SEIA Applauds Walmart for Expanding Clean Energy Initiatives

WASHINGTON, DC - Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), released the following statement today after an announcement by Walmart that it is dramatically increasing its use of renewable energy:

“We applaud Walmart’s decision to ramp up construction of new clean energy projects nationwide, including an expanded use of solar.  The company’s decision to increase its clean energy projects by six-fold puts Walmart on a clear path to become 100 percent supplied by renewable energy by 2020.  This ‘lead-by-example’ approach will not only benefit the company’s 2 million associates and 150 million shoppers, but it will also significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help the U.S. economy and stimulate American innovation.  It’s a win-win for everyone, and Walmart should be commended for its leadership.”

Additional Resource:
- Solar Means Business: Top 20 Corporate Solar Users in the U.S. in 2012: www.seia.org/top20solar

ALG's Daily Grind - Fighting Fluoridation: Fringe No More

Feb. 15, 2013

Fighting Fluoridation: Fringe No More

Last October a new report from the Harvard School of Public Health revealed children living in areas with higher levels of water fluoridation have "significantly lower" IQ scores than children living in low fluoride areas.

Minimum wage increase: the bad idea that just won't die

It is from the same minds who idealize collectivism that we have the almost inconceivably stupid idea of raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour at a time when the employment situation amongst those who have a high school diploma or failed to finish high school education is at catastrophic levels.  And teen unemployment is even worse.

NLRB Drops UFCW Walmart Black Friday Illegal Picketing Case

The National Labor Relations Board says no legal action will be taken against the union so long as the UFCW does not make any further organized efforts against Walmart.

WSJ: U.S. Grant Funded Workers' Play at LG Chem Factory

In the latest embarrassment to the Obama Administration's "green" subsidies programs, "a South Korean advanced battery maker never scaled up U.S. production despite receiving $142 million in federal grants":

NRN - Must Reads from June 16, 2011

• Breaking: Weiner says he will resign
• America's job creators face uphill battle
• The EPA's fantasy solution to unemployment
• Obama blames high unemployment on ATM's…
• Time to listen to Ron Paul and audit the Fed
• Unemployment and economic recovery
• The time is now to kick the stimulus habit
• Union demands in collective bargaining agreements should be open to taxpayer scrutiny
• UFCW attacks Walmart after the company helps inner city children
• Unfair labor practices
• Why 70% tax rates won't work
• NLRB off the wall on Facebook regulation
• Republicans vs. the environment
• He who lives by legislation…
• The real budget problem

Read more at NetRightDaily.com.

CEI Daily - Walmart, Hormones in Milk, and the EPA

Walmart

Walmart announced last year that they had plans to open four new stores in the District of Columbia.

Policy Analyst Ivan Osorio talks about community opposition to the stores' opening. 

"Predictably, the local union of the United Food and Commercial Workers was not enthused. UFCW Local 400 President Thomas McNutt went so far as to call Walmart 'a wolf in sheep’s clothing,' because it’s nonunion. In reality, UFCW doesn’t want greater competition for its own employers. However, union self-interest isn’t the only motivation that animates some Walmart critics. Self-styled community activists decry Walmart for … well, changing things. A typical such critique is a Washington Post letter to the editor by D.C. restaurateur Andy Shallal, who raises the alarm that Walmart would change the 'character' of neighborhoods and add to a pattern of 'destroying' local businesses, while preemptively dismissing 'any academic research' that would contradict his assertions."

 

Hormones in Milk

Stoneyfield Farm CEO Gary Hirshberg was quoted this week in The Washington Post saying, “I have yet to meet the consumer who says, ‘I want the milk with more synthetic hormones, please.’”

Senior Fellow Greg Conko explains that Hirshberg is referring to recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST), which is used to boost milk production in cows. But Conko argues that Hirshberg is misleading readers:

"Leave aside, for a moment, that rbST is administered to the cows, not put into the milk, and that there is no detectable rbST in the milk itself. And never mind that milk is loaded with plenty of the cow’s own natural hormones, including endogenous somatotropin. The most egregious problem with Hirshberg’s claim is that Stoneyfield Farms actually adds synthetic hormones to its own dairy products, and they advertise that fact right on the cartons, as well as on the company website — presumably in the belief that consumers will find their presence in Stoneyfield Farms milk a feature, not a bug."

EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency recently admitted what critics have been long been saying: that the agency doesn't care what impact their regulations have on American jobs.

CEI Vice President Iain Murray responds.

"It is time Congress for Congress to rein in these agencies by giving them a detailed charter enumerating their powers.  For example, Congress never created the EPA. It was created by a departmental reorganization by President Nixon. The original idea was that the Council on Environmental Quality should be the oversight body for the nation’s environment, with the EPA acting as an administrative body.  That state of affairs needs to be restored with the CEQ regaining its policy role.  The EPA would need to seek express congressional approval for every expansion of its powers and justify its enforcement actions to an independent body."



CEI Daily - Wal-Mart, Light Bulbs, and Food Inflation

Wal-Mart

Last week, the Supreme Court heard a class action suit brought against Wal-Mart by female employees.

Senior Counsel Hans Bader explains why this suit should never have been a class action suit.

"Lawsuits over discrimination are usually brought on an individual basis, because even victims of discrimination at a big company often have little in common with each other. They work in different stores under different managers, and have different jobs and salaries. Even if one manager is racist or sexist, managers in different stores may be totally fair and unbiased. By contrast, class-actions are supposed to be brought on the basis of a company-wide policy, and the employees are supposed to have a lot in common with each other.

In the Wal-Mart case, there is no company-wide policy of discrimination. In fact, Wal-Mart has written policies against discrimination."

Light Bulbs

In The New York Times last week, Gail Collins railed against critics of the ban on incandescent light bulbs. 

Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith deconstructs Collins' column.

"She completely misses the argument for consumer choice, that is, some people may want to stick with the old-fashioned incandescent instead of the fluorescent bulbs for a variety of reasons — some real concerns (photosensitivity, mercury, melting plastic, fumes) and some aesthetic ones.

Instead, Collins does her usual cutesy, aren’t-I-clever dismissal of those who think consumers and not the government should be deciding what light bulbs to use in their homes."

 

Food Inflation

Consumers are complaining about shrinking package sizes in grocery stores.

Warren Brookes Fellow Kathryn Ciano explains why government officials shouldn't respond to "food inflation" by throwing money at the problem.

 

"Subsidies are the way the government picks winners and losers. By throwing a ton of money behind certain industries, the government forces the cost of all food production to rise.

Grocery shoppers who just want to feed their families have to compete with the government’s agenda to afford the price of food.

It’s not just the cost of production that’s rising. When FLOTUS pushes hard for a 'get-fit' agenda and green special interests demand smaller package sizes, the market is ripe for food producers to shave a little off whatever they’re willing to trade to consumers for their dollars."