| Friday, October 17, 2003 |  |
| Arnold to Settle Lawsuits for Pennies on the Dollar? | 3 comments |
| 17 Oct 2003 @ 20:07 Updates on Arnold's Win Arnold to Settle Lawsuits for Pennies on the Dollar? Reported by Katherine Yurica [Editor's note: This article has been edited to reflect several word changes for clarification purposes.] The Yurica Report has learned that only three days after Mr. Schwarzenegger won his victory in California, an aide announced that the governor-elect intends to settle pending energy fraud lawsuits. This apparently includes the suit filed by Cruz Bustamante under the California statute, Civil Code section 17200, of the Unfair Practices Act. The purpose of the act “is to safeguard the public against the creation or perpetuation of monopolies and to foster and encourage competition” the Act expressly prohibits, “unfair, dishonest, deceptive, destructive, fraudulent and discriminatory practices by which fair and honest competition is destroyed or prevented.” According to news talk show host Bernie Ward of KGO radio, San Francisco, who reported the story Friday night on his radio show, (October 10th), Schwarzenegger's aid stated that the governor-elect's administration did not want to be saddled with someone else's lawsuits. The Unfair Practices Act, however, has provisions that require businesses who profit from unfair practices to pay the victims those profits. Although the Act does not authorize recovery of damages in a representative action, according to Hiliary N. Rowen, an attorney from the law firm of Thelen Reid & Priest, “the plaintiff—who need not have been harmed by the challenged conduct—may seek injunctive and restitutionary relief, including the disgorgement of profits on behalf of all those injured.” (See Hiliary Rowen's article).This provision would make the power companies, who profited an estimated $9 billion from the California energy scam, the losers. In the meantime, Claire Cooper of the Sacramento Bee reported Friday on another lawsuit in the Federal Court. She reported the judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seemed skeptical of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) “ contention that it acted legally three years ago, when it relied on competition among energy wholesalers to determine the cost of California's power supply and did not require them to file the rates they would charge.” California sued FERC, claiming it is due a refund of $9 billion in gouged profits because the Federal Power Act didn't authorize FERC to approve a fluctuating marketbased rate structure. The question is, does the governor-elect intend to settle the federal suit also? Mr. Schwarzenegger's announcement to settle the lawsuits comes on the heels of an article written on the eve of the election by investigative reporter Greg Palast. Palast, whose reports appear on BBC television's Newsnight, said that the Los Angeles based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights uncovered Enron internal memos regarding Mr. Schwarzenegger's secret meeting in May 2001 with Kenneth Lay, the former CEO of Enron. The intent of the power company, according to Palast, was to sabotage the Davis-Bustamante plan to win back the $9 billion dollars in illegal profits earned by power moguls. The plan has worked so far. Clearly Mr. Schwarzenegger should be questioned about his agenda. More > |
| Li-Ion tzero Electric Vehicle | 10 comments |
 17 Oct 2003 @ 09:00ACPropulsion Electric Car Continuing to make breakthroughs in electric car technology (Though I believe electric cars are still not the best method for clean energy technology) Wednesday, August 27th, the Li-Ion tzero was driven for the first time. The 90-mile test drive included climbing to the top of Mt. Baldy road, a 40-mile loop including a climb to 6000+ feet elevation, and a 35-mile highway loop at 70-75 mph. At the end of the test drive less than 1/3 of the measured battery capacity had been used. During the test drive, the tzero battery exhibited excellent voltage uniformity, excellent temperature distribution and control, and high discharge rate capability. The Mt. Baldy trip gave the highest regenerative energy recapture ratio that we have ever observed, demonstrating the high cycle-efficiency of the cells. The weight of the tzero is reduced to under 2000 pounds, providing significant improvements in acceleration, handling, and efficiency. As a complete car, the Li-ion tzero has higher specific energy, in Wh/kg, than the RAV4 EV battery pack alone. This first drive confirms the benefits of Li-Ion batteries, demonstrates the usability of small, commercial, off-the-shelf Li cells for automotive applications, and increases our confidence in the techniques we have developed for assembling them into automotive packs. Testing and development of the Li-Ion tzero continue. The results so far justify our moving forward with plans for design and development of other vehicle applications for this technology. More extensive test results and developments will be posted here in the coming weeks. More > |
| Bioneering Into the Future | 0 comments |
| 17 Oct 2003 @ 08:48 Bioneering Into the Future Matt Wheeland, AlterNet October 16, 2003 Viewed on October 17, 2003 For the next five days, Marin County in the San Francisco Bay Area will be overrun by leading lights in environmental activism and progressive politics. The 13th annual Bioneers Conference will once again showcase inspiring solutions to the world's pressing problems. Where else but at Bioneers could you meet a man who uses mushrooms to clean up hazardous waste; hear a 24-year-old supermodel and a tree-sitter turned environmental spokeswoman discuss youth activism; and learn how urban areas are turning abandoned city blocks into abundant garden plots? Founded in 1990 by Kenny Ausubel, Bioneers is an organization that can hold many such ideas under its umbrella. And because the group is focused primarily on solutions, Bioneers conferences are inspiring, joy-filled occasions to learn about progress on social and environmental issues, as well as meet other forward-thinkers who are making change happen in their communities. Brahm Ahmadi, a co-founder of the People's Grocery in West Oakland, Calif., has been attending the Bioneers conference for several years. This year, he will be part of a panel discussing how urban agriculture can revitalize urban areas economically and ecologically. "The main benefits we get from Bioneers are continued contact with and inspiration from the work of others," Ahmadi said. Those contacts have played a key role in furthering Ahmadi's work. Thanks to people and ideas encountered at Bioneers, the People's Grocery has begun work on bioremediation for polluted areas of West Oakland. The idea of bioremediation is simple: Use nature's various tools to clean up humanity's messes. Some of this year's Bioneers presenters have spent their lives developing bioremediation techniques. John Todd, president of Ocean Arks International, has created methods of using contained ecosystems like fish and coral to purify sewage and wastewater. John Stamets has pioneered the field of mycoremediation, using mushrooms to break down industrial and chemical spills. While bioremediation is still in its infancy, the Bioneers conference allowed residents of West Oakland to access information that would otherwise not be available to them. The primary methods for bioremediation involve going through the EPA, which requires large-scale and capital intensive projects unavailable to low-income areas and nonprofit groups. "Bioneers has the potential for democratizing this sort of information," Ahmadi says. Thanks to the conference, his organization is able to learn about low- and no-cost methods to expand their work. With each new year of growth, Bioneers is able to reach more communities and stimulate more change. Bioneers founder Kenny Ausubel anticipates even faster growth in coming years. "The prospects for growth are limitless and global," Ausubel says. "Bioneers is an elegant model because what it does is tie into and support local organizing efforts." One key aspect of Bioneers' expansion is the Beaming Bioneers program, now in its second year. The first Beaming Bioneers program reached four locations around the U.S. and one in Toronto. This year's conference will be broadcast to 12 locations. These satellite conferences promoted local organizing and allowed groups that couldn't travel to Marin to interact with conference attendees. Already, three countries have asked to participate in future conferences, and more sites in North America will surely come online. Among the many highlights of this year's sold-out conference include "What is Socially Responsible Business" with Paul Hawken, Ben Cohen and Susan Davis; "Mitigating Global Warming" with Jared Blumenfeld and Elisa Lynch; "Genetic Engineering: Giving Biology the Business" with Lawrence Bohlen, Percy Schmeiser, Andrew Kimbrell and Ronnie Cummins; and "Reining In the Power of Giant Corporations" with Kevin Danaher, Jeff Milchen, and Ilyse Hogue. |