Posts for July 1, 2010

AUTO INDUSTRY'S RECOVERY STALLS

July 1, 2010 – Late Wire from Manufacturing.net
Most automakers saw U.S. sales drop in June as consumers delay big-ticket purchases because they're worried about their jobs in an environment of high unemployment ... continue

AGENCY: CO2 GROWTH UNCHANGED IN 2009

July 1, 2010 – Late Wire from Manufacturing.net
Climate change monitor says last year was the first since 1992 that registered no growth in global carbon dioxide emissions ... continue

DANE FINERFROCK RETIRES

July 1, 2010 – DEQ

For 28 years Dane Finerfrock has been in the front lines of the often controversial issues of low level radioactive waste disposal in Utah. As the director of the Division of Radiation Control (DRC) for the past seven years he's been in the middle of contentious battles over whether to allow radioactive waste giant EnergySolutions to dispose of hotter waste, depleted uranium, foreign waste and most recently "blended" waste.


Now he's eager to step out of the spotlight and into retirement with no real agenda in mind.
"I'm looking forward to not having any schedules," he said, shortly before he retired June 30.

Rusty Lundberg, manager of the Sustainability and Energy Group and former Hazardous Waste Manager, will replace him as the head of DRC.

Amanda Smith, executive director of the Department of Environmental Quality, praised Finerfrock for helping her understand the complicated issues surrounding radioactive waste management.

"Dane has a wealth of knowledge of technical issues, policy and a history of the Division that will be difficult to replace," Smith said. "I have counted on him for advice and been tutored by him on all things concerning radiation over the past year. And, I will miss his dry sense of humor."
His staff couldn't agree more.

"He has a good sense of humor," said Loren Morton, a manager overseeing uranium mills and low-level radioactive waste management. "He's always had a gift for sorting out the important stuff from the not so important stuff."

Finerfrock, 62, was born in Pennsylvania but raised in Braintree, Mass.—the home of John Adams and John Quincy Adams—he likes to boost. He came to Utah to attend the University of Utah where he earned a degree in meteorology in 1970. An infantry officer in the Army, he spent a tour in Vietnam, an experience that shaped his perspective about things that matter.

His Army background is what makes him a good manager who can withstand public scrutiny and criticism, Morton said. "It gave him perspective of what's important in life," he added.

It also helped shape his sense of humor, added Craig Jones, branch manager overseeing X-ray and material licensing.

"Dane can effectively use his sense of humor to let you know when he's displeased with something," Jones said. "He has a great scientific repertoire."

After Vietnam, Finerfrock came back to the U. and received a degree in biology in 1974. He married his wife, Kathy, and settled into a life in Utah where he worked at the University in the Radiation Department. He then worked for a private consulting firm on and off in between employment with the Department of Health and DEQ—an accumulative of 30 years working in state government.

It was at the U. where Craig Jones came to know and respect Finerfrock for his application of scientific principles.

"I've worked with Dane for over 30 years. I have joked with him that I've known Dane longer than I've been married to my wife," Jones said.

Finerfrock began his career at DEQ as an environmental scientist, moving up the ladder to section manager overseeing low-level radioactive waste and uranium mills to director of the Division.

"I've worked my way up from the bottom," he said.

One of the Division's greatest achievements in which Finerfrock was part of was gaining state primacy over low-level radioactive waste and uranium mills from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the 1980s under Bill Sinclair's leadership as the Radiation Control Director.

Jones applauds Finerfrock for his leadership in the Health Physics Society (HPS) where he successfully lobbied to have the annual convention in Salt Lake City in 1989.

"Dane has the ability to work well with others," wrote Jones who recognized Finerfrock for his leadership in HPS. "He is tactful, jovial, and nonabrasive."

These are traits that have helped Finerfrock overcome conflict with environmentalists who often oppose license applications on various types of wastes EnergySolutions seeks to dispose of at its Class A low-level radioactive waste landfill in Tooele County.

Finerfrock's regulatory role is to examine the applications and make recommendations based on technical issues. The Legislature and Governor can disapprove an application based on policy.

When EnergySolutions,' formerly Envirocare of Utah, wanted to take Class B and C low-level radioactive waste five years ago, Utah lawmakers and the Governor banned it.

Former Gov. Huntsman also opposed EnergySolutions' expansion and joined the lawsuit challenging the import of foreign waste. Governor Gary Gerbert has negotiated with the

Department of Energy to halt sending depleted uranium to Utah while a site specific performance assessment is completed. The Governor also has gone on record opposing the downblending of waste to access Utah's Clive facility.

Finerfrock credits his staff for their professional manner to withstand the controversy surrounding the issues.

"This Division has been able to persist and succeed in such a controversial environment. It speaks to me about my stubbornness and persistence but also the fact that throughout all of this we are able to maintain and attract highly-qualified staff."

FRED NELSON RETIRES

July 1, 2010 - DEQ
Attorney has Helped Shape Utah's Environmental Laws

For 33 years, Fred Nelson has helped improve Utah's air, land and water—many times from a boardroom, law library or inside a courtroom.

Nelson, who represented the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), retired June 30 after a long and distinguished career in the Utah Attorney's General Office, the past 22 years serving as the Division Chief of the Environmental Division. His successor is Denise Chancellor who served along side him, most notably representing the state of Utah in litigation over keeping high-level nuclear waste from entering the Goshute Indian Reservation.

"I started in 1977 when Cal Rampton was Governor," he said. "I've worked with many people, including five Attorneys General, several Executive Directors of DEQ and Division Directors."

The start of Nelson's career coincided with the passage of federal environmental laws. He helped draft Utah's first environmental statutes that oversee all aspects of DEQ's six divisions. "As each federal law passed, I was able to learn each program," he said.

He was instrumental in helping draft legislation that created DEQ in 1991. Shortly after that, Nelson represented the state in one of the largest damage claims—the Kennecott Natural Resources Damage Claim.

"One of Fred's greatest achievements has been the recovery of monetary damages in cases involving the contamination of the state of Utah's groundwater resources," noted Chancellor.

"Fred has helped bring millions of dollars into the State's coffers, which have been used to clean up contaminated groundwater and to develop continuing sources of clean drinking water."

Amanda Smith, executive director of DEQ, said Nelson has been invaluable to Utah.

"Utah's citizens and environment have benefited greatly from Fred," she said. "His legal skills have been invaluable in protecting the state's air, land and water. He will be greatly missed. And I wish him the best in his retirement."

Nelson who was raised in Provo received his law degree from the University of Utah and a Master of Laws in Environmental Law from George Washington University. Prior to joining the AG's Office, Nelson served for three years as a U.S. Army Judge Advocate.

It was during his attendance at the U. and George Washington University when Nelson decided he wanted to be an environmental attorney.

"I took a class at the U of U in environmental law that intrigued me," Nelson said. "The military gave me the chance to also study environmental law and I have thoroughly enjoyed it."

Nelson said although he's enjoyed the work, it's time to retire and move onto other things.

"I have good health," he said. "I plan to stay active in environmental issues here in Utah."
Chancellor is counting on it.

"Fred's steady demeanor, institutional knowledge and expertise will be missed by his long time client, the Department of Environmental Quality, as well as by all of us," she said.

GOVERNOR HERBERT CHALLENGES STATE EMPLOYEES TO CLEAR THE AIR

July 1, 2010 – DEQ Newsletter

Governor Gary Herbert is encouraging all state employees and their Departments to participate in the 2010 Clear the Air Challenge to help improve Utah's air.

Clear the Air Challenge is a month long competition running from July 1-31st. The Challenge offers information and prizes to encourage use of alternative transportation in order to reduce emissions and improve air quality.

In a letter to state employees, Herbert said the goal is to:

• Eliminate 300,000 vehicle trips;
  
• Save 2 million vehicle miles; and,
  
• Reduce 3.4 million pounds of emissions
  

"Reaching these goals can be as simple as walking or riding your bike to the grocery store or combining your trips to reduce driving miles," he said. "Other steps include taking mass transit, the bus or TRAX, instead of your personal vehicle."

Amanda Smith, executive director of the Department of Environmental Quality, called on DEQ employees to participate.

"In the spirit of friendly competition, the DEQ team has challenged the Department of Health and the Department of Agricultural teams in the Clear the Air Challenge," she said. "The losing team's Executive Director will bear the brunt of the loss (they are dreaming up some humiliating penalty), so please join and do your best!" Smith wrote in an email to all DEQ employees. "There are 400 plus DEQ employees which is 400 plus opportunities to win the Challenge."

To kick it off, state employees who work the 4-10s automatically earn two trips saved a week for not traveling to the office on Fridays.

Coinciding with the Clear the Air Challenge, the DEQ Green Team has instituted "Alternative Transportation Tuesday." Each Tuesday from July through September, DEQ employees can run, walk, bike, blade, board, take TRAX, Front Runner, bus or carpool. The Green Team will send out weekly emails with other ideas and tools to make alternative transportation easier.

"I hope you'll join me in taking proactive steps to help improve Utah's air quality," Herbert said.

"If everyone does just a little, we can achieve a lot."

HOUSE APPROVES FINANCIAL REGULATIONS BILL; SENATE DELAYS VOTE UNTIL RECESS

July 1, 2010 – NAM Capital Briefing

On June 30, the House voted 237-192 to approve the conference report on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173). The Senate vote is delayed until after the July 4 recess, in part because of the death of Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV). In an effort to shore up the 60 votes needed in the Senate, conferees reopened the conference report on June 29 to remove a “bank tax” and replace this revenue source with an increase in FDIC fees and an earlier termination date for the TARP program. The final conference report includes the NAM-supported language clarifying that only non-financial companies “predominantly engaged” in financial activities will be subject to prudential regulation. Manufacturers, along with their pension plans and captive finance affiliates, generally are exempted from new regulations on derivatives.

While there is some concern about language in the final bill on margin requirements, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) clarified that the bill does not give regulators the authority to impose capital and margin requirements on commercial end-users. On other derivatives issues, a “de minimis” exception ensures that manufacturers engaged in a small amount of swap dealing with or on behalf of customers will be exempt from new rules. While the Senate likely will pass the conference report later this month, enactment is not the end of the process. The final legislation gives regulators significant authority to implement the bill. In addition, conferees already anticipate that follow-on legislation to address “technical corrections” will be necessary. The NAM will work with regulators to see that the legislation is implemented in a way that does not harm manufacturers and to obtain any needed technical changes.

JAPANESE BUSINESS CONFIDENCE AT 2-YEAR HIGH

July 1, 2010 – Today in Manufacturing.net
Key central bank report showed business confidence among Japan's biggest manufacturers improved for fifth straight quarter, thanks to Asia's rapid rebound from global recession... continue

ISM: MANUFACTURING SLOWS IN JUNE

July 1, 2010 – Today in Manufacturing.net
Institute for Supply Management says its manufacturing index slowed in June, but was still at a level that suggests growth in the industrial sector... continue

MIDWEST ECONOMIC INDEX FALLS, BUT SUGGESTS GROWTH

July 1, 2010 – Late Wire from Manufacturing.net
Economic outlook in nine Midwest and Plains states remains positive, but new report suggests businesses are now less confident in their prospects ... continue

NAM VOICES CONCERNS OVER ENVIRONMENTAL LITIGATION

July 1, 2010 – NAM Capital Briefing

On June 28, an NAM coalition of 18 business associations moved to intervene in a lawsuit brought by environmental groups against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision that greenhouse gases are not “subject to regulation” under the Clean Air Act until 2011. The NAM supports only that portion of EPA's decision that concludes that greenhouse gases are not currently regulated by the Agency. Otherwise, thousands of manufacturers could be forced to obtain permits and install costly control technology to try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. See Center for Biological Diversity v. EPA (D.C. Cir.). In another case, the NAM filed an amicus brief June 25 at EPA's Environmental Appeals Board arguing that environmental groups may not demand greenhouse gas restrictions in exploratory oil and gas permits. EPA's decision not to regulate greenhouse gases until 2011 is a regulatory decision that should be challenged in the context of permit applications. See Shell Gulf of Mexico, Inc. (Environmental Appeals Bd.).

NAM VOICES SUPPORT FOR EDUCATION AND TRAINING BILL

July 1, 2010 – NAM Capital Briefing

Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) introduced the America Works Act (S. 3529) on June 24, a bill that prioritizes federal funding toward nationally portable, industry recognized certifications. The bill would create a more skilled workforce by promoting the use of certifications endorsed and used by manufacturers in every sector. Representative Walter Minnick (D-ID) introduced H.R.4072, the American Manufacturing Efficiency and Retraining Investment Collaboration Act, in the House in November 2009. The NAM has long advocated this smart approach to education and training and will continue to work with lawmakers in both chambers to ensure passage this year. To read the NAM’s statement in support of the bill, click here.

NEW JOBLESS CLAIMS NUMBERS INDICATE WEAK JOB MARKET

July 1, 2010 – Today in Manufacturing.net
Signaling that layoffs are rising, initial claims for unemployment benefits rose for the second time in three weeks last week... continue

OBAMA CALLS FOR CAP ON CARBON EMISSIONS

July 1, 2010 – NAM Capital Briefing

President Obama met with a bipartisan group of Senators on June 29 to chart a path forward on a comprehensive energy and climate change bill. The President urged passage of a bill that would put a price on carbon emissions, but the details of the measure remain unclear. Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) have offered to scale back their cap-and-trade proposal in an effort to gain Republican support. Senator Bingaman (D-NM), chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is working on a bill that would place a carbon cap solely on the utility sector and likely would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources. Senator Bingaman still is unsure whether he will formally introduce the proposal following the July 4 recess. The NAM continues to work closely with key Senate offices to ensure a climate and energy proposal does not unduly burden the manufacturing sector.

PRE-EMPTION OF STATE IMMIGRATION VERIFICATION LAWS

July 1, 2010 – NAM Capital Briefing

The NAM is a member of the Human Resource Initiative for a Legal Workforce, which filed a brief last year urging review of an adverse decision involving the Legal Arizona Workers Act. Many states and municipalities have been enacting laws that punish employers who do not follow their procedures for verification of the citizenship of employees. The NAM’s brief highlighted the tremendous burden caused by state systems that mandate use of the voluntary federal E-Verify program and argued that such systems are pre-empted by the uniform and comprehensive federal system. On June 28, the Court agreed to review this case, which will be briefed and argued later this year.

UNION ORGANIZER TRAINING: THANKS, BUT NO THANKS

July 1, 2010 – Utah Taxpayers Association, July Newsletter

The following letter was written in response to an invitation by the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees for students to attend a training summer program to become union organizers. Your Taxpayers Association is pleased to share the response of Don Boudreaux, Economics Professor at George Mason University, both for its insight and humor.

Ms. Marlan S. Maralit
Organizing Department
American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees

Dear Ms. Maralit:

Thanks for your mass e-mail this morning inviting me to recommend students for AFSCME’s Alternative Union Break: Summer Session. I understand that students who attend this four-day program are taught how to “fight for a better country,” and to promote “social and economic justice,” by becoming union organizers.

Alas, I know no student who’d be interested in your program. The young men and women who study economics at George Mason University learn, above all, to think rather than to emote. So our students are rightly suspicious of vague terms such as “social and economic justice.” Our students learn also that an economy most beneficial to the poorest amongst us is one that is free and competitive – an economy governed by the laws of property, contract, and tort instead of by the arbitrary government diktats that are the fetish of labor unions.

Our students understand that widespread prosperity comes only from entrepreneurial creativity, market-driven investment, risk-taking, and hard work – all in response to the demands of consumers free to spend their money as they choose. Our students know that granting monopoly privileges to politically boisterous groups such as yours reduces, rather than produces, prosperity.

Our students understand that entrepreneurs and firms in market economies gain, not by taking wealth from others, but only by creating wealth and sharing that creation with others on terms that are mutually and voluntarily agreed to.

Oh, here’s one more important fact that our students understand: labor unions routinely promote injustice by lobbying for regulations (such as minimum-wage legislation and the Davis-Bacon Act) that price low-skilled workers out of jobs; by endorsing protectionist policies that deny consumers opportunities to get the most value for their dollars; and by supporting many bailouts and other forms of corporate welfare.

So I invite you to recommend to the young people who go through your program that they attend some of the many programs we have at GMU Economics (and affiliated organizations such as the Institute for Humane Studies and the Mercatus Center) in order to learn how they can truly best promote a society that is prosperous and peaceful.

Sincerely,

Donald J. Boudreaux

WORKPLACE SAFETY BILL PROPOSES SWEEPING CHANGES TO CURRENT LAWS

July 1, 2010 – NAM Capital Briefing

On June 22, House Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller (D-CA) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA) proposed a bill to implement a broad array of changes to workplace safety laws. While the bill primarily seeks to overhaul existing mine safety laws, it includes several onerous provisions taken from the long-pending Protecting America’s Workers Act. The draft Miner Safety and Health Act takes a punitive approach to promoting safety instead of encouraging employer efforts to make workplaces safer. Included in the proposed provisions are measures that would require companies to immediately abate hazards alleged by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspectors, introduce criminal penalties for company directors and officers, and raise fines for numerous types of OSHA infractions. The provisions offer the most sweeping changes to the OSH Act since its inception and would hinder manufacturers’ safety efforts by promoting an adversarial relationship between OSHA and employers.