ATLANTA -- The chief executive officer of the country's largest utility said Wednesday the United States doesn't have enough pipelines to switch from coal to natural gas as quickly as the Obama administration is demanding. Tom Fanning, CEO of The Southern Company, said in addition to coal-fired power plants, the country also needs more nuclear plants. Southern, parent of Georgia Power, Alabama Power and others, is the nation's largest operator of coal-fired plants for the generation of electricity. It is also in the midst of building two commercial reactors near Augusta, the first in the United States in 30 years. Newnan Times-Herald
Submitted 1 years 223 days ago

WASHINGTON — At a forum on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Gibson Guitar Corporation CEO Henry Juszkiewicz said the federal investigation into the company’s international wood deals has hurt sales and cost the company millions in fees. “We are really having a difficult time,” Juszkiewicz told GOP lawmakers at a discussion about the government’s “assault on private property.” “We’ve had a lot of our raw materials seized, and it’s really hard to come up with alternatives in a very short period of time,” he said. “So we’re not producing the guitars that our customers necessarily want, we’re just producing whatever we can get materials for.” The Tennessean
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(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton Co. received environmental and safety violation notices from the U.S. for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a step that may lead to fines in the nation’s worst marine disaster. U.S. regulators sent notices after the Deepwater Horizon accident investigation on Sept. 14 found that the companies violated federal offshore safety standards. The companies have 60 days to appeal before any penalties are imposed, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said today in a statement.
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MOBILE, Alabama -- Lakeside Steel said it has secured a $22 million loan to pay for part of the facilities that the Canadian steel pipe maker is building in Thomasville, as well as for working capital. Based in Welland, Ontario, Lakeside is building a $57.5 million, 280-job complex in Thomasville to make and process pipe for oil and natural gas drillers. President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Bedard said that startup has begun on the company's pipe mill on the south side of Thomasville. That facility is supposed to open before Christmas, while pipe-finishing facilities north of Thomasville are supposed to be completed next year. The Press Register
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President Obama’s jobs bill, as written, died a predictable death in the Senate last night. Democrats were able to muster 51 votes for passage, but that’s well short of the 60 needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. The New York Times called the vote both a “major” and “significant” setback for Obama in this morning’s edition, but in reality this was to be expected from the outset. No amount of press conferences, stump speeches, or Congressional addresses would realistically advance the American Jobs Act past Mitch McConnell’s iron grip on his 49-member caucus, which can filibuster the bill into oblivion. And even if it somehow passed the Senate, the Tea Party-dominated House would never touch the bill. The Nation
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A year after the Obama administration lifted a deep-water drilling ban imposed in response the Gulf oil spill, the offshore energy industry is still struggling to rebound, coastal and business leaders said Wednesday. A parade of executives from companies whose fortunes are tied to offshore drilling told the House Natural Resources Committee it is taking too much time and effort to win the Interior Department’s approval to drill new wells and plug old ones. Al Reese Jr., the chief financial officer of Houston-based ATP Oil & Gas Corp., said nabbing permits to drill is “unduly difficult, time consuming and, in our view, unnecessarily contentious.” Houston Chronicle
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One of Gov. Rick Perry's top energy advisers to his presidential campaign wants a moratorium on new regulations for drilling in old oil and gas fields. Texas Railroad Commissioner Barry Smitherman, who helped the governer craft the energy policies he will outline in a speech this week, said in an exclusive interview new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on endangered species and drilling techniques create uncertainty for the industry. And that can slow the drilling that would make the U.S. less dependent on foreign fuel. He called for a "moratorium on new EPA regulations in traditional drilling areas." And he'd like to see the U.S. open new areas to drilling, such as the eastern Gulf Coast and more areas of Alaska. Dallas Morning News
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As pilots at Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways vote on a deal to combine seniority lists for the integration into a single carrier called Southwest, an alternate plan has already been floated if the deal is turned down. In an effort to encourage pilots to approve the deal, Southwest has raised the possibility of a Plan B: that AirTran may not fully integrate as planned into Southwest if the pilot proposal fails. "If we receive a ‘no' vote, it means that we cannot execute the original integration plan and we will have to reset," said Southwest spokesman Paul Flaningan in a written statement. Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Less than a year and a half after it opened an Austin satellite office, Facebook Inc. is doubling its space here. On Friday, the world's largest social media network will move into a second floor at its high-rise offices at 300 W. Sixth St. The move will enable the company to potentially double its local employment of about 150 people. The company gave no time frame for that additional hiring. The growth in Austin mirrors the worldwide growth for Facebook, which has more than 2,000 workers globally and is moving its headquarters to a 57-acre complex in Menlo Park, Calif. It's also expanding its international operations in Dublin and Hyderabad, India. Austin American-Statesman
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The state of Tennessee plans to sell an estimated $584 million worth of bonds this week, the largest sale in the state’s history. The sale today through Thursday will use some of the proceeds to pay for new capital projects and infrastructure. These include economic development grants for Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Wacker Chemie in Bradley County, Hemlock Semiconductor in Clarksville and Electrolux in Memphis. According to a state news release, these projects are expected to create 4,650 new permanent jobs, plus thousands more construction jobs and jobs in related industries. Memphis Commercial Appeal
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