Want to do business in Cuba? Check out this conference


Jumping on the interest generated by President Obama’s new policy on Cuba, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania said Tuesday that it would conduct a conference April 1 in New York City for companies and executives interested in doing business in the Caribbean nation. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Wharton hopes the summit will become a series of events, with a future gathering in Havana.

The United States and Cuba have been at odds since Fidel Castro led a revolution that took power in 1959. Though Obama can order that full diplomatic relations be restored, only Congress can remove the economic embargo that has prevented most travel and nearly all trade between the nations.

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Recent Blog Posts: 
DuPont spinoff of Chemours also cuts away cleanup bills
Is Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian prophetic or nuts? 
Castro and Obama, three senators, and a surfer dude 
Is Toyota’s hydrogen-cell Mirai the car of the future?
Partisan showdown ahead on Senate Energy Committee? 
 
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DuPont spinoff of Chemours also cuts away cleanup bills

Chemours
DuPont Co. will shed nearly $300 million worth of environmental remediation baggage along with some of its most volatile and competitive-industry business units when it spins three major business segments off
as Chemours Co., Delawareonline reports.
 
"The cleanup bill, including some involving local sites, could push much higher, a Securities and Exchange Commission information statement on the breakup added, with "adverse" circumstances possibly sending the environmental burden above $1 billion.
"More than 21 percent of Chemours’ $1.28 billion in contractual obligations at the end of 2013 involved environmental remediation, second only to raw material purchase obligations, according to a company filing. Legal settlements accounted for another $89 million in current and future debts.
"Company officials stressed other reasons for the breakup, pointing out that the food, energy and protection segments that will remain as DuPont’s core involve "high potential commercial opportunities" and activities "where the company’s innovation, global scale and efficient execution have the potential to create valuable new outcomes."
"The separation and distribution will allow DuPont to continue its transformation into a higher growth, less cyclical company, resulting in greater value creation for its shareholders," a 205-page SEC filing on Chemours said.
Read the full story here.
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Recent Blog Posts:
Is Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian prophetic or nuts?
Castro and Obama, three senators, and a surfer dude
Is Toyota’s hydrogen-cell Mirai the car of the future?
Partisan showdown ahead on Senate Energy Committee?
More bills added for final 2014 voting sessions in Trenton
Breaking: New York bans fracking over health risks 
 
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Is Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian prophetic or nuts?

Mayor Donald Guardian – Business Insider photo

"There’s no doubt I’ve become captain of the ship,"says Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian,
now one-year into the job of leading one of the nation’s most challenged municipalities.

"The question is, am I steering the Titanic or am I steering the Ark?

With four casinos closed and 8,000 more people unemployed, the answer appears clear to some. But the mayor is not despairing. Instead, he sees the city moving closer to his vision of a resort town not totally dependent on casinos.

Inquirer writer Amy S. Rosenberg interviewed Guardian and declared him to be a "relentless optimist, up for a challenge," one who "sees the casino meltdowns accelerating a post-gaming
vision he had for A.C. going into the job."

Is the mayor prophetic or just nuts? 

Read the full story here and let us know what you think in the comment section below.


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Castro and Obama, three senators, and a surfer dude


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Castro and Obama, three senators, and a surfer dude

Spring break

Back in 1994, the Castro commies stopped now Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine 
from becoming the first writer ever to cover surfing in Cuba for Surfer Magazine.

Mulshine’s still sore about it, but not enough to oppose President Obama’s decision
to patch things up with our southern neighbor.

How does his position differ from that of three U.S. Senators whose feathers are ruffled
by the potential for detente? And how sincere are their stories about their family escapes from Castro?
Find the answer in…Give the Cuban people a break – spring break that is 

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Is Toyota’s hydrogen-cell Mirai the car of the future?

Is the Toyota Mirai the future of transportation in a climate-challenged world?

Reasons why it might be: Its fuel-cell power system is more efficient than gas combustion engines, goes from 0 to 60 mph in only 9 seconds, gets 400-430 miles between fill-ups, all while producing no harmful tailpipe emissions,

The Problem: Someone must figure out out to build enough hydrogen fueling stations to overcome potential owners’ concerns about running on empty.

Haans Griemel, Asia Editor for Automotive News, calls it a "chicken and egg problem."

"People want to buy the car only if there is infrastructure, but there won’t be infrastructure unless people are buying the cars."

Presently there is not a single hydrogen refueling station in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania or Delaware.

Fueling stations* for other alternative fuel vehicles are more numerous but still inadequate.

Electric Fueling Stations
New York – 411
Pennsylvania – 186
New Jersey- 109
Delaware – 12

Compressed Natural Gas
New York – 39
Pennsylvania – 25
New Jersey – 8
Delaware – 1

*Data supplied by the U.S. Department of Energy – Alternative Ffuels Data Center Related environmental news stories:
First Drive Of Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Sedan   
Toyota’s futuristic, freaky fuel-cell car

Your thoughts on hydrogen-powered vehicles?  Tell us in the comment box below

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Partisan showdown ahead on Senate Energy Committee?

“The ideological divide over climate change widened this week in the Senate committee charged with shaping America’s energy policy, setting the stage for a partisan showdown over the new Republican majority’s plans to attack the Environmental Protection Agency, build the Keystone XL pipeline and drive fossil fuel expansion.”
Elizabeth Warren is one of three new Democrats on the panel
InsideClimate News‘ Katherine Bagley reports that the Democrats’ replacement of three pro-fossil-fuel lawmakers with more pro-climate-action senators means that “any across-the-aisle cooperation on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is probably dead.”
“While Republicans will control the panel 12-10 in 2015, Democrats could delay—or even potentially derail—the GOP’s pro-fossil-fuels agenda by nitpicking bills during committee mark-up or by threatening a presidential veto.”
“The GOP’s appointments are evidence of the increasing desire within the party to roll back Environmental Protection Agency regulations,” said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist who served as an adviser on the 2008 McCain-Palin presidential campaign. “The Democrats’ decisions were definitely calculated, defensive choices. They chose three of their strongest environmentalists…There will be some serious battles in the next two years.”
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