Tesla, Panasonic to produce solar cells in New York

Chisaki Watanabe and Dana Hull report for Bloomberg:
Tesla Motors and Panasonic completed work on an agreement to begin manufacturing solar cells and modules at Tesla’s factory in Buffalo, New York, eventually bringing some 1,400 jobs to the region.
Production will begin this summer, with the factory’s output capacity expanding to 1 gigawatt by 2019, the companies said in a statement Tuesday. Panasonic will invest more than $256 million (30 billion yen) on the installation of production equipment, Yayoi Watanabe, a spokeswoman for the Osaka-based company, said by phone. The total investment wasn’t disclosed in the statement.
Among the jobs being created are more than 500 manufacturing positions. Palo Alto, California-based Tesla is expanding its manufacturing base in the U.S. and Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk is on President-elect Donald Trump’s business advisory team.
“We already knew about this deal, but now it’s finalized,” said Ben Kallo, an analyst with Robert W. Baird. “Panasonic is covering the capital costs, and Tesla is buying the modules. You’re seeing the stock break out a bit.”

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Tesla shares have declined about 8.2 percent this year.
The announcement underscores deepening ties between Tesla and Panasonic. The two are building a $5 billion lithium-ion gigafactory east of Reno, Nevada, to produce batteries for both electric cars and energy storage products. In October, Tesla revealed plans to work with Panasonic to make solar cells and modules. Tesla acquired solar installer SolarCity for $2 billion. Mr. Musk revealed plans for a new solar-roof made of glass tiles in late October.

“When production of the solar roof begins, Tesla will also incorporate Panasonic’s cells into the many kinds of solar glass tile roofs that Tesla will be manufacturing,” Tesla said in a blog post.
Tesla has several products in its pipeline. Besides the solar roof, there is enormous anticipation around the Model 3, a more affordable electric sedan that is expected to launch in late 2017. Tesla is also working on a semi truck and a transit bus.

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Cuomo quietly seeks sweeping powers over Port Authority

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. | Office of the Governor of New York

Ryan Hutchins and Dana Rubinstein report for Politico:

New York and New Jersey, including the authority to unilaterally remove and appoint commissioners, under draft legislation that has been privately circulating among Albany lawmakers this week and was obtained by POLITICO.

Under the proposal — just one piece of a larger ethics measure — New York’s six appointees on the board of the massive, bi-state agency would serve at the pleasure of Cuomo or his successors. The governor could remove any New York appointees “at his or her discretion without the advice or consent of the [S]enate,” something now required, and then could fill those vacancies “whether the [S]enate is or is not in session.”

Beyond that, the draft legislation would create a new inspector general, appointed by the governor, to focus solely on New York issues at the agency. The inspector general would also be designated a “district attorney” under New York state law, even though the Port Authority already has an inspector general who can be cross-deputized by U.S. attorney’s offices and by district attorneys to act as a law enforcement officer.

The proposal is dated Sunday and was still a topic of heated discussion on Wednesday. By evening, though, Cuomo’s office said it was no longer interested in the appointments changes, with spokesman Rich Azzopardi emailing just before 9 p.m. — five hours after POLITICO first inquired — to say the draft was “bad information.”

But the proposal, after circulating for days, had some agency observers warning about lasting consequences.

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Christie attacks ‘the haters’ for blocking his book deal

Members of the New Jersey Senate have a group photo taken.  Ed Murray photo for NJ.com
Claude Brodesser-Akner reports for NJ.com


Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday night attacked “the haters” he said allowed personal animus to deny him the ability to profit from a writing book while in office.

“People are asking as if this is a long-standing tradition,” Christie said during his monthly call-in radio show, “Ask the Governor,” on New Jersey 101.5-FM.
He then noted that the ethics law the prevents him from profiting from a book while still in office was only passed by his Democratic predecessor, Jon Corzine, in 2008.
It was at that time that Corzine, an independently wealthy former Wall Street banker, forbade compensation for work outside the governorship but allowed for passive income from investments.
“I wonder why Gov. Corzine passed that law, when he was a former Goldman Sachs executive?” Christie asked, with mock bafflement.
Corzine did not accept a salary while governor, living off his investments.
The governor then dismissed the legislative opposition to the book bill as “just the haters” who “made it personal about me.”
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Don’t ditch that box! Goodwill and Amazon can use it

Matt Miller writes for Pennlive:


You might not want to toss that empty shipping box once Christmas is past.
Amazon and Goodwill are teaming up for a program to put that container to charitable use.
Under the Give Back Box program, participants can pack the leftover boxes with clothes and other items they want to donate to Goodwill. And Amazon will ship them to Goodwill for free.
Information on the program is available at GiveBackBox.com.
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Big Marcellus driller in Pa. state forests, is pulling up stakes

Andrew Maykuth report for the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., has sold its Marcellus Shale operations in north-central Pennsylvania to a subsidiary of Alta Resources Development LLC for $1.24 billion, marking the exit of one of the larger shale gas developers in state forests.

The company’s assets include drilling rights in the Loyalsock State Forest in Lycoming County, where Anadarko’s controversial extraction plans have been blocked by legal and administrative obstacles.

Anadarko, which is based in The Woodlands, Texas, said its Marcellus Shale divestiture includes about 195,000 net acres, which produced about 470 million cubic feet of gas per day. The oil and gas company, which has international operations, has announced $5 billion in asset sales this year.

The sale to Alta Resources represents the return of a company that explored the Marcellus in Susquehanna County from 2008 to 2010, before divesting its holdings. The late George P. Mitchell, who was widely regarded as the father of shale gas for his development of hydraulic fracturing techniques, was an early partner in Alta.

The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2017. Anadarko’s regional headquarters are in Williamsport.

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Delaware River conservation law may bring millions to NJ


Michelle Brunetti writes in the Atlantic City Press:
New Jersey Audubon is anticipating that millions of dollars in federal funds will soon be available for environmental restoration and protection in the Delaware River Basin after President Barack Obama signed a conservation law last week.
The Delaware River Basin Conservation Act authorized creation of a basin restoration program in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The program will identify, prioritize and run projects throughout the watershed, which makes up 40 percent of the state, said Eric Stiles, president and CEO of NJ Audubon.
“The ability to leverage private, state and now federal funding to protect and restore these critical habitats will have a major impact on water quality and special protection species in our state, including the red knot and Atlantic sturgeon,” Stiles said.
The watershed is made up of all the waterways that drain into the Delaware Bay and Delaware River. In South Jersey it encompasses substantial parts of Cape May, Cumberland, Salem, Gloucester, Camden and Burlington counties, as well as small parts of Atlantic and Ocean counties.
The program will bring funding for projects to protect water resources, especially in the Pinelands and Highlands, Stiles said, bolstering work to combat habitat degradation, invasive species and climate change.
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