Free Republic

The United States will need $1.6 trillion to repair damage to its infrastructure from a massive influx of immigrants, a new report reveals. In his report titled, "The Twin Crises: Immigration and Infrastructure," prominent researcher Edwin S. Rubenstein examines 15 categories of infrastructure: airports, border security, bridges, dams and levees, electricity (the power grids), hazardous waste removal , hospitals, mass transit, parks and recreation facilities, ports and navigable waterways, public schools, railroads, roads and highways, solid waste and trash, and water and sewer systems. Rubenstein, a financial analyst and former contributing editor of Forbes and economics editor of National Review,...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California's utilities, refineries and large factories must transform their operations to cut greenhouse gas emissions as part of a new climate plan before state regulators. On Thursday, the California Air Resources Board was expected to adopt what would be the nation's most sweeping global warming plan, outlining for the first time how individuals and businesses would meet a landmark 2006 law that made the state a leader on global climate change. It would hold California's worst polluters accountable for the heat-trapping emissions they produce _ transforming how people travel, utilities generate power and businesses use electricity. At...

AWWA has joined with the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, National Association of Water Companies and the National Rural Water Association in developing "A National Agenda for Drinking Water" to assist President-Elect Barack Obama and his incoming administration. The report addresses topics including economic stimulus, long-term infrastructure investment, drinking water standards, source water protection, climate change, and system security. It specifically asks for “dedicated funding” for water infrastructure in any economic stimulus package, “dispersed in such a way as to be quickly accessed by utility managers, with a minimum of delay and ‘red tape.’” It calls the $1 billion included...

My father-in law keeps telling me our state (PA) is deregulating electric by the end of 2011 and that we are going to see a 30% increase in rates. I can;t seem to find anything about this anywhere. I always thought deregulation was a good thing...

LOS ANGELES — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Department of Water and Power are expected to announce on May 15 a revised water use and management plan for this city that includes using recycled wastewater to recharge drinking water aquifers, according to a May 15 Los Angeles Times article. The new plan allocates about $1 billion for the proposed reclamation system, also known as “toilet-to-tap” or “sewer-to-spigot.” The city would recycle about 4.9 billion gallons of treated wastewater to drinking standards by 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported on May 15. Villaraigosa, who less than a decade ago opposed such...

<p>Widespread power outages were reported Tuesday from Miami to Jacksonville on Florida's east coast and as far north as Tampa on the Gulf Coast, police and utility officials said.</p> <p>As many 800,000 Florida Power & Light Co. customers are without power Tuesday afternoon, the company said.</p>

Californians may soon have to deal with climate change on a different scale -- and this time the culprit isn't greenhouse gas. The California Energy Commission is proposing a plan which allows the government to regulate household thermostats in the event of an "energy crisis." Under the proposed rules, all new thermostats will be fitted with technology that will allow the government to adjust the temperature of someone's home by plus or minus four degrees. Originally the plans called for mandatory compliance; however, amid public outcry, the plans have been slightly altered to allow an individual to turn off the...

New Jersey's lawmakers are poised to impose new pollution penalties on power companies -- the first step in determining who pays for contributing to global warming and who profits from preventing it. By year's end, the Legislature is expected to approve a plan requiring the companies to pay for the greenhouse gases they produce, a charge that could amount to $70 million or more each year. The system is designed to give companies an incentive to cut emissions. But in the short run, at least, the price of polluting is likely to be passed on to consumers. And that could...

Found a cool, free (and Spyware-free) utility last night that lets you create an Adobe PDF file out of anything you can send to a printer. Adobe software offers this same feature, but you have to buy their program. This one is FREE. It's called Primo PDF. Whatchoo got? Post it here.

The Trans-Texas Corridor, Gov. Rick Perry’s massive transportation project, hit some speed bumps Friday. A sharply-worded report from the State Auditor’s Office was released - and a member of the Republican leadership in the House filed a bill to repeal the plan, which could encompass up to 8,000 miles. Brenham Rep. Lois Kolkhorst’s bill is almost identical to one already filed by Democrat state Rep. David Leibowitz of Helotes, near San Antonio. With lawmakers from both sides of the aisle questioning the project, organizers of a March 2 are hoping thousands of Texans will make their way to the state...

A State Auditor’s Office report on the Texas Department of Transportation and the Trans-Texas Corridor set for public release today estimates a $105.6 billion price tag for the TTC-35 portion alone of the massive transportation project. The TTC-35 represents 14 percent, or 560 miles, of the Trans-Texas Corridor’s proposed 4,000 miles of roadway criss-crossing the state. A 2002 estimate by TxDOT placed the cost for the entire Trans-Texas Corridor at between $145 and $184 billion. Taken as a whole, the Trans-Texas Corridor on its completion could become “the longest network of toll roads in the world,” according to the audit....

Excerpt - In what will be the largest leveraged buyout of all time, the private equity firm of KKR is close to announcing its purchase of TXU, the giant Texas utility that is the largest producer of power in that state, CNBC's David Faber has learned. TXU's board is expected to vote on the deal this weekend and an announcement is likely on Monday morning, people familiar with the situation told Faber. TXU officials and KKR declined comment. The exact price KKR will pay is unclear, Faber said. TXU's current market cap is $27.5 billion. It also has $12.3 billion...

SACRAMENTO – Targeting truckers, contractors and others, Senate Democrats on Thursday introduced legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions beyond the landmark global warming law that took effect this year. The package of bills would ban methane releases from garbage dumps, reduce exhaust emissions from trucks, construction equipment and school buses, and force utilities to increase energy from renewable sources. Other lawmakers, including some Democrats, and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger immediately criticized the legislative package. They said it would overwhelm state regulators who are still trying to decide how to implement last year's global warming law. That law imposes the country's...

News Release Contact: Randall Dillard Telephone: (512) 463-8588 Interstate 69 from Texas to Michigan is included on a short list of interstate corridors being considered for fast track development by federal transportation officials, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary. E. Peters has announced. If I-69 is selected by the U.S. Department of Transportation this summer as part of the Corridors of the Future program, the federal department will aggressively support the project to move it “from the drawing board to completion faster than ever before,” according to the announcement. The Texas segment of I-69 is being developed as part of the...

Phoenix Motorcars has developed what could possibly be the perfect electric car. Classified as a Sport Utility Truck (SUT), this vehicle “can cruise on the freeway at up to 95 m.p.h. while carrying five passengers and a full payload.” The Phoenix Motorcars SUV will be introduced in late 2007, having a range of 130 miles, and can be recharged in less than 10 minutes with an off-board charging unit or trickle-charged overnight when plugged into a 220V power source, similar to the SUT. The estimated cost to recharge the battery pack is a small fraction of equivalent gasoline costs. Phoenix...

Facing new regulations intended to limit greenhouse-gas emissions by the electricity industry, California utilities are using their clout as big power buyers to snub "dirty" resources outside the state and push forward development of renewable resources in and around California. At a meeting next month, California utility regulators are expected to approve a measure that will prohibit utilities from entering into contracts to buy electricity from resources that emit substantial greenhouse gases, such as coal. The policy, believed a first among states, implements a new state law that takes aim at global warming. (See related article.) Utilities in the state...

WASHINGTON — John Dingell, the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Wednesday he wants the Federal Communications Commission to delay its vote on AT&T Inc.'s acquisition of BellSouth Corp. Dingell, saying the combination raises a "significant antitrust question, sent a letter to the FCC asking that it hold off on the vote until after the new Congress convenes in January. "I think it would be in their interest, I think it would be in the interest of the committee, and I think it would be in the interest of the public," he said Wednesday. FCC Chairman...

The recent court decision voiding the efforts of the Bush administration to allow utilities to upgrade their plants — partially, rather than fully, as the law requires — signals the start of a redefinition of federal-state relations. The plaintiff in this litigation was not an aggrieved individual or company but a dozen states acting in concert to battle the Bush rules.On the merits of the lawsuit, I agree with the administration. The all-or-nothing requirement on upgrading utility plants has served to freeze the current dirty technologies in place and prevent any improvements at all. Half a loaf, in this case,...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO (March 10, 2006) -- Giving up the fame of the football field at 29 years old, one Company B recruit looked for a glory that was more permanent than any trophy. At age 13, Pfc. Jeremy Staat was 75 inches tall and weighed 230 pounds. It seemed as if he was built for football, according to Staat. “I really didn’t have to work hard at it,” said Staat. Starting as an offensive lineman, Staat grew as a football player and saw his first glimpse of the Marine Corps not long after starting at Arizona...

New York City's water supply could be the target of contamination if a water system map made its way into the wrong hands, an environmentalist said. The threat has arisen since someone broke into a vehicle belonging to a Department of Environmental Protection maintenance supervisor and stole an agency laptop containing a map of the water system. If the map was detailed enough,"there could be the opportunity to pose a threat," the executive director for the Center for Environmental Information, Cindy Stachowski, said. Even without a map, Ms. Stachowski added, someone pouring biological, chemical, or radiological contaminants into a fresh...