Economy

Funding will help demonstrate advances in clean coal efforts

March 9, 2010 -- Washington — U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced today that a project with NRG Energy has been selected to receive up to $154 million, including funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Located in Thompsons, TX, the post-combustion capture and sequestration project will demonstrate advanced technology to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. It will also assist with enhanced oil recovery efforts from a nearby oil field.

“Advancing our carbon capture and storage technology will create new jobs in America and reduce our carbon pollution output,” said Secretary Chu. “It’s another example of our country’s innovation at work.”    » read more »

March 5, 2010 -- WASHINGTON -- U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today, joined by Senator Mary Landrieu, announced an $80 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) investment to help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, create jobs, and improve education and healthcare in Louisiana.

The grant will bring high-speed Internet access to more than 80 community anchor institutions—including universities, K-12 schools, libraries, healthcare facilities—and lay the groundwork for bringing affordable broadband service to thousands of homes and businesses in the region.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, March 08, 2010 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that rural communities will receive support through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) to plan for new water and waste disposal projects. Funding will be made available to the communities through a grant provided to the Virginia-based Rural Community Assistance Partnership, Inc.

"The Obama Administration supports the construction of new sanitation infrastructure that safeguards the health of rural residents," said Vilsack. "These funds will help ensure that operators of rural utility systems receive the training needed to plan new, safe reliable water systems."    » read more »

New Mexico Recovery Dollars Have Provided Funding For More Than 2,300 Education Jobs

March 8, 2010 -- U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that an additional $85,944,012 is now available for New Mexico under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. To date, New Mexico has received $577,767,216 through the Recovery Act. The State recently reported that recovery dollars have been used to provide funding for more than 2,300 education jobs from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2009, while also supporting programs that drive education reform.    » read more »

Ohio Recovery Dollars Have Provided Funding For More Than 11,800 Education Jobs

March 8, 2010 -- U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that an additional $483,024,288 is now available for Ohio under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. To date, Ohio has received $2,986,873,388 through the Recovery Act.

The state recently reported that recovery dollars have been used to provide funding for more than 11,800 education jobs from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2009, while also supporting programs that drive education reform.    » read more »

March 8, 2010 -- WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced the Department of Education's final priorities and the grant application for the $650 million Investing in Innovation Fund (i3). The fund, which is part of the historic $5 billion investment in school reform in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will support the development of path-breaking new ideas, the validation of approaches that have demonstrated promise, and the scale-up of the nation's most successful and proven education innovations.    » read more »

Awards Mean FTA Has Met Aggressive Deadline to Put 100 Percent of Recovery Act Dollars to Work

March 5, 2010 -- WASHINGTON – Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced funding for 191 new Recovery Act transit projects in 42 states and Puerto Rico that will help transform the nation’s infrastructure and support thousands of jobs across the country. In making the over $600 million in new awards, the Federal Transit Administration met an aggressive deadline to award 100 percent of its Recovery Act transit formula dollars by March 5.    » read more »

States Head Into Spring Construction Season with Over 12,000 Recovery Act Projects Funded, Nearly 7,800 Already Underway

March 1, 2010 -- CLERMONT, FL – At a Recovery Act construction site outside Orlando today, Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that every state and the District of Columbia met the March 2 Recovery Act deadline to “obligate” – or commit to specific projects – 100 percent of their highway Recovery funds.    » read more »

Competition Finalists to Present in Mid-March; Winners Announced in Early April

March 4, 2010 -- Today the Department of Education announced that 15 states and the District of Columbia will advance as finalists for phase 1 of the Race to the Top competition. Race to the Top is the Department's $4.35 billion effort to dramatically re-shape America's educational system to better engage and prepare our students for success in a competitive 21st century economy and workplace.    » read more »

Build America Bonds Provide Nearly $78 Billion Nationally to Date; Report Details Cumulative, State by State Bond Issuances

March 4, 2010 -- WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department today released its monthly comprehensive update on issuances of the Build America Bonds program, including state-by-state data. The Build America Bonds program is a financing tool created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to allow state and local governments to obtain much-needed funding, at lower borrowing costs, for new capital projects such as construction of schools and hospitals, development of transportation infrastructure, and water and sewer upgrades.    » read more »

The World Economic Forum’s Corporate Gender Gap Report 2010 found that the world’s biggest employers are losing out on female talent

New York, USA, 8 March 2010 – Leading companies are failing to capitalize on the talents of women in the workforce, according to the World Economic Forum’s Corporate Gender Gap Report 2010. It is the first study to cover the world’s largest employers in 20 countries and benchmark them against the gender equality policies that most companies should have in place but are, in fact, widely missing.    » read more »

Governor Signs Agreement During Workshop with Energy, Interior Departments

March 1, 2010 -- The U.S. Virgin Islands can reduce its reliance on fossil fuels by 60% within the next 15 years by developing its abundant renewable energy resources, Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr. announced at a workshop at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.    » read more »

March 3, 2010 -- The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today issued the following statement from AWEA CEO Denise Bode:

“At a time when the construction unemployment rate is nearly 25% and the manufacturing unemployment rate is 13%, this proposal would cost 50,000 American workers their jobs.

The truth is, by law, Recovery Act grants can only be used to finance projects that are being built in the United States.

This proposal would torpedo one of the most successful job creation efforts of the Recovery Act, which has already preserved half of the 85,000 American jobs in the U.S. wind industry.    » read more »

Key education program funded by Recovery Act

3/04/10 -- WASHINGTON -- United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., celebrated today’s announcement by U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan that Louisiana is one of 16 states to advance to the final round in the competition for education funding through the Race to the Top program. Forty states and the District of Columbia applied to compete for $4.35 billion in federal education grants. Louisiana requested $314 million in its application.

Senator Landrieu has been a long-time advocate of education reform and has been a champion of the Race to the Top program since its inception. The program is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, for which Sen. Landrieu voted last year.    » read more »

Innovative solar energy projects expected to create more than 1,000 jobs

February 22, 2010 -- Washington D.C. -- Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced conditional commitments for more than $1.37 billion in loan guarantees under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to BrightSource Energy, Inc. to support the construction and start-up of three utility-scale concentrated solar power plants.

The new plants will generate approximately 400 megawatts (MW) of electricity using the company’s innovative, proprietary technology. This would nearly double the existing generation capacity of this type of renewable energy in the U.S.    » read more »