Public PolicyRSS

  • March 25, 2009

    Ind. Gov. Backs Coal Gasification Plant

    Touting the measure as an advancement in “clean coal" technology, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has signed a bill allowing the state's finance authority to negotiate 30-year contracts to purchase substitute natural gas from a planned coal gasification facility.

  • March 24, 2009

    House Bill Seeks $1B Fund For Carbon Capture Efforts

    As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moves closer to regulating carbon dioxide, a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday aims to promote the development and use of carbon capture and storage technology through a $1 billion a year fund supported by fees on fossil fuel-generated electricity.

  • March 24, 2009

    EU Backs Partial Insurance Block Exemption Renewal

    The European Commission has recommended extending antitrust exemptions for insurance companies to share statistical information in order to assess risks and create insurance pools beyond the March 2010 expiration, but has found that two other current exemptions should not be renewed because they are not specific to the industry.

  • March 24, 2009

    Stock Exchanges Propose Modernized Uptick Rule

    The four leading U.S. stock exchanges on Tuesday submitted a joint proposal for preventing abusive short-selling that would update a rule first instituted in 1938.

  • March 24, 2009

    EU Moves Forward With Unified Patent Court

    The European Commission has asked the European Council for permission to begin setting up a Europe-wide patent court, the commission said Tuesday.

  • March 24, 2009

    EPA To Scrutinize Surface Coal Mining Permits

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it planned to actively review permit requests for surface coal mining in the wake of a federal appeals court decision last month that opened the door for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin granting permits again.

  • March 24, 2009

    Sen. Specter Throws Roadblock In Front Of EFCA

    A key moderate Republican senator has come down against the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, a move that could jeopardize the bill's passage in the U.S. Senate amid rising debate in Congress and elsewhere over the controversial labor measure.

  • March 24, 2009

    Treasury Plan To Include Aid For Insurers In Trouble

    Helping to fuel a big rally on Wall Street on Monday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that targeted investments contemplated as part of the Public-Private Investment Program would be used to bring some relief to the beleaguered insurance industry.

  • March 24, 2009

    Wachovia Units Fined $1.1M For Notification Failures

    Two subsidiaries of former Wachovia Corp. have been fined a total of $1.1 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for alleged customer notification failures stretching back five years.

  • March 24, 2009

    Geithner Wants Wind-Down Authority Over Nonbanks

    Citing the systemic risk posed by the potentially chaotic collapse of American International Group Inc. prior to the government's bailout, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Tuesday asked Congress to pass legislation that would provide the government the authority to take over nonbank financial institutions in distress.

  • March 24, 2009

    EU, Member States Strike Deal On Energy Unbundling

    The European Union has reached a compromise with member states on unbundling gas and electricity production and transmission, providing the states with alternatives to complete unbundling in exchange for stronger consumer protections.

  • March 23, 2009

    EU Targets Possible PVC Heat Stabilizer Cartel

    The European Commission has launched an investigation into a possible cartel of companies that produce chemicals added to polyvinyl chloride products in order to make them more heat resistant.

  • March 23, 2009

    NY Insurance Head Seeks Life Settlements Regulation

    New York Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo is pushing legislation that would regulate the sale of life insurance policies sold for more than the surrender value but less than the death benefits.

  • March 23, 2009

    Obama Toxic Asset Plan Still Needs The I's Dotted

    While investors may have been impressed with the detail of the plan to buy up toxic assets in public-private partnerships, attorneys with experience in securities and financial transactions say the plan leaves a great deal to be settled. And those details will largely be settled by complex negotiations conducted by outside counsel.

  • March 20, 2009

    Nearly A Third Of US Bird Species At Risk: DOI Report

    Loss of habitat, invasive species and other threats have left close to a third of the country's 800 species of birds either endangered, threatened or showing considerable decline, though restoration and conservation projects have countered earlier damage for some species, according to a U.S. Department of the Interior report.

  • April 15, 2009

    Rival Biologics Bills May Determine No. Of Patent Suits

    Competing bills have come out seeking to create a regulatory pathway for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve follow-on versions of biologic drugs – with key differences that will likely spur or decrease patent litigation, experts say.

  • March 20, 2009

    EPA Reports Decline In Toxic Chemical Releases

    The amount of toxic chemicals released into the environment in the U.S. dropped 5 percent from 2006 to 2007, but there were significant increases of mercury and other harmful substances, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

  • March 20, 2009

    Bill Calls For EPA Grants To Fund E-Waste Initiatives

    A Tennessee congressman has introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that looks to pave the way for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to offer millions of dollars in grants and other incentives to help develop a viable management strategy for electronic waste.

  • March 20, 2009

    FERC Reveals Proposed Action Plan For Smart Grid

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has pushed ahead in its effort to create a smart grid for the nation's electrical transmission system, releasing a proposed action plan that sets forth key standards for power plants.

  • March 20, 2009

    Forest Biomass Should Count As Renewable Fuel: Bill

    U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., has introduced a bill that would amend the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, changing its "flawed definition of biomass" so that materials from national forests would count toward the government's Renewable Fuel Standard.