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After a weekend climate rally on the Mall in Washington attended by 150,000 people – including at least two blue Navii people – the 31 major environmental groups in the US today sent a letter to congress demanding that it return to the table on the climate bill before the summer recess, citing the Senate’s “profound responsibility to future generations to enact policies that enhance our economic, environmental and national security”.

The letter was signed by the key representatives of all of the major environmental groups – the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Environment America. The activist groups signed on; led by 1Sky, Climate Solutions and the Alliance for Climate Protection.

They were joined by the groups that have expertize in the field of climate policy – the Union of Concerned Scientists, Environmental Defense Fund, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Center for International Environmental Law and the Pew Environment Group. (more…)

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Sometimes a company’s best move may be to hire a consultant, but that help certainly doesn’t come cheaply.

For example, Alcoa, Inc. (AA) just signed an agreement to pay industry veteran Bernt Reitan $125,000 for “Consultant’s expertise and knowledge of aluminum manufacturing and fabrication, smelting, bauxite mining, bauxite refining and/or the sale or distribution of alumina and alumina related products, alumina refining and smelting technology and smelter and refinery construction.”  Until recently, Reitan was the Executive VP and Group President, Global Primary Products at Alcoa; he currently holds the title “Chairman’s Counsel.” He will retire on August 1, 2010, when the consulting agreement takes effect.  Per its terms, Alcoa can’t ask Reitan to work more than 25 days per calendar year, which means he gets a minimum of $5,000 per diem, or $625 per hour if he works an 8-hour day (plus expenses).

But another company is paying its consultant even more. Late last week, Snap-On, Inc. (SNA) filed this Transition Services Agreement as an attachment to its quarterly report.

The agreement involves Martin Ellen, who until recently worked as Snap-On’s Senior Vice President – Finance/CFO. While in that job, in 2009 Ellen received a base salary of $472,500 and total compensation of nearly $2 million. On April 1, 2010, Ellen became the Executive Vice President/CFO at Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (DPS), where he will earn quite a bit more. In that job (according to an 8-K the company filed in mid-February), Ellen starts with a base salary of $525,000, a target bonus that ranges between 90-180% of that salary, and an initial equity grant of more than $1.3 million. He’ll also get nonqualified stock options and RSUs with a total cash value of $3.75 million to replace equity awards that Ellen lost when he left Snap-On.

Snap-On wants Ellen’s help as it prepares for arbitration with CIT Group, Inc.  There’s a good summary of the dispute on pp. 27-28 of the Q, but – in a nutshell – the disagreement involves various alleged underpayments made in the context of a financial services joint venture.  Snap-On alleges damages of $115 about million, and CIT Group’s response alleges damages in excess of $110 million.

The agreement requires Ellen to attend meetings and assist the company as it produces documents and generally prepares its case. He is also to assist Snap-On “…with the continued transition of the business of Snap-on Credit LLC as a result of the termination of the Company’s former joint venture arrangements with CIT Group Inc.” and to provide “assistance to the Company in connection with other matters as may be reasonably requested.”

In exchange for his help, Snap-On is paying Ellen:

“…a monthly retainer of $20,000 per month, payable on the last business day of each calendar month during the Term. This retainer shall cover up to 60 hours of Services per calendar quarter, and shall be paid whether or not any Services are requested by the Company. Any hours over 60 in a calendar quarter shall be paid at a rate of $1,000 per hour, and will be paid along with the following month’s retainer payment.”

Thus, the agreement assures Ellen at least $1,000 per hour, assuming he works all 60 hours per calendar quarter. If Snap-On only needs him for half that time (10 hours a month), his hourly rate doubles. And if it doesn’t call him at all one month, Ellen still gets $20,000.

To be sure, an executive like Ellen presumably has a lot of knowledge that will benefit Snap-On as it prepares for arbitration. What is less clear is how a busy executive in a new job will find the time to help his old employer get ready for its arbitration hearing. But regardless, it’s worth another $240,000 to Ellen… maybe even more.

Image source: purpleslog via Flickr

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In a bid to increase capacity for the next generation of small-block, fuel efficient engines, GM has announced that they will be investing $893 million in upgrading 5 existing North American engine-related facilities.

According to GM, the move will preserve or create 1,600 jobs. The upgrades are necessary to meet the increasingly stringent fuel economy and emissions standards just enacted by the EPA.

(more…)

Pro Tip: If you mute your speakers, these people look absolutely insane.

Big trouble at Greystar Resources Ltd. is negatively impacting shares in Colombian gold mining neighbour Ventana Gold Inc. this week, but investors probably have nothing to worry about, Daniel Earle, a TD Newcrest analyst says.

On Monday, Greystar announced that it would be subject to changes in Colombia's mining code, that essentially ban mining in Colombia's "Paramo" ecosystem. Greystar's Angostura gold-silver project infringes on that area. 

While Greystar stock has plummeted more 40% on the news, shares in Ventana Gold, whose flagship La Bodega project is adjacent to Angostura, have also been hit, falling more than 5% since last Friday.   

Time will tell whether the sell off in Ventana was warranted, but according to Mr. Earle, the new regulation and environmental request is not applicable to La Bodega based on the much lower elevation of the project.

"We understand that the highest point on the La Bodega concession where the La Bodega zone butts up against the Greystar property boundary is a little under 2,900m," he said in a note to clients, maintaining his Speculative Buy rating and $12 price target.

"Furthermore, we note that the La Bodega property has an approved environmental management plan that provides the company with protection from subsequent environmental legislation.

Mr. Earle said he spoke with Ventana management, who told him they have been aware of this specific issue for some time and believe there is no carry-over impact for La Bodega. 

David Pett

It was a big week for experimental military aircraft, with the Air Force’s secretive X-37B space plane and the Navy’s biofuel-powered “Green Hornet” both achieving successful test flights. But the most ambitious—the HTV-2 hypersonic glider under development by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)—lost contact with its operators during its run.

Launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. on April 22, the unmanned HTV-2 was planned to cross the Pacific and impact the ocean north of Kwajalein Atoll in the first of two flights to demonstrate technology for a prompt global strike weapon [Aviation Week]. It successfully achieved separation from its booster rocket high in the atmosphere; however, nine minutes into the test the glider lost communication. Now the military is studying the test flight telemetry to figure out where the HTV-2 would have crashed down.

Thursday’s mission was the first of two planned in the HTV-2 program, which uses Minotaur 4 boosters developed by Orbital Sciences Corp. from decommissioned Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles. The U.S. military is trying to develop technology to respond to threats around the globe at speeds of Mach 20 or greater, according to DARPA [AP]. DARPA is being fairly tight-lipped about possible uses for the HTV-2, but it’s not hard to see why the military would be excited about an aircraft that travels about 13,000 miles per hour and can strike on the other side of the world with “little or no advanced warning,” as the agency says.

Program manager Paul Erbland says the key to HTV-2 flying at such speed and height is its carbon shell, which is capable of withstanding extreme heat and pressure. It doesn’t burn off material to get rid of heat. The vehicle is designed to fly at a low angle of attack relative to other hypersonic vehicles. “Shuttle and similar vehicles fly at roughly 40°; HTV-2 is substantially below that,” he said [Aviation Week]. As for the communications failure, DARPA has some time to address the problem before the craft’s second planned test flight next March.

Related Content:
80beats: Will the Pentagon Build the Jetsons’ Flying Car?
80beats: Highway to the Green Zone? Navy To Test a Supersonic Biofuel Jet
80beats: DARPA Wants a Biofuel Jet, While Germany Works on a Hydrogen Plane
80beats: DARPA’s Kooky $40,000 Scavenger Hunt

Image: DARPA

The LG Optimus formerly know around the web as the LG GT540, will be headed to the UK this May. LG is a late entry into the Android game but they are making a valiant effort to pump out quality Android devices. To bad there isn’t a price tag on this one but expect it to be affordable.

Specifications:

• Geo tag enabled 3-megapixel camera
• 3.5mm headset jack
• Bluetooth 2.1
• Wi-Fi, GPS
• 3-inch HVGA touchscreen
• DivX and Xvid ready

If you’re bored or just have some time on your hands the press release is at the bottom. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on this device as more specs and pricing become available.

” Berkshire, 27 April, 2010 — LG Electronics, (LG), a global leader and technology innovator in mobile communications, today announced the launch of an Android-powered smartphone, LG Optimus (LG GT540), a handset offering an optimal environment for first-time smartphone users with easy and convenient mobile access.

LG Optimus allows users to enjoy diverse Android applications and automatic account synchronisation with all Google mobile services. LG Optimus also features enhanced social networking functions in a high-powered multimedia environment.

“LG Optimus is the ideal choice for early smartphone users who expect all the features of smartphones without the complexity,” said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “This is a device that was designed for regular people who want to jump into the smartphone experience but have been hesitant to do so because of the learning curve. By making LG Optimus more approachable, we hope more people will give smartphones a try.”

Optimal Convenience
LG Optimus delivers smartphone benefits in a convenient Google internet package. With an automatically synchronised Google account, users need to only log-in once to enjoy YouTube, Gmail, Gtalk, Google Maps and more. With easy access to more than 30,000 downloadable applications and games from the Android Market, users can easily customise and expand their LG Optimus experience.

The SN Manager offers integrated access to social networking sites in a convenient platform that can manage multiple accounts. LG’s dedicated Social Networking Client allows users to easily keep track of their Facebook, Twitter and Bebo accounts. Moreover, the Social Networking System (SNS) widgets provide real-time status updates directly to the home screen without having to access any other applications. The handset’s multitasking feature allows users to view updates from friends and access their social media sites while simultaneously searching the phone’s contact list.

The user interface is customisable for maximum convenience. The LG Optimus can be customised to show anywhere from three to seven home screens displaying frequently used applications, news and weather, among other information, depending on user preference. Additionally, the main menu can be personalised to include up to 10 editable categories for faster, easier navigation.

Optimal Excitement
LG Optimus includes high-powered entertainment features that make the phone extra fun to use. The advanced media player allows users to watch DivX and Xvid videos directly without separate encoding and browsing multimedia files is especially enjoyable with the 3D thumbnail gallery.

The phone’s 3MP camera supports geo-tagging, auto face-tagging and face-to-action technology to allow users to create and share multimedia content from the phone. The LG Optimus has a built-in video editor with storyboard function so that users can add music and text to videos directly on the phone.

LG Optimus boasts a distinctive design that is both sleek and soft and is available in black and silver. What’s more, the phone includes a long-lasting 1500mAh battery, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth 2.1 capability, assisted GPS, 32GB of expandable microSD memory and four customisable home screen themes together with enhanced idle lock screen notifications.

The LG Optimus will be available in the UK from 1 May. For more information about the LG Optimus visit http://www.lg-optimus.com or for general LG Mobile information visit www.lg.com/uk/mobile.”

The PalmInfocenter Store has rolled out a new mobile accessory store. The mobile optimized store lets users browse and buy Palm accessories right from their Palm device. The store carries many of the latest and most popular accessories for Palm devices including the Pre, Pixi, Centro, Treo’s and classic PDA’s.

PalmInfocenter has long had an accessory store, which compliments our Palm OS software store. The store carries a wide range of accessories including cases, bluetooth headsets, extended batteries, chargers, cables and cradles, memory cards and much more.

With the addition of the mobile accessory shop, customers can now get everything they need to make the most of their device in one convent spot. Shipping is available worldwide and starts at just $5.95 for most items delivered in the US. Payment can be made via major credit cards or paypal. Simply visit the PalmInfocenter mobile site and browse to the store, or key in m.palminfocenter.com on your phone.

Filed under: Budget, Minivan/Van, Auctions, Volkswagen, Celebrities

You can’t sell everything on eBay. Case in point: The auction site has a pretty stiff policy against the selling of what it calls “murderabillia” or anything “closely associated with notorious murders within the last 100 years.” We can debate whether euthanasia qualifies constitutes actual murder, but regardless, Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s 1968 Volkswagen Van evidently falls into that category on eBay, as it was the site of several of the infamous doctor’s reported 130 assisted suicides throughout the years.

As for the van, The Detroit News notes that Kevorkian gave it up to be crushed back in 1997. Somehow, the VW escaped its fate and wound up in the hands of Jack Finn, a retired Volkswagen parts dealer. Finn says the vehicle may run and stop, but it isn’t safe to drive on public roads and is in need of a full restoration.

Since eBay Motors gave Finn’s listing the boot, Kruse Auctions has agreed to sell the vehicle at its May 14-16 event.

Kevorkian was convicted of second degree murder in 1999 and subsequently served eight years in prison. He has recently become the focus of attention once again thanks to the new You Don’t Know Jack movie staring Al Pacino.

[Source: The Detroit News]

Report: eBay Motors labels Kevorkian VW Bus as ‘murderabilia,’ delists auction originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Heather Steingruebl is a BABloggee. She contacted me and told me some chilling news: her daughter Elise was recently diagnosed with leukemia. She’s being treated, and I know we all hope things go well for her.

But in the meantime, this makes Elise susceptible to many preventable diseases. We need people to get vaccinated! As Heather says,

Vaccinate. Elise and thousands of kids like her are counting on not dying from things like measles and whooping cough while they fight cancer. Unless it’s a specific health risk to you or your child, just vaccinate. Please.

She also implores people to get on the bone marrow donation registry. Search around online for information on how to do this. I plan on doing this myself.

My heart goes out to her and her family, as it does to anyone affected by this awful illness. I’m going to find out what booster shots I need, because I take this issue very seriously. I hope you do too.

Volkswagen is using some brains to ensure that the upcoming multi-media platform in VW cars will be a certain success. VW has announced an open innovation contest dubbed the ‘App My Ride’ where it is going to challenge developers to create new software applications for its multi-media platform.

As there are €14,000 in cash and non-cash prizes available, VW can be rest assured of some stunning entries which is definitely going to help the brand in the longer run. This ‘App My Ride’ project draws inspiration from the booming Smartphone industry which is well assisted by amazing applications. What is great is that there is a separate prize for student participants so even the fresh talent is not being ignored by VW. [via devicemag]

Geiger Cars ha introducido una nuevo paquete en el Corvette Grand Sport consiguiendo aumentar de forma considerable las prestaciones, alcanzando los 337 km/h. Esto lo consigue mediante una modificación en la trasmisión junto a un aumento de potencia de su motor V8.

Así Geiger Cars consigue exprimir del motor una potencia de 588 CV con un par máximo de unos 738 Nm permitiendo que el Grand Sport llegue a los 100 Km/h desde parado en menos de 4 segundos. Además su transmisión cambia al añadir una quinta y sexta marcha más alargada que permite obtener una mayor velocidad.

Sin embargo estas modificaciones tiene su precio, por lo que se tendrá que desembolsar unos 19250 euros extras para poder llegar a los 337 km/h con un Corvette Grand Sport. Junto a los cambios mecánicos también se incorporan otros como unas llantas de 18 y 19 pulgadas con neumáticos 275/35 y 325/30 o cuatro tubos de escape centrales.

Geiger Cars Corvette Grand Sport

Vía | worldcarfans

It’s like 2007 all over again: The world is waiting with bated breath for someone to step up to Apple. Last time it was to answer the iPhone. This time, the iPad. Here’s what we want to see. More »

Is your state the gassiest? This graph over at Infrastructurist compares how much each gas each state uses per person. Green is low use, blue is moderate, and red is high. What’s interesting is when you look at each state’s fuel use per capita, “High-use states like New York actually have low per-capita usage, while states like Alabama, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, and North Dakota — all states with smaller populations and large distances required for drivers — have higher than average consumption.”

How Much Gas Does Your State Use Per Person? [The Infrastructurist]

Ok, we lied. There’s one more risk beyond the Fed meeting that you need to be wary of. It’s tax hikes.

Well… talk of tax hikes. Headline risk.

How come?

Because the President’s working group on deficit reduction is getting into full swing, and it’s a sure thing that the team will propose tax hikes as part of the equation to solve the deficit problem. Now, that doesn’t mean Congress is actually going to the tax hikes.

The path of least resistance — deficit spending — seems like the way forward for now. But there’s going to be a ton of talk about a VAT and other measures to gain revenue.

OMB chief Peter Orszag wrote the following today to kick off the organization’s work:

The President formed the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform because he believes that the path to fiscal stability begins with bi-partisan cooperation. Today, the Commission met with the President and held its first meeting, where I joined them to discuss the Nation’s unsustainable fiscal trajectory and the importance of the task before them.

Recognizing the fiscal future that we face, the Administration has taken major steps to restore fiscal responsibility. The President’s Budget includes more deficit reduction than proposed by a President in any budget in over a decade; by 2015, it would cut the deficit from 5 percent of GDP to 4 percent of GDP.  Furthermore, the comprehensive health insurance reform we have just enacted represents an unprecedented effort to address the forces underlying rising health care costs, and is projected to lower future deficits by more than $100 billion in the first decade and by more than $1 trillion in the next.

More must be done, however. The Commission is charged with recommending measures to reduce the deficit to about 3 percent of GDP by 2015. This result is projected to stabilize the debt-to-GDP ratio at an acceptable level once the economy recovers — a key measure of fiscal sustainability. The Commission is also tasked with proposing policies to meaningfully improve the long-run fiscal outlook.

Here’s the kicker:

The options to further reduce the deficit may not be popular, but they are necessary. Success will require a commitment from both parties to engage in constructive and honest dialogue, and I look forward to working with the Commission in the weeks and months ahead.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Bernanke: Path To Fiscal Salvation Requires Slash And Burn On Entitlements And Higher Taxes
• CHART OF THE DAY: Your Parents Would Be Stunned At The Taxes You’re Paying
• US Fiscal Policy: Unless We Raise Taxes Or Cut Spending, We’re Screwed

The official True Blood Season 3 poster has arrived. Sookie, Bill, Jason, Tara and Eric — and the rest of the vampires, humans and the other supernatural beings of Bon Temps — are back in True Blood’s latest cast photo. Who’s ready for the blood-sucking June 13 premiere?

Over at Edge, a variety of scientists give their take on the Iceland volcano eruption and its impact on air travel. Two really stood out to me. The first also highlights the problem of defensive medicine; the second shows the downside to action dealing with global warming:

DANIEL KAHNEMAN

Psychologist, Princeton; Recipient, 2002 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences

Imagine a public official who considers an action that involves a small and ambiguous risk of disaster. Imagine further that the best expert judgment available is that the expected social benefit of the action is large and that the risks are real but tolerably small. Such situations inevitably create a conflict between the interests of society and those of the officials who are charged to decide on its behalf.

Hindsight and personal accountability are the problem. Decision makers can be certain that if the worst happens their decision to act — however justified it was ex ante — will be perceived ex post as a horrendous mistake. They face the possibility of devastating blame and guilt, as well as career-destroying consequences. The risks are asymmetric because the costs of playing it safe are likely to be negligible.

Even if future analyses of the ash cloud incident conclude that flights could have resumed safely much sooner, it is unlikely that any of the officials involved in delaying the flights will lose their jobs. In this situation and in many others — defensive medicine is an example — the valid anticipation of hindsight combines with social norms of personal accountability to produce overly cautious behavior.

The solution?

Where the social good requires taking risks, we need procedures that will reduce personal accountability and diffuse responsibility, perhaps by assigning some categories of decisions to designated groups of experts rather than to individual functionaries.

MATT RIDLEY
Science Writer; Founding chairman of the International Centre for Life; Author, The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves

The ash cloud reminds us of the risks of risk aversion. Shutting down Europe’s airspace removed the risk of an ash-caused crash, but it also increased all sorts of other risks: the risk of death to a patient because an urgent medical operation might have to be postponed for lack of supplies, the risk of poverty to a Kenyan farm worker because roses could not be flown to European markets, the risk of a collision between ferries on extra night-time sailings in the English Channel. And so on. Risk decisions cannot be taken in isolation. The precautionary principle makes too little allowance for the risks that are run by avoiding risks — the innovations not made, the existing suffering not alleviated. The ash cloud, by reminding us of the risks of not being able to fly planes, is a timely reminder that the risks of global warming must be weighed against the risks of high energy costs — the risks of poverty (cheap energy creates jobs), of hunger (fertiliser costs depend on energy costs), of rainforest destruction and indoor air pollution (expensive electricity makes firewood seem cheaper), of orangutan extinction in subsidised biofuel palm oil plantations.

Oh, and remember the lessons of public choice theory: if you set up a body called the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, don’t be surprised if it over-reacts the first time it gets a chance the demonstrate that it considers itself — as all public bodies always do — underfunded.

Water quality is a serious problem that is not properly acknowledged, says top water expert and adviser Asit Biswas.

An award-winning water and sanitation expert is challenging United Nations agencies that claim the world is on track to achieve safe drinking water goals.

Photo by whiteafrican via Flickr / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The March 2010 update from the World Health Organization on global progress toward meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) declared that countries would surpass the drinking water goal, but fall short of the sanitation target by more than a billion people. The progress report estimated that 1.7 billion people had gained access to improved sources since 1990. The MDG for water is to reduce the number of people without access to improved water sources by half.

But the U.N. figures are being disputed by Asit Biswas, president of the global water management think tank, Third World Centre for Water Management. The problem with the recent assessment is that it measures infrastructure development instead of improvements to water quality, according to Biswas, who won the Stockholm Water Prize in 2006, the top award for the water field.

“If somebody has a well in a town or village in the developing world and we put concrete around the well – nothing else – it becomes an ‘improved source of water’. The quality is the same but you have ‘improved’ the physical structure, which has no impact,” said Biswas in an interview with the Guardian. “They are not only underestimating the problem, they are giving the impression the problem is being solved. What I’m trying to say is that’s a bunch of baloney.”

While the MDGs focus on protecting water sources from local contamination, the water quality from that source is not part of the metric.

Biswas, who has advised the governments of India and Egypt on water issues, said inadequate municipal water supply systems often stem from mismanagement and corruption rather than physical water scarcity. Meanwhile, the WHO progress report acknowledged that measuring water quality was difficult and expensive.

A forthcoming WHO/UNICEF pilot study of country-level water quality testing found that 90 percent of piped systems met WHO microbial standards, but only 40 to 70 percent of other improved sources were in compliance.

“We know how many people have access to water,” said the Prince of Orange at World Water Day in Nairobi, Kenya, “but we don’t know how many have safe water.”

Source: Guardian