[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON
Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:56pm EST
Senator Murkowski aims to stop EPA carbon controls
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, a leading Republican on energy policy, on Thursday moved to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming.
The Alaska lawmaker, in a speech on the Senate floor, said she so far had the firm support of 35 fellow Republicans and three Democrats for legislation that could move through the Senate in an expedited process.
If there is a vote on her initiative, it could be an early barometer of the Senate's willingness to address broader climate change legislation this year.
"Congress must be given time to develop an appropriate and more responsible solution" than EPA to climate change problems, Murkowski said. She warned that looming EPA regulation would lead to job losses and broader economic problems.
Murkowski is the senior Republican on the Senate Energy Committee and represents a major energy-producing state that also is showing signs of suffering from global warming. While she has said she supports looking at ways to address climate change, she has mainly supported more narrow bills on developing alternative energy and allowing more domestic oil and natural gas drilling.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer called Murkowski's EPA legislation an unprecedented "assault," adding, "We cannot and must not repeal a scientific health finding."
Speaking at a press conference, Boxer was referring to a scientific review, which concluded that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, the underpinning for EPA regulation under the Clean Air Act.
Murkowski faces an uphill fight in the Democratic-controlled Congress. Even if she were to convince enough Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives to join her, the legislation would face a veto by Democratic President Barack Obama, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told reporters.
While Murkowski argued that she wants to take the power to regulate carbon out of EPA's hands and ensure Congress would decide on such a sweeping policy, many environmentalists saw her legislation as one more Republican attempt to block any meaningful action on climate control.
On December 7, EPA cleared the way for regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that pollute the atmosphere by industries and vehicles as they burn fossil fuels.
The new EPA Clean Air Act regulations could move forward as soon as March.
CLOSELY WATCHED
Foreign countries are closely watching Washington's actions on climate control as they weigh how forcefully they will join international calls for aggressively tackling climate change problems that could range from widespread drought and flooding to melting polar ice and rising sea levels.
The Obama administration has made clear that it prefers Congress pass more comprehensive legislation to reduce carbon emissions by utilities, oil refiners and heavy industry.
Supporters of a climate change bill that is stalled in Congress have used the threat of EPA regulation as a cudgel to win broader support among undecided lawmakers. Their argument is that Congress is better able to address industry concerns than the EPA.
That argument apparently was not effective with some senators, including Senator Blanche Lincoln, who faces a potentially tough re-election bid this year.
"Heavy-handed EPA regulation, as well as the current cap and trade bills in Congress, will cost us jobs and put us at an even greater competitive disadvantage to China, India and others," said Lincoln, who joined forces with Murkowski.
Lincoln, like several moderate Democrats, wants passage of a more limited alternative energy bill that environmentalists say would be an inadequate answer to global warming troubles.
Environment America, representing environmental groups in 28 states, said Murkowski's legislation was "a thinly veiled attempt to let the nation's biggest global warming polluters off the hook...removing them from the Clean Air Act. It is an extreme action, written for polluters by polluters, to exempt Big Oil and Coal from complying with the law."
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
[Green Business]
Leonora Walet, Asia Green Investment Correspondent
HONG KONG
Fri Jan 22, 2010 5:42am EST
A-Power Texas project costs up; China may fund
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese wind turbine company A-Power Energy Generation Systems said cost overruns at its 600-megawatt wind power project in Texas could reach $500 million and it was talking to Chinese state banks about funding the project.
A-Power, which is building the project with U.S. partners, said higher turbine and cable connection costs could push the total cost to $2 billion, a third more than the original estimate, Chief Operating Officer John Lin told Reuters.
State-owned Bank of China has expressed intention to fund the project, along with two other government-backed institutions, China Development Bank and China Export-Import Bank, he said.
"The Chinese government fully supports this project because both countries are focused in green energy," said Lin.
He said the company expected funding to be finalized by March at the earliest.
The Texas wind project is A-Power's biggest wind power venture to date since it entered the wind turbine-making business in 2008.
Shares of A-Power touched a year-high on the Nasdaq in December after the company confirmed it is supplying the wind turbines for the project it is building with asset management firm US Renewable Energy Group and wind developer, Cielo Wind Power LP. They have since fallen 36 percent.
The company, through its 60 percent-owned unit, Shenyang Power Group, is taking a 49 percent stake in the Texas project, with its US partners owning the rest.
The project will be built across 36,000 acres, which will be contributed by the U.S. partners, said Lin.
While A-Power is seeking most of the funding from Chinese banks, other institutions including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank have shown interest to participate as financiers, he said.
Lin said it may also get funding from a U.S. bank, which he declined to identify.
With the project, A-Power expects its wind turbine business to be a major earnings driver for the company this year. The company has said in December it expects to produce over 100 wind turbines in 2010, outside its West Texas project.
Apart from wind turbines, A-Power makes equipment for power systems.
Lin said the company has several projects in the pipeline, including a $70 million wind turbine assembly plant it plans to build in the United States. He declined to disclose details.
On Thursday, A-Power raised $83 million from a sale of shares and warrants to institutions, sending its shares down as much as 21 percent.
The company said it will use proceeds of the offering to fund its $50 million purchase of Japanese solar firm Evatech Co. It is also using the cash to buy more wind turbine parts.
"Notwithstanding today's disappointing news, we remain positive on A-Power's leverage to the robust long-term growth potential of the Chinese wind market, the world's largest," Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov said in a note to clients after A-Power's share sale.
(Editing by Michael Flaherty and Lincoln Feast)
[Green Business]
Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON
Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:56pm EST
Senator Murkowski aims to stop EPA carbon controls
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, a leading Republican on energy policy, on Thursday moved to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming.
The Alaska lawmaker, in a speech on the Senate floor, said she so far had the firm support of 35 fellow Republicans and three Democrats for legislation that could move through the Senate in an expedited process.
If there is a vote on her initiative, it could be an early barometer of the Senate's willingness to address broader climate change legislation this year.
"Congress must be given time to develop an appropriate and more responsible solution" than EPA to climate change problems, Murkowski said. She warned that looming EPA regulation would lead to job losses and broader economic problems.
Murkowski is the senior Republican on the Senate Energy Committee and represents a major energy-producing state that also is showing signs of suffering from global warming. While she has said she supports looking at ways to address climate change, she has mainly supported more narrow bills on developing alternative energy and allowing more domestic oil and natural gas drilling.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer called Murkowski's EPA legislation an unprecedented "assault," adding, "We cannot and must not repeal a scientific health finding."
Speaking at a press conference, Boxer was referring to a scientific review, which concluded that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, the underpinning for EPA regulation under the Clean Air Act.
Murkowski faces an uphill fight in the Democratic-controlled Congress. Even if she were to convince enough Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives to join her, the legislation would face a veto by Democratic President Barack Obama, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told reporters.
While Murkowski argued that she wants to take the power to regulate carbon out of EPA's hands and ensure Congress would decide on such a sweeping policy, many environmentalists saw her legislation as one more Republican attempt to block any meaningful action on climate control.
On December 7, EPA cleared the way for regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that pollute the atmosphere by industries and vehicles as they burn fossil fuels.
The new EPA Clean Air Act regulations could move forward as soon as March.
CLOSELY WATCHED
Foreign countries are closely watching Washington's actions on climate control as they weigh how forcefully they will join international calls for aggressively tackling climate change problems that could range from widespread drought and flooding to melting polar ice and rising sea levels.
The Obama administration has made clear that it prefers Congress pass more comprehensive legislation to reduce carbon emissions by utilities, oil refiners and heavy industry.
Supporters of a climate change bill that is stalled in Congress have used the threat of EPA regulation as a cudgel to win broader support among undecided lawmakers. Their argument is that Congress is better able to address industry concerns than the EPA.
That argument apparently was not effective with some senators, including Senator Blanche Lincoln, who faces a potentially tough re-election bid this year.
"Heavy-handed EPA regulation, as well as the current cap and trade bills in Congress, will cost us jobs and put us at an even greater competitive disadvantage to China, India and others," said Lincoln, who joined forces with Murkowski.
Lincoln, like several moderate Democrats, wants passage of a more limited alternative energy bill that environmentalists say would be an inadequate answer to global warming troubles.
Environment America, representing environmental groups in 28 states, said Murkowski's legislation was "a thinly veiled attempt to let the nation's biggest global warming polluters off the hook...removing them from the Clean Air Act. It is an extreme action, written for polluters by polluters, to exempt Big Oil and Coal from complying with the law."
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
[Green Business]
Leonora Walet, Asia Green Investment Correspondent
HONG KONG
Fri Jan 22, 2010 5:42am EST
A-Power Texas project costs up; China may fund
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese wind turbine company A-Power Energy Generation Systems said cost overruns at its 600-megawatt wind power project in Texas could reach $500 million and it was talking to Chinese state banks about funding the project.
A-Power, which is building the project with U.S. partners, said higher turbine and cable connection costs could push the total cost to $2 billion, a third more than the original estimate, Chief Operating Officer John Lin told Reuters.
State-owned Bank of China has expressed intention to fund the project, along with two other government-backed institutions, China Development Bank and China Export-Import Bank, he said.
"The Chinese government fully supports this project because both countries are focused in green energy," said Lin.
He said the company expected funding to be finalized by March at the earliest.
The Texas wind project is A-Power's biggest wind power venture to date since it entered the wind turbine-making business in 2008.
Shares of A-Power touched a year-high on the Nasdaq in December after the company confirmed it is supplying the wind turbines for the project it is building with asset management firm US Renewable Energy Group and wind developer, Cielo Wind Power LP. They have since fallen 36 percent.
The company, through its 60 percent-owned unit, Shenyang Power Group, is taking a 49 percent stake in the Texas project, with its US partners owning the rest.
The project will be built across 36,000 acres, which will be contributed by the U.S. partners, said Lin.
While A-Power is seeking most of the funding from Chinese banks, other institutions including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank have shown interest to participate as financiers, he said.
Lin said it may also get funding from a U.S. bank, which he declined to identify.
With the project, A-Power expects its wind turbine business to be a major earnings driver for the company this year. The company has said in December it expects to produce over 100 wind turbines in 2010, outside its West Texas project.
Apart from wind turbines, A-Power makes equipment for power systems.
Lin said the company has several projects in the pipeline, including a $70 million wind turbine assembly plant it plans to build in the United States. He declined to disclose details.
On Thursday, A-Power raised $83 million from a sale of shares and warrants to institutions, sending its shares down as much as 21 percent.
The company said it will use proceeds of the offering to fund its $50 million purchase of Japanese solar firm Evatech Co. It is also using the cash to buy more wind turbine parts.
"Notwithstanding today's disappointing news, we remain positive on A-Power's leverage to the robust long-term growth potential of the Chinese wind market, the world's largest," Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov said in a note to clients after A-Power's share sale.
(Editing by Michael Flaherty and Lincoln Feast)
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