Related Links: Senate labor committee chairman Harkin calls for Flynn's resignation NLRB members' joint statement to the staff National Labor Relations Board member Terence F. Flynn, a Republican, has resigned amid fallout from a May 2 Inspector General (IG) report alleging he improperly shared data on pending NLRB cases with former Chairman Peter Schaumber and others. The controversy dates back to March, when NLRB IG David P. Berry released a preliminary report that drew similar conclusions. But Flynn repeatedly has denied any wrongdoing, and in his resignation letter to President Barack Obama and Board Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce, dated May
Related Links: Fact sheet from the International Trade Administration The preliminary decision by the U.S. Commerce Dept. to impose tariffs of 30% or more on imports of solar cells and panels from China could have a chilling effect on the industry, various sources say. “It will put a drag on the industry as a whole,” says Robert Healy, manager of Kansas City, Mo.-based Burns & McDonnell’s renewable-energy group. The Commerce Dept. announced on May 17 that it would impose tariffs of 30% or more on crystalline-silicon photovoltaic cells and panels from China after concluding that China had “dumped” the materials
Related Links: Fact Sheet on Project An ambitious plan to build a transmission line to support electricity-producing wind farms off the East Coast has moved closer to becoming a reality following an Interior Dept. determination that no competitors had come forward with a similar proposal.If the proposal gains other regulatory approvals, it would be the first project of its kind in the U.S. It could cost more than $5 billion and take 10 years to construct.Interior's May 14 finding means that its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is likely to grant the project a right-of-way on the Outer Continental Shelf
Environmental groups that are monitoring the migration of Asian carp to the Great Lakes region are hopeful that a recent plan by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will accelerate the timetable for keeping the aggressive species out of the lakes.
Related Links: The EIA Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey The U.S. Energy Information Administration's Office of Energy Consumption and Efficiency Statistics is working on the latest version of a national survey of commercial buildings' energy consumption and expects to begin releasing its first sets of data in April 2014, says the office's director, Tom Leckey.The Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) is a national sample survey that collects baseline information on U.S. commercial-building stock, their energy-related building characteristics, and their energy consumption and expenditures. The survey data underpin much of the work that has been done in the energy benchmarking
Related Links: Text of Judge James Boasberg's May 14 opinion Business Groups Challenge New Rule NLRB Members Vote in Favor of Streamlining Union Election Process A federal judge has invalidated a new National Labor Relations Board rule that advocates say simplifies the process for workplace unionization elections, but opponents contend makes it harder for employers to prepare for those contests.In his May 14 decision, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia concluded that the NLRB did not have the necessary three-member quorum when it voted in December to approve the regulation. Boasberg did
Opinions are split on whether TransCanada's revised proposal to build the Keystone XL crude-oil pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico will pass muster with the Obama administration.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to shorten the timetable for identifying a potential permanent solution to the seemingly unstoppable migration of Asian Carp closer and closer to the Great Lakes.
The resignation of the top official in the Environmental Protection Agency's South and Southwest region—the heart of oil and gas country—is providing further ammunition to GOP lawmakers who have been vocal critics of the agency.Al Armendariz, EPA's Region 6 administrator, resigned after a two-year-old video in which he used the word "crucify" to describe his enforcement approach to firms that break environmental laws became public and caused a national stir.Armendariz, appointed by President Obama in 2009, sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on April 29 apologizing for the remarks. Jackson accepted his resignation on April 30.In the 2010
Related Links: Engineering News Record The U.S. Supreme Court justices seemed to be skeptical of the federal government's view during the April 25 oral arguments in a closely watched case, Arizona v. United States.Although the case is limited to an examination of four provisions of an Arizona law granting state police broad powers to detain and arrest suspected illegal aliens, the ramifications of a ruling in favor of the state are broad, says Ana Avendaño, assistant to the president and director of immigration and community action at the AFL-CIO. A ruling upholding the provisions would give employers greater ability to
