U.S. Recovery Act Awards $100 Million in Green Job Training Grants

Washington, DC — The U.S. government is distributing $100 million in green job training grants to 25 projects throughout the country, including $28 million going to communities impacted by auto industry restructuring.

The grants, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, are supporting projects to help unemployed and dislocated workers, veterans, women and minorities find jobs in green industries. The projects will receive from $1.4 million to $5 million each and were based on partnerships that require labor and business groups to work together.

The education funded by these Energy Training Partnership Grants will be based on the needs by the local communities and will train workers for careers as hybrid/electric auto technicians, weatherization specialists, wind and energy auditors, and solar panel installers.

The $5 million grant for the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership in Oregon and Washington, for example, will help employed workers at local renewable energy companies as well as unemployed and dislocated workers.

One of the groups served by the $5 million grant going to the Blue Green Alliance in Minnesota is unemployed steelworkers. And the United Auto Workers-Labor Employment and Training Corporation in Missouri was awarded $3.2 million to train veterans, ex-offenders, women and people with disabilities.

The grants were distributed by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration and are part of a $500 million initiative by the Recovery Act to fund workforce development projects for the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries. Over the coming weeks, the Department of Labor plans to release additional grant funds.

http://www.greenbiz.com/

Cap And Trade Faces Major Hurdles

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said Tuesday that it's unclear whether Congress will be able to pass cap and trade legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions this year.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said there's no consensus on what form a cap-and-trade system would take, but strong desire exists in both the Senate and House to pass other energy-related bills that would curb pollution blamed for global warming.

Bingaman said the concern is that if Congress does not move forward on cap-and-trade legislation, emission reductions will be forced by federal regulators. "That will also drive up utility rates," he said. "The question is what will drive up utility rates the least, so that's what we're still trying to determine."

President Barack Obama will have to rely on support from Bingaman and others in the Senate to achieve one of his top domestic priorities, which is setting up a cap-and-trade system that would put a price on each ton of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are released.

Until Congress finds consensus on cap and trade, Bingaman is trying to tackle the problem through other legislative means, including an effort to encourage the production of renewable energy technologies in the U.S. by expanding a $2.3 billion manufacturing tax credit that was initially funded with stimulus money.

The American Clean Technology Manufacturing Leadership Act would provide an additional $2.5 billion in tax credits. Bingaman said that's enough to leverage $8.33 billion in new domestic investment to help meet America's growing demand for alternative energy. "There's no simple, one solution to the problem. There's a whole range of things we need to be doing more," Bingaman said.

The senator's comments came after a tour of Schott Solar's sprawling manufacturing plant on the southern edge of Albuquerque. Bingaman was among the officials who helped recruit Schott to New Mexico. The plant is the first in the U.S. to produce receiver tubes used in utility-scale concentrated solar power plants. Employees were preparing to ship out dozens of tubes off the assembly line during Bingaman's visit.

Schott also produces solar photovoltaic panels. At the beginning of the year, the plant ramped up production to seven days a week.

Despite a downturn in the photovoltaic market last year, Schott Solar CEO and president Gerald Fine said the company is "reasonably optimistic" about the potential over the next few years given that federal and state policies are encouraging a transition to renewable energy.

Fine said a significant market is developing in North America and that European markets are growing. "There's lots of uncertainty. There are going to be lots of challenges coming up, but we feel like we're in the forefront of an important economic change in this country," Fine said.

Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Future Farming in Detroit or Spectacular Speculation?

Fortune Magazine's illustrator shows abandoned land in Detroit being converted into "cutting edge, city style farms. Solar panels and windmills power vertical growing systems that are efficient, attractive, and tourist-friendly. Greenhouses allow crops to grow year-round. And new development sprouts on the periphery."

John Hantz's farm won't look quite as high tech as the drawing; they are using vacant land (of which Detroit has a great deal) to "transform this area into a viable, beautiful and sustainable area that will serve the community, increase the tax base, create jobs and greatly improve the quality of life in an area that has experienced a severe decline in population."

Hantz Farms plans to grow natural, local, fresh and safe fruits and vegetables to help meet Michigan's increasing demand for locally grown produce. In addition to food and trees, Hantz Farms will harvest wind energy and utilize geothermal heat and biomass fuel from recycling compost...... [the business plan calls] for the deployment of the latest in farm technology, from compost-heated greenhouses to hydroponic (water only, no soil) and aeroponic (air only) growing systems designed to maximize productivity in cramped settings.


Sounds lovely, if a bit more than necessary to start a farm. But what is the real business plan? David Whitford of Fortune Magazine writes about Hantz's "revelation":

"We need scarcity," he thought to himself as he drove past block after unoccupied block. "We can't create opportunities, but we can create scarcity." And that, he says one afternoon in his living room between puffs on an expensive cigar, "is how I got onto this idea of the farm."

In other words, there is too much land lying around doing nothing, making it worth almost nothing. If you are in the real estate business, you like scarcity, it drives up prices. Right now he can buy formerly residential land (less toxic than industrial) for $3,000 per acre, and is looking for lower tax rates and contributions of free tax delinquent land. That is the same per acre as a farm in the country. Smack in the middle of a city. Whitford notes that some of the biggest skeptics are the people already farming in Detroit.

"I'm concerned about the corporate takeover of the urban agriculture movement in Detroit," says Malik Yakini, a charter school principal and founder of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, which operates D-Town Farm on Detroit's west side. "At this point the key players with him seem to be all white men in a city that's at least 82% black."

But just about everyone else thinks it is a great idea as he scoops up thousands of acres. Hantz denies it is an "underhanded land grab".- "Viability and sustainability to me are all that matters." But in the next paragraph he says: "This is like buying a penthouse in New York in 1940," Hantz says. "No one should be able to afford to do this ever again."

Perhaps I spent too much time with developers and real estate people in my architectural career, but Hartz has said it all in Fortune, from his first comment about sopping up excess land and creating scarcity to his last quote about buying a penthouse in New York. This sure sounds like a classic real estate play to me. But if it takes unused land in a temperate part of the country with lots of water and people who need jobs, and grows local and healthy food, go for it. That's the American way and it works.

http://www.treehugger.com/

EPA Smog Limit: New Strict Proposal To Replace Bush-Era Rule

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of communities far from congested highways and belching smokestacks could soon join big cities and industrial corridors in violation of stricter limits on lung-damaging smog proposed Thursday by the Obama administration.


Costs of compliance could be in the tens of billions of dollars, but the government said the rules would save other billions – as well as lives – in the long run. More than 300 counties – mainly in southern California, the Northeast and Gulf Coast – already violate the current, looser requirements adopted two years ago by the Bush administration and will find it even harder to reduce smog-forming pollution enough to comply with the law.

The new limits being considered by the Environmental Protection Agency could more than double the number of counties in violation and reach places like California's wine country in Napa Valley and rural Trego County, Kan., and its 3,000 residents.

For the first time, counties in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, the Dakotas, Kansas, Minnesota and Iowa might be forced to find ways to clamp down on smog-forming emissions from industry and automobiles, or face government sanctions, most likely the loss of federal highway dollars. The tighter standards, though costly to implement, will ultimately save billions in avoided emergency room visits, premature deaths, and missed work and school days, the EPA said.

"EPA is stepping up to protect Americans from one of the most persistent and widespread pollutants we face," said agency administrator Lisa Jackson. "Using the best science to strengthen these standards is long overdue action that will help millions of Americans breathe easier and live healthier."

The proposal presents a range for the allowable concentration of ground-level ozone, the main ingredient in smog, from 60 parts per billion to 70 parts, as recommended by scientists during the Bush administration. That's equivalent to a single tennis ball in an Olympic-sized swimming pool full of tennis balls.

Huffington Post
http://huffingtonpost.com/

Benton County Wind Farm

ATTENTION ALL INTRESTED IN WINDMILLS!!


What? On January 22 we are taking a bus and traveling to the Benton County, Indiana Wind farm.

Where Are We meeting and What time? We are meeting at the 4-H building at 6:15a.m.

Price? The price is FREEEEEEEE and a meal will also be provided at the firm.

This is a one day one time event; we plan on getting back around 3:00-5:00p.m. This is just a way for WESCO to be able to give back to the community a little bit. By providing this trip all who attend will be able to get a better aspect on what a wind farm looks like, how it works, what are the benefits, and much more. If you would like to attend this one time, limited event please call our office at... 260.694.6240

Thank You, Hope We See You All

A New Hurdle For Cape Wind?

A decision made yesterday by the National Park Service may create a new hurdle for developers of a long-disputed proposal to build the nation’s first offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound.
The park service has ruled that Nantucket Sound is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places — a designation that requires consideration of adverse effects on historic properties when approving projects, according to Jeffrey Olson, a spokesperson for the National Park Service.
The park service made its decision after two Massachusetts Indian tribes argued that the wind turbines would disturb ancestral burial grounds and interfere with spiritual rituals that require clear views across the sound.
Known as Cape Wind, the project would cover about 24 square miles in Nantucket Sound, approximately the size of Manhattan. The new ruling may mean that the project will have to be moved, according to an article in today’s New York Times.

To discuss the tribal concerns, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who also oversees the National Park Service, has proposed a meeting between the tribes and Energy Management Inc., the company running the project, to discuss the issue. He has set March 1st as the deadline for the two groups to come to an agreement.
“America’s vast offshore wind resources offer exciting potential for our clean energy economy and for our nation’s efforts to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” Mr. Salazar said in a written statement. “But as we begin to develop these resources, we must ensure that we are doing so in the right way and in the right places.
Meanwhile, a representative for Boston-based Energy Management Inc., the company running the project, said that the complication was a minor one.
“We actually don’t think that eligibility actually affects Cape Wind at all,” said Mark Rodgers, a spokesman for the project.
Mr. Rodgers added that he was confident Mr. Salazar would find that the project’s “public interest benefits far exceed any negative impacts.”
There is no date set yet for the meeting Mr. Salazar is proposing, said Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for the secretary.
“We’ve gotten to the point where the Secretary is saying lets make a decision,” she said. “So he’s trying to bring all the parties together.”
If the two groups cannot come to a compromise, Mr. Salazar has the authority to make an executive decision regarding the project’s future.

Huffington Post
www.huffingtonpost.com/green

MUST SEE!

These two videos show what is coming into the Wells County area and the improvments that have been installed into both of these renewable sources.

1. Windmills-
http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/1073988

2. BioMass-
http://www.biogas-nord.com/en/watch-our-video