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A company called ACTA is acting out, but in a good way and will not be sent to its room for a timeout. What ACTA is doing is pulling out all stops in regard to bringing hydrogen power products to market.

In a recent announcement, ACTA said it will be using micro wind turbines and water to bring hydrogen generators inside one’s residence for home use, “The combined system is being developed for use in homes that are not connected to the electricity grid and for remote renewable energy storage applications. It will also act as a demonstrator for larger-scale peak energy shaving applications.

“Energy generated from a wind turbine will be used to produce hydrogen from water using Acta’s unique electrolysis technology. The pure, dry, compressed hydrogen can be stored and then used, on demand, to produce electricity through a mid-sized fuel cell. The Company believes that future applications will include distributed power microgeneration and storage, and ultimately that the system can be scaled up to utility-sized installations for use with commercial wind farms.” Also, these units could be used for home hydrogen fueling stations as well.”

But, putting a hydrogen generator the size of a refrigerator is not the only thing ACTA is acting upon. I’ve talked before about the ACTA hydrogen bike, the ACTA hydrogen fuel cell for outboard motorboats and ACTA hydrogen fuel injection systems for increasing gas mileage and reducing emissions.

The combined heat and power (CHP) system from ACTA is just their latest product offering in the field of hydrogen fuel and alternative energy. As ACTA brings more and diverse hydrogen energy products to market one will soon notice that they are becoming a major player within this market space. Unlike some emerging technology companies that start hot and fade away quickly, ACTA is beginning to see a profit from their line of hydrogen products.

ACTA is acting like a major player already, filling niches in the marketplace that other companies are failing to act upon. It is the pioneers of today who will be the mainstream businesses of the new energy tomorrow. And that day will come shortly.

Home builders had a good month in April. Construction of new homes improved again last month, as housing starts rose by 5.8% to an annualized rate of 672,000 from March’s revised level of 635,000, according to the Census Bureau (.pdf). That beat expectations of 650,000 and also marked a huge 40.9% rise compared to April 2009.

While the new construction data sounds great, new permits declined last month. They fell by 11.5% to an annualized rate of 606,000. There were still 15.9% additional new permits than in April 2009, however. Fewer new permits might indicate that new construction is slowing back down, with the home buyer credit now expired.

First, let’s look at some charts to give these numbers some perspective. Here’s one showing housing starts:

As you can see, there’s been a fairly steady rise for the past year. But this chart also shows just how far new home construction has fallen from its peak in 2006. Permits tell a similar story:

The fairly steep fall in April for permits marks a big difference compared to another rise for starts.

It’s plausible that the end of the home buyer credit has something to do with this disparity. It applied to any contracts signed through April 30th. As a result, much of the new construction that broke ground might have continued to benefit from the credit, if some of those homes were already spoken for. New permits occur at an earlier stage in home building, however. Consequently, fewer of those contracts might have been signed by April 30th, so the credit didn’t benefit them as much. Builders are also likely just anticipating a decline in demand for new homes now that the credit has expired. The drop in permits likely foreshadows what we’ll see in home building and sales numbers in May and beyond, without the government credit.

This report should be considered along with yesterday’s news that homebuilders are more optimistic. The National Association of Home Builders said its confidence index rose to its highest level since August 2007. The index reading indicates that builders are still generally negative about the market, however. The report also says, although the market picked up with the home buyer credit in place, the builders expect demand to decline now that it has expired.

Fewer new homes being built isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While it’s obviously not great for the construction industry, it’s arguably better for the housing market. There’s still a big inventory of existing homes for sale. Moreover, there are still very high numbers of foreclosures hitting the market. Buyers should work on drawing down the current inventory before building new houses.

The big problem with building fewer homes, of course, is fewer construction jobs. It has been one of the worst industries hit due to the housing collapse-induced recession. As home building slows, the hope would be that more construction workers might find work renovating newly purchased existing homes or foreclosures. But as the charts above show, even additional renovation isn’t likely to put the number of construction jobs anywhere near what was seen in 2006.

Note: All numbers above are seasonally adjusted.

(Nav Image Credit: Concrete Forms/flickr)

National Association of Home Builders – Construction – Housing starts – Real estate economics – Business

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From Green Right Now Reports

Environmentally minded teens looking for a place to interact, share ideas and learn about careers and university programs can turn to a new social networking site Planet Connect.

Designed by teens – the best advisors on social networking – Planet Connect was launched this spring by the National Environmental Education Foundation in partnership with The Weather Channel. Students will find lots of info about environmental topics and about environmental clubs and activities around the country.

The networking capabilities of the site allow students across the country to share exciting environmental news tidbits and strategies for having an impact in their schools and communities.

“In many ways students are leaders in the climate change discussion, and The Weather Channel is proud to partner with Planet Connect in this exciting environmental exchange,” Lynn Brindell, executive vice president of strategic marketing at The Weather Channel, said in a statement.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF has revealed the results of an interesting study regarding online privacy. While most people seem concerned with sites like Facebook or Google amassing too much private information or making it too public, it looks like a user’s browser can be as much of a risk to privacy as anythin… (read more)

Fans of the PixelJunk series have probably heard by now that there’s a PixelJunk Shooter sequel in the works. It may have been a bit unsurprising, but Q-Games today officially confirmed that production for the game is in full

37signals Podcast transcript: “Addressing criticism of 37signals (Part 2 of 2)”

Transcript posted for latest episode (#14) which discusses criticism of REWORK.

Mariah Carey’s been setting the stage on fire with her booming vocals and power ballads for more than 20 years, but on Monday the Grammy-winning singer was forced to put out an actual fire. Mariah took to her Twitter account to tell fans about an electrical blaze that broke out under her feet as she was waiting to take the stage at a concert in Egypt.

“In Egypt getting ready to go on stage and suddenly there was a surge of power and an electrical fire started under my feet!” she Tweeted. “Naturally, my emergency instincts kicked in and I put out the flames w/a towel.”

This is the second time in a year that Mariah has had a close encounter with flames. In 2009, the crooner was celebrating Valentine’s Day with hubby Nick Cannon when a fire broke out in the couple’s master bedroom.

“He (Nick) had given me an enormous amount of roses, so I picked up the vase and poured out the roses, and went back and forth from the bathroom putting out the flames with water… I’m good in a crisis,” she said at the time.

John Travolta’s two dogs were struck and killed by a service truck at an airport in Maine last Thursday. City officials confirmed the story to the Bangor Daily News today.

Officials have released the following statement regarding the accident: “At approximately 1 a.m. on Thursday, May 13, 2010, an airplane carrying members of the John Travolta family landed at Bangor International Airport. While there, two small dogs were taken for a walk by someone who is not a family member.”

According to officials, an airport service pickup truck was approaching the airplane and did not seem to see the dogs. Unfortunately, the dogs were hit and killed. The airport is investigating the accident. The city will make no further comment to respect the family’s privacy.

“The airport takes safety very seriously,” airport director Rebecca Hupp told the BDN, “Many flights come and go without incidents. Clearly, this is an unfortunate accident. Our deepest sympathies are with the family.”

John Travolta and his family have not yet issued a statement regarding this.

No related posts.

The European Union experiment could be coming to an end. As the euro continues to slide, a wide range of interested parties — from international investors to op-ed pages — are seriously considering the once unthinkable: Greece might become the first country to drop the euro.

Last week the EU and the European Central Bank unveiled a trillion-dollar bailout plan to stem the “contagion” from Greece’s colossal debt burden, but there is not enough money to back up Europe’s debts. Greece will almost certainly default and switch to a cheaper currency to avoid a long and painful recession.

Here are two reasons why Greece will have to leave the euro and three reasons why it will still be in a world of hurt (thanks to AEI’s Desmond Lachman):

2 Reasons for Greece to Bail
(…really, two sides of the same coin)

1) Wages Must Fall. Wages and prices in Greece will have to fall by nearly 20 percent for the country to regain competitiveness. There are a couple ways to achieve that. One is a deep, lasting, painful recession. How deep, lasting and painful? As Paul Krugman notes, “unemployment has risen from 6 percent before the crisis to 22.3 percent
now — and wages are, indeed, falling. But even in Latvia labor costs
have fallen only 5.4 percent from their peak; so it will take years of
suffering to restore competitiveness.” There is another way. Drop the euro, move to a currency you can control and devalue like crazy.

2) Exports Must Rise. To bring down its deficit, Greece will have to
cut spending by nearly 10 percent of GDP, which is an incredible amount
of demand to take out of the economy. How do you replace lower domestic
demand? With higher foreign demand, also known as exports. A cheaper
currency means cheaper olives, which means more people who can afford more olives, which means more demand for olives.
A devalued drachma would increase sales of Greek products abroad.

And 3 Reasons Why It Will Hurt

1) No More EU Benefits. As the rules appear to be written, if Greece leaves the euro, it leaves the European Union. So what? Well, Greece receives structural transfers from the European Union because it’s a poorer country. That will change if Greece drops the currency. What’s more, Greece’s closest economic ties are with EU countries. If it leaves the EU, it leaves on unfavorable terms, and could lose trade preferences like low tariffs. (On the other hand, Lachman allows, it’s hard to know exactly how Greece would transition out. After all, there weren’t supposed to be EU bailouts in the original charter and now we’ve got a $1 trillion emergency bailout fund.)

2) No More Special Rates. Another huge advantage of the euro is that it allowed Greece to borrow at low interest rates (for a while, at least). Markets convinced themselves that Greece would integrate its fiscal policy with the other countries in the Union, and that the euro was impregnable, which allowed a typically troubled nation like Greece to borrow at near Germany’s interest rate levels. Following default and a currency devaluation, Greece won’t have that special treatment among international investors.

3) Bank Runs. Anybody who’s got a euro deposit that might be translated into drachmas should, and will, think seriously about transferring their money to Germany. After all, imagine that you deposit $100 in Thompson Bank. Then by some dictate, I convert your dollars to dereks, at 80% value. You will not like that! So preemptively, you’ll pull your money and put it into Indiviglio Bank or McArdle Bank. That’s basically what’s already happening in some banks in Greece.

Greece – European Union – European Central Bank – Paul Krugman – Germany

Reader Mike sent me a media release for a book signing by a guy named James Henry (a name like that screams old-fashioned white knighter), who authored a book titled “The Laws of Love: A Guide to Gallantry“. Here is an excerpt of the release:

AS COURTSHIP DECLINES, CONCERN FOR CHIVALRY IS ON THE RISE

A New Book The Laws of Love: A Guide to Gallantry, Helps Induce Gallantry.

Book Launch and Signing:  Wednesday February 10th & Sunday, February 14th 2010

[Washington, DC] – In a time when courtship is on the decline and hedonism is on the rise, one gentleman has stood up against the tide with the power of words and seductive suggestion. Washington, DC native James Henry, an author galvanized by the decline of chivalry, announces the release of his new book, The Laws of Love: The Guide to Gallantry,with a reception and book signing on Wednesday, February 10th at ACKC chocolate shop and Saturday and Sunday of Valentine’s weekend (February 13th & 14th) at the newly opened The Tasting Room wine bars in Reston, VA and Friendship Heights.

A contemporary manual, inspired by a 19th century French love guide, gives gallant advice on the art of courtship for today’s love-starved society.

“These days with the instant nature of news and information, few people make the time to read anything in depth, so I felt that good messages could be better conveyed with fun illustrations and humorous maxims.” Consider them “inspiration to greatness” describes Henry.

Next Wednesday, February 10th, in the lead up to Valentine’s Day, Henry will officially release his new publication with a book signing at ACKC, a chocolate shop and café in Logan Circle, Washington, DC. [ed: a chocolate shop and cafe sounds like the perfect venue for a book this emasculating.]

Now I wonder why a 19th century French love guide would recommend chivalry for men? I’m trying to think about how 19th century France differed from 21st century America, but I just can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s a mystery!

I’m not an anti-chivalry crusader. If you want to be Gallant to the world’s Goofuses, go right ahead. You’ll be digging your own celibacy grave, but that’s one less competitor to me. If you live in some weird time warp American town where gallantry will help get you laid with hot babes, then be all the white knight you can be. Game is about doing what works.

But you’ll be working against the odds. Millions of men from all over the world have reached the conclusion through actual experience in the field that opening doors, throwing jackets over puddles, waiting to sit until she’s been seated first, and buying her drinks are tingle killers of the first order. Gallant doesn’t go home with the babe in 2010 America; Gallant watches perplexed as the babe thanks him for the free drink and then make outs with Gus the Inconsiderate Douchebag.

I have a hard time believing that this guy James Henry is a native of DC and still thinks gallantry is what will help men score with DC girls. Either he’s lying for fun and profit, or he’s gay.

About the only reason I could recommend chivalry as a course of action for the typical man would be if we lived in a world where nearly all men stopped indulging women, and white knighters abandoned their lances for a more cynical, self-centered calculation. With chivalry long dead, a lone knight-errant could conceivably stride onto the scene and turn girls’ heads by doing something no other man is doing. In such a scenario, where women theoretically craved the chivalric attentions of men, buying a girl a free drink might actually be good game. But I really don’t see any evidence for this happening at all in our lifetimes. Chivalry is pretty much dead as it is, and girls are still responding positively to “I don’t buy girls drinks, but you can buy me one.”

Filed under: Beta, Tool Time

[JURIST] Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva [official website, in Portuguese] on Monday signed a bill that legalizes same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] but stops short of allowing same-sex couples to adopt. The bill was approved [JURIST report] by the Portuguese Parliament [official website, in Portuguese] in January and found to be constitutional [text, in Portuguese] by the Constitutional Court [official website, in Portuguese] last month. Silva indicated he was unhappy with the manner in which the bill was passed but that he was signing the law so parliament could move on to other matters. He also indicated that he could have chosen to veto the bill, stating [press release, in Portuguese]:

The Parliamentary bill which allows marriage between persons of the same gender was submitted by me to the Constitutional Court for preventive investigation, and considered by this body as not unconstitutional. This, however, would not prevent the possibility of the President of the Republic using the vetoing power conferred upon him by the Constitution and return it to Parliament. However, regard should be given to the practical effects of such a decision and take into due account the superior national interest, in the face of the dramatic situation of the Country. As such, I believe that I should not contribute towards the unnecessary dragging out of this debate, which would only accentuate divisions among the Portuguese and stray the attention of politicians from the resolution of the issues which so grievously affect people’s lives.

Same-sex marriage is now recognized by six countries in Europe including Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Norway [JURIST reports], while several other countries including the UK, France, and Germany recognize civil unions between same-sex partners.

Many countries are currently debating the issue of same-sex marriage, with varying results. Earlier this month, Argentina’s lower house approved a bill [JURIST report] that would legalize same-sex marriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt. Last month, Italy’s Constitutional Court rejected a challenge [JURIST report] to the constitutionality of the country’s ban on same-sex marriage. In the US, individual states determine marital rights for same-sex couples. Same-sex marriage is currently legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Washington DC [JURIST reports]. Same-sex civil unions are currently recognized in Washington, New Jersey, Oregon, and Nevada [JURIST reports].

Nobuyuki Oneda (pictured far right) currently serves as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Sony Corporation and has been its Corporate Executive Officer since 2004. He is primarily responsible for Corporate Planning and Control, Accounting, Tax, Finance, Investor Relations, and Disclosure Controls. On June 18th, he will retire and current Deputy CFO, Masaru Kato, will assume Oneda’s place as Chief Financial Officer. Oneda joined Sony on April, 1969 (at the age of 24) and has served many positions in the company throughout his tenure, including Senior Vice President, Head of Transformation 60, Corporate Planning & Control, Accounting and Information Systems of Sony Corp.

Here is some of the other titles he’s held in Sony throughout the years:

• Jun 2004 – Oneda served as Sevenior Vice President, Corporate Executive Officer of Sony Corporation
• Feb 2004 – Oneda served as Officer in charge of Corporate Planning and Control, and Accounting of Sony Corporation
• 2003 – Oneda served as Senior Vice President, Executive Officer of Sony Corporation
• 2002 – Oneda served as Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Network Application & Content Service Sector of Sony Corporation and Corporate Senior Vice President of Sony Corporation
• 2000 – Oneda served as Deputy President and Chief Financial Officer of Sony Electronics Inc. and Group Executive Officer of Sony Corporation
• 1999 – Oneda served as an Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Sony Electronics Inc. (a U.S. subsidiary of Sony Corporation)
• 1996 – Oneda served as General Manager, Corporate Planning & Control Department of Sony Corp.

While AT&T may be taking its time to move on to a 4G network, Verizon is taking the opposite approach.  The company has said on previous occasions that they plan to have their 4G LTE network lit up in 25-30 markets by Q4 of this year and recently stated that they will have devices to take advantage of that speedy new network shortly thereafter.  Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has stated that Big Red won’t have any 4G-ready phones until May 2011, but that there will be up to five 4G phones available at that time.  It’s unclear who will manufacture those devices or what operating system(s) they will run, but given Verizon’s close relationship with Google and Android lately, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if at least one of these 4G phones was running the Android OS.

If you can’t wait until May 2011, McAdam went on to say that Verizon will be releasing tablets capable of using the new 4G network in Q4 of this year and that most of them would be Android-based.  Are you planning on picking up a new Android tablet or 4G phone to try out Verizon’s LTE network? Tell us below!

Via Phandroid

As one who passionately builds brands for a living, it saddens me when I am forced to bear witness to the downward spiral of a once-strong brand.  The recent troubles faced by Tylenol and other huge brands from McNeil Consumer Healthcare bear witness to the fact that, while the identity of a brand can help bring a product to the heights of popularity, that same identity, when linked to negative events, can bring the product crashing down in the minds of consumers.

Tylenol has a long history of bumps in the road, starting with drug-tampering problems back in 1982, which resulted in the brand being held up as an example of what to do when disaster strikes your product.  Take responsibility.  Take Action.  Don’t make excuses.

The public was reassured by how the Tylenol scare was handled and sales eventually returned to the brand.  Tylenol came to mean a trusted and safe product once again.  And in a market with unimaginable generic competition, that trust went a long way toward making consumers feel like the branded choice was the right choice.

More recent troubles, however, cannot be blamed on nameless and faceless culprits who are threatening the safety of the American public.  This time the responsibility for manufacturing irregularities fall solidly in the lap of McNeil.  There is no denying that they must take responsibility, there is nowhere else to put it.  But the public is not so quick to forgive this time.

Part of the difference is that this time McNeil is truly to blame for the issue.  And the other part of the difference comes from how the world has changed in those intervening 28 years.  In the world of 1982, the news of the recall and corrective action came through formal channels and gossip about the problem was contained within neighborhoods.  In the world of 2010, news of the recall hit Twitter and Facebook long before it made the front pages of the newspaper or local news broadcasts.  Along with the immediacy of informing the public, McNeil was unable to control the message, and unprepared to deal with the fallout.  Their customer service resources were inadequate, their recall website not up to date, their response times were not up to snuff.

So now, in addition to being worried about the threat that recalled medications might hold for their families, people are angry that McNeil isn’t managing the situation as well as they could.  The brand is breaking.

As the process of restocking medicine cabinets with generic versions of McNeil’s recalled drugs is documented in minute detail via social media networks, more and more people see that generics offer safe, cost-effective alternatives to the branded drugs.  The more social proof that consumers see that the generics are just as effective, the more likely they will be to continue to eschew the branded products.  There is no upside of going back to Tylenol or Benedryl.  Those names are tainted with both the manufacturing issues (real or imagined, it makes no difference) and the customer service disappointments.

The bar for what consumers expect from a generic drug is much lower.  Does it work?  Does it cost less than the branded product?  Is it safe?  Customer service and advertising and image don’t enter into the equation for these purposes.

By dropping the ball so many times, McNeil is training consumers to be satisfied with a less impressive package.  It will be interesting to see if they are able to resolve and recover from this current crisis situation.  As surprised as I am to say this, my bets in this case are against the brand.

In a country where the mantra “you can be anything you want” is practically a national prayer, it’s still kind of shocking to see someone suggest that a high school student should skip college. Some economists and professors, however, argue that college has become too expensive to throw money at if the odds are high that either you won’t finish, or you’ll go into an industry that doesn’t require a degree.

From the New York Times:

College degrees are simply not necessary for many jobs. Of the 30 jobs projected to grow at the fastest rate over the next decade in the United States, only seven typically require a bachelor’s degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Among the top 10 growing job categories, two require college degrees: accounting (a bachelor’s) and postsecondary teachers (a doctorate). But this growth is expected to be dwarfed by the need for registered nurses, home health aides, customer service representatives and store clerks. None of those jobs require a bachelor’s degree.

The educational system may not be ready for that kind of shift, though. A counselor at a New York City high school told the paper that she’d be more willing to steer some students into non-college careers if her school hadn’t eliminated most of the vocational training programs over the last decade.

One other interesting point from the article: employers are looking for entry level workers with social skills that college courses don’t necessarily teach, and that aren’t being taught in high school either. These include problem solving, decision making, conflict resolution, cooperation, and active listening.

“Plan B: Skip College” [New York Times]

On May 18, 2010 the European Union published the implementing Regulation (EC) No 79/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on type-approval of hydrogen-powered motor vehicles that includes measures regarding hydrogen propulsion, hydrogen components and hydrogen systems and for the installation of such components and systems.   Regulation (2009/79)   allows car manufacturers  to apply for the EC whole-vehicle type-approval of hydrogen-powered vehicles on a voluntary basis. The regulation also provides for harmonised rules on hydrogen tanks, including for liquid hydrogen, is necessary in order to ensure that hydrogen vehicles can be refuelled throughout the EU in a safe and reliable manner. The implementing regulation can be downloaded here.

All evidence so far points to Final Fantasy Versus XIII staying exclusive to the PS3, but it seems Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada isn’t quite ready to close the door in Microsoft’s face.

The federal agency responsible for regulating oil and gas extraction let oil companies like BP write their own safety regulations, ignored or downplayed the environmental threats from drilling, and issued drilling permits before fully consulting with other regulatory agencies. The Obama administration has launched an overhaul of the agency and has sent to Congress a legislative proposal to address the looming disaster in the Gulf Coast region.

<!–break–>

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), the Department of Interior (DOI) agency responsible for regulating energy and mineral resources, has badly mismanaged the oil and gas permitting process. The agency has abdicated its responsibility for ensuring that energy extraction is done safely, according to numerous sources investigating the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The April 20 BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion left 11 workers missing and the subsequent oil spill continues to spew thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf. Investigations of the explosion are beginning to show that BP and its partners in the Deepwater Horizon project did not implement safe oil drilling practices that are used in other areas of the world. MMS left decisions about drilling practices to the companies rather than issuing strong regulatory requirements that may have prevented the explosion.

On May 12, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing to begin assessing what committee chair Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) called "a calamitous series of equipment and operational failures." The hearing focused on the actions by BP; Transocean Limited, the operator of the oil rig; and Halliburton, an oil services company responsible for a critical seal designed to stop the flow of oil.

The Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Environment and Public Works Committee also held hearings on the spill in which executives associated with the Deepwater Horizon rig testified.

President Obama also named MMS as a culpable party in this disaster. On May 14, for example, after getting another briefing on the federal government’s response to the spill, Obama said, "For too long, for a decade or more, there has been a cozy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill. It seems as if permits were too often issued based on little more than assurances of safety from the oil companies. That cannot and will not happen anymore."

In a scathing August 2008 report by the agency’s inspector general, MMS employees were found to have accepted gifts from oil industry representatives, improperly socialized with lobbyists, engaged in unauthorized business activities, and flaunted the agency’s ethical standards. The report summarized MMS’s royalty-in-kind program personnel as lacking professional conduct standards and believing the rules of ethics did not apply to them.

Obama asked DOI Secretary Ken Salazar to reform MMS so that the part of the agency responsible for collecting oil and gas royalties is separated from an office with regulatory safety and enforcement. The separation is intended to reduce conflicts of interest within an agency responsible for both managing a revenue stream and developing and enforcing regulations.

On May 17, amid the criticism of MMS, associate director for offshore energy and minerals management Chris Oynes announced his retirement, effective May 31. Before being named associate director, Oynes oversaw oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico. A May 17 Washington Post article reported that Oynes had been criticized by former MMS officials as being too close to industry.

A May 13 New York Times article highlighted the importance of creating a new office with regulatory powers. According to the Times, MMS:

• Issued dozens of permits to oil companies to drill in the Gulf without the approval of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees dangers to endangered species;
• Ignored staff scientists who raised concerns about engineering and environmental impacts and threatened retaliation if the scientists continued to voice concerns;
• Gave BP and other oil companies exemptions from requirements to file environmental impact statements;
• Silenced agency scientists and changed reports that raised the specter of oil spills; and
• Issued at least five permits for new drilling projects since Salazar announced a moratorium on new permits May 5.

The article quotes one former MMS scientist as saying, "You simply are not allowed to conclude that the drilling will have an impact … If you find the risks of a spill are high or you conclude that a certain species will be affected, your report gets disappeared in a desk drawer and they find another scientist to redo it or they rewrite it for you."

Scientific integrity issues at DOI have been a concern for years. An April 29 report by the agency’s inspector general found that DOI has never had a scientific integrity policy despite a mandate from 2000 to produce one. The report documents a variety of problems the agency experienced during the Bush administration. The report recommends an agency-wide policy be established and a person assigned the primary responsibility for its implementation.

The Washington Post reported that MMS liberally applied “categorical exclusions” to reduce its NEPA workload and give companies a pass on the rigors of environmental review. MMS granted such a waiver to BP’s Deepwater Horizon operation. BP had appealed to the White House Council on Environmental Quality as recently as April 9 to use categorical exemptions more broadly, according to the Post.

On May 12, the administration also put forward a legislative proposal to enhance its ability to address the Deepwater Horizon spill. According to a White House fact sheet, the proposal calls for additional funding to several agencies to pay for current expenses resulting from the spill and to monitor the impacts. It would provide additional funding for DOI to conduct additional inspections and enforcement while slowing the pace of issuing permits so that relevant issues are explored more thoroughly. The proposal also calls for additional federal support to states to supplement unemployment assistance programs to those on the Gulf Coast who lose wages as a result of the spill. Additional assistance may be provided if Congress approves provisions for additional economic development efforts within affected communities. The proposal would also raise liability caps on those held responsible for the disaster and raises the tax on oil companies to fund the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

Members of Congress have introduced numerous bills to address some of the issues contained in Obama’s more comprehensive legislative proposal. To date, there has been no progress on the bills as Congress awaits more information from different investigations into the causes of the explosion and spill.

Photo in teaser by the U.S. Coast Guard.

This is what we’ve come to: Four million people provide an average of $1,700 each to City Hall for police, fire, paved streets and sidewalks, parks and libraries and other basic services but all they care about is dogs, cats and gang-bangers.

Welcome to the City Hall Follies — a burlesque that lasted 11 hours on Monday and amounted to petty bickering and maneuvering to add another $5 in fines for illegal parking so they can provide more jobs to hoodlums and keep a closed-to-the-public warehouse with 167 unwanted pets functioning.

Once again, the City Council signed off on a budget that carries out the mayor’s plan for destroying the quality of life for the many to protect the few.

Even the word budget is inappropriate since it’s largely a work of fiction: Unrealistic revenue projections, revenue that doesn’t exist, layoffs and spending cuts they have no intention of carrying out.

Why they even go through the charade of holding a meeting in public and boring themselves and us to death is beyond me since it was always a done deal and solves nothing.

They balanced the budget on paper, not in reality. They want us to approve a tax on billboards so they can approve even more of them and legitimize the thousands of illegal ones they have done nothing about for years.

They make a mockery of government and fools of us.

It took them most of the day to come up the $5 illegal parking fine increase so they could keep the Northeast Valley animal shelter staffed to look after stray cats and dogs. It is the newest and costliest shelter in the city but never has opened to the public, nothing but a depot for animals destined to be euthanized.

A third of the dogs in the city are unlicensed so they impose a 50 percent fee on those who do license their dogs and do little or nothing to penalize those who don’t.

They spend millions to keep gang members from killing each other and the occasional bystander and plan to spend far more to train them as “green doctors” and laborers so they can put them on the DWP payroll and justify more rate hikes.

But the people who obey the laws and pay the taxes see their libraries and parks closing and  the 75-year backlog in paving streets and sidewalks heading toward the century mark.

Like bums cadging for money on Skid Row, they beg the city unions that elected them to temporarily give back a little from the years of sweetheart contracts just so they can get through another few months without layoffs or furloughs.

They put themselves in this position by cutting a deal last year to bribe 2,400 workers to retire early and signed a contract that deferred wage increases with the promise that workers would get two years’ of wage hikes totaling nearly 6 percent in 2010-11 if even a single worker was terminated or furloughed.

The bills are coming due for those wage hikes just as they are for the wage hikes they gave DWP workers at the same time, just as they will for their plans to borrow heavily to get through the next 12 months.

They are digging a financial hole for the city so deep that the day of reckoning accounts will have disastrous consequences.

At the end of the day, they all voted for this budget except Alarcon who objected that they didn’t do enough for the poor, the unions and the special interests and Koretz who simply disappeared when the vote was taken to no one’s surprise.

The instinct of many is to break up the city, slash their pay in half, declare bankruptcy or refuse to pay your DWP bill like so many others are doing with impunity.

We have come to this. We have become a global symbol of America’s failure and fading glory.

My only answer, for what it’s worth, is to throw these people out and start again with new leaders and a new vision that will treat people equally, restore trust in City Hall and offer a new deal that provides for a healthier future for LA   Otherwise it’s time to sell off what you can and pack your bags like so many families and businesses already have done.