called on the administration not to accept funds or collaborate with the shale gas industry in providing "career, certificate and academic programs in the energy field.