Your daily briefing for all the top news in Energy, Technology, Finance, and Politics.
Energy
Administration pitches economic benefits of fighting climate change
THE HILL
Timothy Cama
The Obama administration is putting economics front and center in its fight for climate regulations, trying to show what it says are the costs of inaction and the benefits of rules. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will focus its efforts in the coming weeks on dollars and cents as it promotes its June proposal to reduce carbon emissions from power plants. That will be the main topic of a speech EPA head Gina McCarthy gives Thursday at a policy forum hosted by Resources for the Future, an environmental policy think tank.
Germany’s Coal Binge
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
Berlin’s “energy revolution” is going great—if you own a coal mine. The German shift to renewable power sources that started in 2000 has brought the green share of German electricity up to around 25%. But the rest of the energy mix has become more heavily concentrated on coal, which now accounts for some 45% of power generation and growing. Embarrassingly for such an eco-conscious country, Germany is on track to miss its carbon emissions reduction goal by 2020.
Emissions From India Will Increase, Official Says
NEW YORK TIMES
Coral Davenport
In a blow to American hopes of reaching an international deal to fight global warming, India’s new environment minister said Wednesday that his country would not offer a plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions ahead of a climate summit next year in Paris. The minister, Prakash Javadekar, said in an interview that his government’s first priority was to alleviate poverty and improve the nation’s economy, which he said would necessarily involve an increase in emissions through new coal-powered electricity and transportation.
Inside Big Oil’s Fight Over Arctic Drilling Rules
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Ben Geman
Oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips are pressing White House officials on upcoming standards for drilling operations in Arctic seas. In a document given to White House and Interior Department officials at a recent meeting, Shell lays out concerns that Interior’s rules will impose mandates that add billions of dollars in costs but do not enhance environmental safeguards. “More costly regulations do not equate to better protection of people and the environment,” it states.
BP won’t get restitution for spill settlement payments, U.S. Judge Barbier says
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BP wanted its money back — hundreds of millions of dollars of it — but a federal judge said Wednesday that the oil giant must stick by its agreement with the companies it compensated for business losses due to the 2010 Gulf oil spill.
Technology
Tech Firms and Lobbyists: Now Intertwined, but Not Eager to Reveal It
NEW YORK TIMES
Derek Willis and Claire Cain Miller
The industry has spent $71 million so far this year on lobbying, and last year spent $141 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Yet the information technology industry ranks near the bottom of an annual list that attempts to grade large corporations on how well they voluntarily and publicly disclose their political activities.
Wireless Plans Add New Twist to Net Neutrality Debate
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Gautham Nagesh
The new, low-cost wireless plans with unlimited access to certain apps that don’t count against a user’s data limit are adding a new dimension to the net neutrality debate. Wireless carriers say the plans are a cheap way for people to keep in touch with friends and family. One plan, for example, gives users full access to Facebook without charging for the data. But such plans can limit users to only a small slice of the Internet—and they are becoming more common just as the Federal Communications Commission is considering rules to determine how open the Internet should be.
Bulk Bandwidth Prices Get Steadier After Long Swoon
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Drew FitzGerald
The relentless drop in prices for Internet bandwidth has slowed sharply, offering a glimmer of hope to a telecom industry still struggling with the aftermath of a bust nearly a decade and a half ago. Wholesale prices for bandwidth in network hubs like New York, London and São Paulo fell 10% or less in the year ended in June, according to industry researcher TeleGeography. That counts as good news for the companies selling long-haul Internet service, as it put the brakes on steep annual declines that have averaged as much as 34% in previous years.
Tech giants move to protect wearables
POLITICO
Ashley Gold
As the market for the devices grows, however, the companies that make them and collect the data are coming under increasing scrutiny over privacy and security issues, because everything from heartbeats to insulin deficiencies will be stored on the devices and possibly on the cloud. Under the old Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), these devices – Fitbits, Jawbones and the like – aren’t covered. But some regulators and lawmakers believe that at least some of them should be regulated like other medical devices. The tech industry is trying to stay one step ahead of the regulators, and Apple is leading the way.
Russia Steps Up New Law to Control Foreign Internet Companies
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Paul Sonne and Olga Razumovskaya
Russia’s parliament sped up measures to tighten control over foreign Internet companies such as Google Inc., Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc., raising concerns over state pressure on social networks that have become one of the country’s few remaining spaces for dissent.
Inside the collapse of the FCC’s digital infrastructure — and the rush to save it
WASHINGTON POST
Nancy Scola
When all was said and done, 3.7 million comments had been recorded by the federal government, more than the FCC has gotten on any debate in its 80-year history. All were filtered through an obscure but critically important piece of software called the Electronic Comment Filing System, the commission’s online system for public input that is, remarkably, nearly the same as it was when it debuted 17 years ago. But that flood of public interest revealed just how dated the FCC’s online public engagement infrastructure has become.
Comcast, TWC Blast Critics of Merger
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Gautham Nagesh and Shalini Ramachandran
Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. fired back at critics of their proposed $45 billion merger, accusing them of engaging in “extortion” to extract business concessions and win their support for the deal. In comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission late Tuesday night, the companies took shots at streaming-video juggernaut Netflix Inc., cable channel-owner Discovery Communications Inc., and Glenn Beck’s The Blaze, among others.
Yahoo, Yelp, Facebook, Google and Microsoft reconsider their relationship with free-market group ALEC
WASHINGTON POST
Niraj Chokshi
Five tech giants have dropped, or plan to or are expected to drop, their membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council, a free-market, state-focused group that has become a target of the left in recent years. The group maintains a library of model state and local legislation and connects businesses, nonprofits and a substantial number of state lawmakers, offering corporate members a voice in the policymaking process. But ALEC has come under fire in recent years for its support of what liberal groups say are conservative social and fiscal policies.
China’s Tech Factories Turn to Student Labor
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Eva Dou
On the outskirts of this southwestern Chinese hub lie the student factories. Schools send thousands of teenagers here to put together electronic devices for some of the world’s largest brands. Many students say they are given no choice.
Finance
Defaults on Federal Student Loans Decline
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Josh Mitchell
The Education Department reported a drop in Americans defaulting on their student loans, a development it attributed to an improving economy and a surge in enrollment in federal debt-forgiveness programs. About one in seven borrowers who left college or graduate school in the fiscal year ended September 2011 had defaulted on their student loans within three years, the department said Wednesday. The official figure—13.7%—was down from the 14.7% rate for those who left school in fiscal 2010.
Obama administration approved overpayments to GM, Ally Financial execs, audit finds
WASHINGTON TIMES
Stephen Dinan
The Obama administration approved “excessive” pay for top executives at General Motors Co. and Ally Financial Inc. even as the two companies were falling behind on repaying taxpayers for being rescued after the Wall Street collapse, the bailout watchdog concluded in a report released Wednesday.
Bank fights Puerto Rico in D.C.
POLITICO
Anna Palmer
A big bank is fighting Puerto Rico — in Washington. Doral Financial is duking it out in a San Juan court over a tax refund worth nearly $230 million — a figure so great that they’ve brought the fight all the way to the mainland to put pressure on the Puerto Rican government to pony up the cash to help the strapped financial institution.
With China Set to Open Stock Trading, Investors Lay Groundwork
NEW YORK TIMES
Alexandra Stevenson and Neil Gough
Bankers, brokerage firms and hedge funds have all been quietly expanding their Asian operations to take advantage of one event: the biggest opening into China in years. China plans to connect the Shanghai stock exchange to its counterpart in Hong Kong over the next month as part of an initiative announced by Premier Li Keqiang this year to open China’s markets to foreign investors who have been largely shut out.
Politics
President Obama embraces democracy promotion once again
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
“Oppressive governments are sharing ‘worst practices’ to weaken civil society,” Mr. Obama said in remarks addressed to democratic activists around the world. “We’re going to help you share the ‘best practices’ to stay strong and vibrant.” It is significant that the president recognized that dictators are banding together to promote autocracy and checkmate democracy. It could be even more significant if, having recognized the altered landscape, Mr. Obama really invigorates democracy promotion as a key plank of U.S. foreign policy.
Egypt charts a path toward growth and fiscal discipline
WASHINGTON TIMES
Abdel Fattah El-Sisi
I am confident that our resolve, solid policies, persistent structural reform, the full and welcomed participation of investors, and most importantly the will of the Egyptian people and their determination to realize their aspirations and well-deserved ambitions will bring about success and prosperity. Egypt’s renewal will both endure and flourish.
The Issues Are Breaking Bad for Democrats
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Karl Rove
A foreign-policy crisis normally boosts the party in power. Not this time. Mr. Obama’s abysmal approval numbers are likely to improve only a little. The GOP’s advantage as the party better able to handle national security has been building for more than a year and is now 23 points in the Sept. 7 Gallup poll. This advantage will not easily be reversed. By taking America into a prolonged war in the Middle East Mr. Obama will also depress his party’s large peacenik wing. Still, the economy remains the top issue for the electorate. That’s why Mr. Obama awkwardly tacked onto his Sept. 10 prime-time address on the Islamic State several paragraphs heralding America’s economic health. The Democratic Party’s problem is that voters don’t believe the president’s claims that the economy is thriving. Even people with jobs feel apprehensive.
Supporters say immigration law could pass — with a GOP Senate
THE HILL
Cristina Marcos
Pro-immigration reform Republicans say there’s a better chance that Congress will produce an immigration overhaul if their party wins control of the upper chamber in November. GOP lawmakers say that with Republicans in charge of both chambers, leadership in the House would have a negotiating partner across the Capitol they could trust.
The Big Money Democrats
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
Money spent on campaigns is political speech, and these Democratic fat cats are exercising their First Amendment rights. Good for them. But Democrats and their media megaphones ought to spare us the lectures about the Kochs or Sheldon Adelson or other donors on the political right. These denunciations have nothing to do with political principle but are attempts to intimidate conservative donors so that wealthy liberals can dominate the election. If Harry Reid holds his Senate majority, his rich retainers will be the reason.
G.O.P. Error Reveals Donors and the Price of Access
NEW YORK TIMES
Jonathan Weisman
The documents, many of which the Republican officials have since removed from their website, showed that many of America’s most prominent companies, from Aetna to Walmart, had poured millions of dollars into the campaigns of Republican governors since 2008. One document listed 17 corporate “members” of the governors association’s secretive 501(c)(4), the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee, which is allowed to shield its supporters from the public.
Kay Hagan’s Surprising Strength
NEW YORK TIMES
Nate Cohn
If there is any state where the Democrats are defying expectations — and where Republicans should be kicking themselves — it’s North Carolina.
Staking the Senate on Kansas?
WASHINGTON POST
George Will
Orman, who says he will caucus with whichever party is “clearly” in the majority next year, has a month to clarify “clearly.” If in January there are 51 or more Republican senators and 48 Democrats (counting the two “independents” who caucus with them), Orman would join the Republicans. If there are 50 Republicans and 49 Democrats, would Orman conduct an auction: What problem-solving agenda would each party outline to engage him to give it control? (Democrats have Vice President Biden as a tiebreaker.) Orman’s “clearly” might indicate his understanding that a narrow Republican majority won in 2014 might evaporate in 2016, when Republicans will be defending 24 seats rather than this year’s 15.
In Kansas, longtime GOP Sen. Pat Roberts faces doubts as he scrambles to hold seat
WASHINGTON POST
Philip Rucker
Shirley Deege is a proud Republican. For as long as she can remember, the nurse has been voting for Pat Roberts — in the 1980s, when he represented a vast patchwork of dusty plains hamlets in the House; in 1996, when he first ran for the Senate; and every six years after that. “Looking back over my life, I’m wondering, ‘What major things has he done for Kansas?’ I’m coming up empty,” said Deege, 53, as she sipped coffee while waiting for Roberts to arrive at the county fairgrounds in Kinsley this week. “He’s spent so much time in Washington,” she added. “I know he has a house in Virginia. Dodge City is supposed to be his home, just up the highway, but I don’t hear of him coming back too much.”
