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As battle over government support for green energy intensifies, jobs begin to dwindle
An eerie quiet has settled over the Walker Components plant, which assembles custom cables for a global wind turbine company. Orders are down from earlier in the year and one-third of its employees have been laid off this year. “At the beginning of this year we just didn’t feel we had enough time, and now we’ve got too much time on our hands,” one of its workers, 25-year-old Calvin Huddleston said. “I really thought wind would be a sustainable business.” [ read more … ]
Senate energy leaders aiming for bipartisanship, whoever ends up on top
We won’t know until later this week who will hold the Senate energy gavel in the next Congress, but the two veteran lawmakers in line for the slot are pledging to preserve the panel’s bipartisan reputation, regardless of which party claims a majority in the upper chamber. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) expect to be the chair and ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee next year, although who claims what spot will be decided by voters in a handful of states likely to determine which party controls the Senate. Republicans need to flip three Democratic seats to gain the majority if former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) wins tomorrow, or four if President Obama is re-elected. [ read more … ]
Interior advances Mass. leasing proposal
The Obama administration today advanced a proposal to lease more than 1,100 square miles of federal waters off the coast of Massachusetts for offshore wind development. The Interior Department’s draft environmental assessment proposes developing a wind energy area about 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, excluding high-value fishing grounds and important sea duck habitat areas. [ read more … ]
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